Matsugen

241 Church St
New York, NY 10013
(212) 925-0202

 On the second week of Restaurant Week, my friend proposed to dine at Jean-Georges' newly opened Japanese Restaurant Matsugen. Although I really shouldn't judge an establishment by its restaurant week menu, I was semi-disappointed with the entire experience. When one goes to a fancy restaurant, it is usually expected that everything from the food to the service are to grow exponentially. Well, this wasn't entirely the case at Matsugen - the appetizers were wonderful and great until we were led to our main course: Hot-soba with chicken...that was when everything went downhill. The dish completely lacked flavor and had way too much noodles. The service at Matsugen however, was great so nothing to complain about there :o)

To start off - my friend and I ordered some champagne for a 'double celebration'. A very much needed splurge to end our crazy Spring semester.

Before we even ordered, our waiter served complimentary fried soba and edamame - something I would totally take over bread and butter. Our first 'bento-like' appetizer: uni in yuzu jelly appetizer. Oh yum. I have never been a huge fan of uni due to its strong 'sea taste', but the jelly really complemented super well with the uni. On the bottom left of the plate: tofu with wasabi was very light and refreshing. Other plates included fried shrimp with a very distinct and creamy sauce; and steamed vegetables with peanut sauce. Not bad at all!

Tuna sushi was the second appetizer - nothing too special about this dish. It was good and served on a stone, An A- for the display! Our third appetizer: black cod with miso. This was the best dish of the night. The fish was steamed thoroughly; and the skin of the fish was basically melted into the fish meat. In addition, the miso sauce wasn't overpowering...a really good dish! Lastly, our final course: (Kashiwa nanban soba) hot soba with chicken. Before I begin, I must add that Matsugen is renownedly known for its soba. Like I said earlier in my post, the bowl had way too much noodles...and because of it, the flour of the noodle killed the flavor of the broth and chicken. Not to mention, the broth was oily from the chicken. No bueno :(

We ended the night with our dessert - Vanilla Caramel Pudding - a flan-like pudding with vanilla extract. The caramel part was bitter and tasted kind of strange, but other than that it was acceptable. To comment on the decor of the restaurant: very original and modern. We sat next to a wall aquarium with tons of different fishies swimming in it. Very nice for pictures :)

I would give this restaurant another shot, but would probably avoid their restaurant week menu the next time around. The taste of the food (although nicely plated) was definitely not up to par with its price!

Overall: 3/5