Aman New York’s Most Exclusive Dinner Just Got Harder to Book: Kaiseki Arrives at Akari

Aman New York has introduced kaiseki at Akari, its Japanese restaurant (formerly Nama) inside the Crown Building on Fifth Avenue. Led by chef Takuma Yonemaru, who trained at a two-Michelin-star kaiseki restaurant in Osaka, the seasonal multi-course dinner is served only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, at 5:30 and 8:30 p.m., and only to hotel guests and Aman Club Founders. It runs alongside Akari’s existing omakase at a seven-seat hinoki-wood counter.

There are hard-to-get reservations in New York, and then there are the ones you can’t get at all unless you’re sleeping upstairs. Akari falls firmly into the second category. Now it has given its lucky few a new reason to linger: kaiseki, Japan’s most ceremonial way to eat, served two nights a week and paced entirely by the chef.

It’s a natural fit for Aman, a brand that has built an empire on the idea that true luxury is attention to detail. In kaiseki, that attention extends beyond the ingredients to the space between the dishes: what comes first, what follows and why.

Photo Credit: Aman New York

A Season, Served in Chapters

Kaiseki is the Japanese tradition in which the meal matters more than any single plate. Flavor, texture, color and sequence are all composed together, and the ingredients are chosen to tell you, quite precisely, what time of year it is. Think of it as a tasting menu with a narrative arc.

For Yonemaru, it’s something of a homecoming. Before he arrived in New York, he cooked in Michelin-starred kitchens in Osaka, including a two-star kaiseki house, so this is a language he speaks fluently. At Akari, each course is meant to add to a larger story, with symbolic ingredients and carefully considered compositions tying the evening together. It’s a meal that asks you to pay attention: to what’s on the plate, how it was made and why it’s arriving at that particular moment. (Put the phone away. Really.)

Akari regulars will know Yonemaru’s omakase, a chef-selected sushi progression served at a seven-seat counter of hinoki wood, with fish chosen each morning. The two meals share a reverence for ingredients and craft, but they’re fundamentally different experiences. Omakase is trust; kaiseki is structure. Having both under one roof gives guests two very different ways into the same chef’s head.

Photo Credit: Aman New York

A Room Built for Slowing Down

The dining room is every bit as deliberate as the menu. You enter past a chiseled rock display into a space of moody, low-lit tones beneath Frank Lloyd Wright–inspired ceilings. The tableware is handcrafted and embraces wabi-sabi, the Japanese appreciation of beauty in imperfection. Recessed tokonoma alcoves hold artworks, giving your eyes something to rest on between courses.

It’s a room that makes rushing feel faintly rude. Culinarily, Akari follows Aman New York’s East-meets-West philosophy, pairing the principles of washoku, Japan’s traditional food culture, with the best seasonal ingredients available locally. It’s Japanese at its core, but unmistakably rooted in Manhattan.

That balance is what makes the new kaiseki worth planning around. For travelers who build a trip around a great meal, or Aman Club Founders looking for a more intimate occasion, it adds a genuinely new dimension to the hotel’s dining. And it makes a very persuasive case for letting a Tuesday be the best night of the week.

Photo Credit: Aman New York

How to Book

Kaiseki at Akari is served on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with seatings at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. The restaurant is currently open only to Aman New York hotel guests and Aman Club Founders. For inquiries, visit Akari at Aman New York.

Read More

Hungry for more? See our guide to the best omakase in New York City, and read about Masa Takayama’s residency at The Peninsula Beverly Hills.