Kiku (Japanese Pop-Up at Botanical Gardens)

This place is only open for a limited time, while the Japanese gardens exhibit is going on at the New York Botanical Garden (Bronx, not Brooklyn). My wife and I got to see a cool Japanese Taiko drum performance, walked around and looked at some nice Japanese plants and garden shit, and chowed down on some Japanese food.

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Score for having a nice cold beer to cool down with, and a specialty cocktail that my wife nabbed that involved prosecco and some sort of fruit liquor.

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We started with a basic eel and avocado roll. It was pretty good:

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Next was a plate of tempura veggies. These were really light and crispy. Very flavorful. Mushrooms, lotus, asparagus, and broccoli were among the bites here.

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My wife had a chirashi bowl that had a nice variety of really tasty sashimi.

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I had the ramen, of course. I was expecting more, so I was a little let down. It was a basic, thin-style chicken broth with very few pieces of chicken (though the chicken WAS good). Noodles were a bit over cooked, but when it comes to egg wavy noodles I don’t mind that so much. The broth was a little too salty.

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In all the meal was a bit over-priced, service was slow because they were jam-packed and under-staffed, and the seating at the bar was tight and uncomfortable, with no knee/leg room.