The summer is officially back in Manhattan. Hiyashi is available at Sapporo in Midtown. Sapporo is one of those restaurants that are not easy to find online. The place is located on 49th street and 7th avenue. They do not accept credit cards. They only sell Hiyashi during the summer season.
Hiyashi are cold, square noodles with various toppings in a cold sour soup that needs to be mixed with spicy Japanese mustard before consumption. We used to eat Hiyashi a lot when our office was downtown. There was this great little noodle shop just south of the world trade center. It did not even have an English name, I think. The people who worked there were super nice. Mayumi was one of them. She was on the subway when the plane hit the world trade center. The train had stopped and then just like the other trains pulled back, but stayed in the tunnel. She later told me that she was stuck in the train for quite a while, while all the horrible things were happening above ground.
Sapporo is usually very crowded during lunch time, so I was happy to get a real table seat. Their Hiyashi is not quite as good as downtown used to be, but it is still good.
One other advantage of eating at Sapporo is getting this extra minute waiting for the on seventh avenue, staring at the Great Sign on 745 Seventh Avenue, designed by imaginaryforces. Quite a wild experience in itself. Twirling saving banks, shaking hands, bridges and sunsets. Things that one might somehow associate with money.
Crossing the street the other way, allows to look at the reflection of the sign in the polished and still stunning 750 7th Avenue, which I like to call “the finger pointing back at God”. But that’s just me.
I am going off topic again. Time for a completely different post.