Hana Sushi

There is never a shortage of Japanese, Thai and Chinese restaurants in NYC. You can pretty much find one on any city block in Manhattan, and in my opinion, they're all basically the same. Well... except for the high end restaurants, but that's a whole different category.

Hana Sushi is our neighborhood go-to for sushi and Japanese food. It's not a small chain like Monster Sushi, which is also nearby, but it's a small restaurant with good lunch specials, great rolls and a newly renovated space. It's definitely busy during lunch, so if you are looking to spend quiet time with a friend(s) or dine alone to catch up on some reading, dinner would be the best time to go to Hana.

We came here for lunch right before Chris headed off to the airport. Mark and I always order the same items. Do you often find yourself ordering the same thing at the same restaurants you frequent? I often struggle with that. While I'd like to try everything on the menu for recommendations sometimes it's just best to stick with the tried and true. I suppose it really comes down to my mood.

Mark was running a little late to meet Chris and I, so I ordered our appetizers and entrees. For appetizers I ordered: harumaki (deep fried egg roll) and yasai gyoza (steamed vegetable dumpling). Sometimes I'll also order agedashi tofu (grilled tofu) and chicken karaage (Japanese style fried chicken, but not this time. Depending on what lunch special you order you receive different sides, but you basically get a choice of miso soup or salad. For him, I ordered the sushi lunch special: 1 cucumber plum paste roll, 1 avocado roll and 1 cucumber roll. For myself, I ordered the chicken katsu bento lunch special which comes with miso soup, salad, steamed dumpling, rice and seaweed. It's very filling. Chris ordered a plate full of sushi.

One of my favorite dishes here is the salad that comes with this amazing carrot ginger dressing. It's thick, creamy and you can taste the fresh ginger and pureed carrot chunks. I think it works well with thinner greens and not thick lettuce pieces and not a whole lot of different salad fixings either. The more simple, the better. I would even add chow mein noodles and mandarin oranges to garnish. However, it always tastes great at Hana. If you'd like to make it, I found a good online recipe (I haven't tried this particular one, so don't blame me if it's not good. Experiment until you find it suitable for you): Carrot Ginger Recipe.

My entree always leaves me stuffed. I've had both the chicken and beef katsu and they are both breaded in Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) and fried perfectly. It's not overdone or too thin, where you don't taste any meet at all. I also love the Japanese mayo as a dipping sauce. Yes, Japanese mayo is slightly different from American mayo in that they don't add water and use apple or rice wine vinegar instead of distilled. They also use egg yolks vs. the whole egg.

You can usually find Japanese mayo at an Asian super market or Japanese grocery store. Our favorite place to get Japanese mayo is Mitsuwa, a Japanese mega store in Edgewater, New Jersey, only a 15-25 minute drive from NYC. I'm dedicating a separate post about Mitsuwa so I won't go into too much detail about this amazing store. If you don't want to travel too far outside of NYC, there's also Sun Rise Mart, a smaller Japanese store in the East Village. This place is located on the second floor and there's not a lot of room to move around, but it definitely has a lot of Japanese specialty items. However, Mitsuwa is the only place I've found green tea kit kat-- FYI!

I'm always skeptical about collecting menus when someone is sitting right beside me. However, that's never stopped me from ever collecting one. I wonder if they'll say something, and if they did, what would they say? How would I respond back? I suppose I should come up with some creative answers just in case, but thankfully, and in all my years, it's never happened. Quite frankly, I don't think people care if they saw me do it. They just want to enjoy their meal, pay and go on about their lives.

I had my bag with me and placed it next to me. I moved the table closer to me so it would hide my lower half and people wouldn't be able to see or notice just how slick I am (or not). I put the menu on my lap and put my bag over it. I figured as soon as the guy next to me paid and left, I'd simply slip it in my bag. It worked!

Collecting this menu was a joyous occasion for me! I have a Hana menu from around 2005-2007 and it is quite unique. The menu looks like it could be a place mat or a sushi rolling mat. It's really one of a kind. Too bad they weren't able to keep this design throughout the years because it is truly unique, but this is one of those instances where I have a menu from the same restaurant way back when to present. The food didn't change a whole lot, but the prices most certainly did (obviously). If you compare the menus (see below pic), edamame went from $3.95 to $5, while yaki tori went from $5.25 to $9. Ouch! I love being able to see how much the design of the menu changes over time and this is one of the many reasons I ♥ collecting restaurant menus.

(L) 2005-07 (R) 2013 

Hana Sushi: 211 7th Ave between 22nd & 23rd St.
Chelsea, NYC
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Hana Sushi