Critically Acclaimed Shabu Shabu Tasting Menu Restaurant Macoron Is Expanding

The team behind soba specialist Cocoron, Japanese curry house Goemon Japanese Curry, and Shabushabu Macoron plans to grow its burgeoning Japanese empire in the city, applying for a liquor license for a new shabu shabu restaurant called Mayumon in Chinatown at 115 Division St. near Pike Street.

The restaurants in the Cocoron cluster have all been wildly popular despite flying a little under the radar critically. The Times’ Ligaya Mishan praised owner Yoshihito Kida’s soba at Cocoron in 2011, but Kida’s biggest critical hit has been Macoron, where Pete Wells became a believer in the restaurant’s high end approach to shabu shabu, a Japanese-style hot pot. He gave it two stars. The New Yorker also spotlighted the restaurant’s all-women staff led by Mako Okano, who said it’s the world’s only shabu shabu tasting menu restaurant. In his newsletter, Eater critic Bill Addison commended the food and service at Macoron, writing: “The sense of hospitality, of care, created by the staff is sincere and unwavering.”

Though Macoron just opened in November 2017, it has garnered rave reviews, and Kida’s already adding another location of a shabu shabu restaurant in NYC. As with Macoron, at Mayumon, a chef will cook the shabu shabu in front of diners as part of a tasting menu, a representative for the restaurant explains.

While Mayumon will offer the same wagyu portion of its shabu shabu as Macoron does, the new restaurant will add seafood to the mix and have a different chef. The brand’s famed soba noodles, of course, are also part of the menu, along with udon. With a 10-seat counter, it’s slightly bigger than the eight-seat Macoron but still an intimate omakase experience. The restaurant has applied for a liquor license.

Mayumon is expected to open at the end of this year.