Onigiri in Manhattan: Café Zaiya

The devil is in the details

Many Japanese subsidiaries have set their headquarters in Midtown East (for example, my company is in the same building as the giant Itochu Corporation). Consequently, several Japanese restaurants have established businesses around the area, catering to the many Japanese working around here. When it comes to picking quick, fresh and inexpensive lunch around work, Café Zaiya is my favorite place in midtown Manhattan


Café Zaiya deserves a post on its own. But lets focus on onigiri for now. Zaiya's onigiri are particularly delicious for a couple of reasons:

1. The onigiri is freshly made every day, so if you go there at lunch time, the onigiri has just come out of the kitchen and its warm! I have been completely spoiled by Zaiya's warm onigiri. In fact, the first time I tried onigiri from the combini store in Japan and bit into cold rice, it made me a little sad
   
2. The onigiri comes with plastic packaging that separates the nori from the rice, so the nori retains its crunchy texture until its ready to be eaten
   
3. The onigiri costs approximately $2 dollars each, so they are both budget and palate friendly
   

* Plastic wrap = crunchy seaweed*