Restaurant Nippon

Restaurant Nippon holds the distinction of being New York City's oldest Japanese restaurant, founded in 1963 when Japanese cuisine was virtually unknown in America. The kitchen practices traditional Edo-mae cooking with in-house-made soba noodles, handcrafted tofu, and housemade tempura batter — skills rare even in modern Japanese restaurants. It is credited as the birthplace of beef negimayaki, the now-classic dish of thin-sliced beef rolled with scallions. The restaurant is Asian-owned and operated, with a calm, formal ambiance that transports diners to a Japan of another era. OpenTable ratings confirm its enduring 4.9-star reputation after 60-plus years of service.