Restaurant Yuu, an omakase-style French concept restaurant in Greenpoint that opened in May 2023, used to seat only 36 customers per night. Because of this exclusivity, the 15-course tasting menu costs $250 per person.
Yet, as of September, Restaurant Yuu has democratized and opened its doors to more customers per night by offering a more affordable cheese course. The grand cheese plate costs $38 and requires no reservation.
Fine diners will be excited to hear that this isn’t your average cheese plate. Instead, it's a culinary experience: Restaurant Yuu’s cheese offerings are just as fusion-inspired as its tasting menu, featuring delights like the Yamazaki washed cheese, a locally sourced cheese bathed in Japanese whisky every day for two weeks and pipetted with umami bitters tableside.
Restaurant Yuu’s owner and chef, Yuu Shimano, spent seven years studying French cuisine in Japan, and eight years living and cooking in France.
“[I spent] 15 years already to learn French food,” Shimano said. “So I can do only a French restaurant. And I want to be different — that's why omakase-style,” he said.
Most recently, Shimano worked as executive chef at Midtown East’s MIFUNE, another European-Japanese fusion restaurant offering omakase.
“A Japanese guy doing French food in New York City is complicated,” Shimano said. “But New York City [is a] very good space for our culture.”
Restaurant Yuu adheres faithfully to the Japanese value of omotenashi, which has no easy translation in English.
“It is difficult to explain, but omotenashi truly means hospitality,” said Manager Akio Matsumoto. “It's kind of [about] the very small detail — for example, the temperatures or the smell.”
This spiritual attitude toward hospitality is reflected in the way Restaurant Yuu’s space is arranged. The counter stools face toward the kitchen, which is in clear view as customers eat.
“The counter seating, it's like a show. It's like Broadway,” said Matsumoto.
The menu changes seasonally at Restaurant Yuu, but no matter what time of year it is, Yuu creates a variety of dishes that meld classic French preparations and Japanese ingredients.
Some of his dishes lean French, like a bouillabaisse with sea bass, mussel and marinated artichoke, or a bite-sized cut of Wagyu beef and foie gras atop heavily-buttered toast, swirled in red-wine-based Bordelaise sauce.
Other dishes lean Japanese, like the crunchy and salty aged fluke, served in a sushi-style roll and topped with sea urchin, or the soup made from soft-shell turtle and white asparagus, which is particularly memorable. The soup is flavored with soy sauce, and the turtle creates a unique texture to the broth that goes down smooth and leaves your lips sticky.
“Usually, a French restaurant doesn’t serve something with so many Japanese ingredients,” Matsumoto said about the soup. “But this dish, it has a 100% Japanese mind.”
After the meal is done, customers are invited to recline in comfortable, living-room-type seating while they drink tea and coffee served in delicate porcelain cups. Attention to details like seating and plating reflects Restaurant Yuu’s orientation toward omotenashi.
This is some of the most innovative and original cooking right now in Brooklyn. Earlier this month, the restaurant was added to the Michelin dining guide for New York City, bringing it one step closer to Chef Yuu’s biggest dream for his restaurant — receiving a Michelin star.
“It’s a bit exciting in my heart,” said Shimano, but he doesn’t want to get his hopes up too much.
Awards will be announced on Nov. 7, and until then, Restaurant Yuu will continue putting care into the details of the dining experience — and plating cheese.
Restaurant Yuu is located at 55 Nassau Ave. in Greenpoint.
