Sen Sakana

Sen Sakana Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant & décor: In a luxe, blond wood space that seats 190, Sen Sakana offers an extensive menu of Nikkei cuisine to New York City. Nikkei, the product of Japanese migrant workers who landed in Peru in the 1880s, reflects a merging of Peruvian food favorites with Japanese flair and Japanese dishes brightened with Peruvian ingredients. When you combine the flavor mashups with a bar roster of nearly 170 creations, including seasonal specials, 40 Japanese whiskeys, pisco, saké and a wine list spanning the globe, you have a dining experience unlike others in Manhattan.

Likes: The flavor combinations are among the most exciting in the city.
Dislikes: Large room can feel empty during off-hours.

Food & Drinks: Chef Mina Newman (Christos Steakhouse), who is half Peruvian, created a distinctive selection of appetizers, skewers, sushi and mains. Among the standouts, the Addictive Cucumber truly warrants its name, a crispy, refreshing combination of sliced Japanese cucumber coated with toasted quinoa with a shimmer of sesame and aji amarillo sauce. A wondrous ceviche made from corvina, a fish staple in Peru, is sassy with leche de tigre, lime juice and aji limo. Complementing it is tiradito, a Peruvian cousin to sashimi, here big eye tuna spiked with jalapeño cilantro sauce. Several other small plates deserve consideration before moving on to an entrée. Choose at least one skewer, like the mushroom wrapped in pork belly, before devouring a couple of Nikkei-style sushi pieces, perhaps the Hokkaido scallop with lemon zest and pisco jelly, and the uni, sourced from Hokkaido or California, with papa morada and wasabi sea salt. For a main course that’s perfectly shareable, chicken nanban, a deep-fried black feather chicken breast, utilizes quinoa once again, but this time as a crunchy coating combined with black vinegar. To finish, the aforementioned Japanese whiskey and pisco are the ideal Nikkei partners. An extensive after-dinner drinks menu is available to accompany sweet choices like the Picaron waffle, a traditional Peruvian concoction of sweet potatoes, pumpkin, chancaca cinnamon syrup and banana ice cream, or the Peruvian-Japanese mochi empanada. The restaurant has a no-tipping policy.