Midtown Lunch

It’s easy to forget about Niko Niko on Wall (at Pearl) which has been a mainstay of cheap Japanese comfort food for years in the Financial District and is the closest thing we have to something like a Sunrise Mart. When Yushi opened a couple of blocks up Pearl St. I wondered how the two would compare, but I think Niko Niko has the edge on most things in the price department although I did really like Yushi’s rice bowls that have perhaps more inventive vegetable and protein options. Still, sometimes when the weather is super hot as it has been lately the thought of eating a big hot bowl of rice and meat sounds about as appealing as doing my taxes so that’s when either sushi or zaru soba comes in and I stopped by Niko Niko to check out their version of the latter.

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I had a plan for lunch the other day, but that quickly got derailed by the intensely crappy weather. (It’s the second time in two months I’ve had an umbrella destroyed while in search of lunch). The cart I was looking for was MIA and I ended up at Niko Niko on Pearl St. (at Wall) to dry off and eat something hot. The ramen soups sounded appealing, but something involving a bunch of rice sounded better. And I wanted that rice covered in Japanese curry and fried meat. Read more »

I’m a guy who likes to try a little bit of everything when I’m eating out. I love menu items with the word “sampler” in them, and my friends graciously tolerate my wandering fork at meals. Given my predilection for variety, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that I love bento boxes. They’re the perfect way to get a little bit of a lot of things, and I wish every world cuisine had their own take on the bento.

For Japanese bento, though, Niko Niko on Pearl between Wall and Pine will treat you right. They serve up good bentos at reasonable prices in a large, glossy space. It’s probably not the best food or the cheapest, but the good balance between quantity, quality, variety, and price will have me coming back.

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