Kondo

Kondo gives Broadway in Astoria a Japanese dinner in which sushi and the cooked kitchen can both carry the meal. The restaurant’s menu includes individual nigiri and sashimi, combinations and a chef’s-choice omakase, but it also gives grilled fish, braised pork and rice bowls substantial space. That breadth makes it useful for a mixed table: an interest in raw fish does not have to dictate everyone’s dinner. The chef-led choice is one possibility within the menu, rather than the only way to dine here.

The omakase is described as ten to fourteen pieces of sushi or sashimi selected by the chef, with market pricing. The selection puts the choice of pieces in the chef’s hands, while the rest of the menu lets diners compose their own meal. Diners who prefer to select for themselves have regular and deluxe sushi or sashimi combinations, alongside individual pieces. Rice bowls include tuna, salmon with salmon roe, or broiled eel, each organizing the seafood in a different format.

The cooked dishes provide their own reasons to visit. Miso-and-soy-marinated salmon, braised pork belly and pan-fried pork gyoza give the table options that do not depend on sushi. Steamed shrimp dumplings or shishito tempura can begin a shared meal; chicken nanban with tartar sauce offers another main direction. A couple can put a seafood order beside one of these warmer preparations and compare different parts of the kitchen without forcing both diners into the same choice.

Dessert includes coffee jelly and a green-tea parfait, a different ending from adding more rolls until the meal feels complete. Kondo suits people who want to make a clear distinction between a chef-selected seafood order and an independently assembled Japanese dinner. Its appeal is the room to make either decision while preserving meaningful choices for someone who wants cooked food. The most useful order begins with that preference and then gives each part of the meal a purpose.

Sources: Kondo: menu, approach, reservations and contact · Kondo: Google Maps listing