Towa (NYC) – The Wandering Eater

Towa is a new restaurant about three months young and it’s part of the Hands Hospitality group (some known restaurants from them in NYC: Atomix, Atoboy and Her Name is Han). What’s slightly intriguing is that these restaurants and Towa are all within the same neighborhood of the Flatiron.

Its à la carte menu is fashioned after multi-course Japanese kaiseki meals that has an emphasis on seasonal ingredients. A nine-course kaiseki is also available for $100 exclusively at the eight seat counter. This time around, my guest and I opted for the à la carte since we wanted to try an assortment of dishes. We had:

Yaki Gani – Grilled king crab served with creamy crab miso sauce
Wagyu (A5 grade) Tataki, shiso truffle butter with caviar (supplement)
Anago Katsu – Sea eel cutlet with dashi sauce, shiitake mushroom, shimeji mushroom, chives, chili pepper
Sashimi a la carte: Uni, Akamai (Lean tuna), Unagi eel, Otoro (fatty tuna), Shima Aji (Striped jack), Aji (horse mackerel)
Futo Maki – Fatty roll with tuna, salmon, kanpachi, shrimp tempura, okra, tamago, cucumber, mistuba, kanpyo
Kamo Soba – Hot buckwheat noodle soup with grilled duck breast and scallion, yuzu zest

All of the dishes were generally very tasty. The one that really resonated was the kamo soba. The superb house made noodles were slurpable and the potent flavors of the rich broth of duck and the resounding citrus notes of the yuzu in the background still lurks in my mind. The anago katsu was delicious. Delicately crisp fried eel that’s in a shallow pool of umami potent sauce with fresh mushrooms and a touch of chili pepper to add a wisp of heat.

The futo maki was interesting with the addition of okra (I never thought it works but it does). The slices of sashimi were fresh but the unagi was a bit off (not as firm and the sauce didn’t have enough flavor).

We had a very good time. I liked the mix of people ranging from families to groups of young people and the solo diners at the chef’s counter. I would come back and check out the dishes since we’re heading toward peak summer and see if there’s a difference at the kaiseki counter menu.