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Move over truffle oil, there’s a new flavor bomb making the rounds.
Kayanoya USA is kicking off a two-week citywide celebration of dashi, the quietly powerful soup stock that gives Japanese cooking its signature depth. Timed to National Dashi Day on October 15, the series brings together some of New York’s most beloved Japanese spots for limited-edition dishes and drinks that spotlight the pure, savory essence of umami.
Through October 15, five restaurants and bars—including Taku Sando, Bessou, Raku, Rice & Miso and Kato Sake Works—will debut specials using Kayanoya’s clean-label dashi powders. It’s a showcase of how the humble broth base can stretch far beyond soups.
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At Taku Sando in Brooklyn, only 50 dashi tamago sandos will be available daily, made with Kayanoya’s original dashi powder and black pepper sea salt. Chelsea’s Bessou is frying up dashi curry karaage with its vegetable dashi curry blend, while Raku Midtown leans luxurious with a matsutake hamaguri udon featuring clams, mushrooms and, of course, dashi. Over in Brooklyn, Rice & Miso pairs an omurice ball with daikon and abura age miso soup and Kato Sake Works is shaking things up (literally) with a dashi-infused cocktail made from its house-brewed sake.
Kayanoya, a 130-year-old Japanese seasoning company known for championing additive-free broths, sees the campaign as a chance to reintroduce dashi to American palates. “Dashi is the pure essence of umami,” the brand explains on its new site, NationalDashiDay.com, which also debuts this month with recipes, chef stories and how-to videos for home cooks.
Beyond the restaurant collabs, the brand is launching a Dashi Starter Kit to make the staple accessible for anyone curious about Japanese flavors but intimidated by bonito flakes or kombu. It’s part education, part invitation—a way to show that dashi can add quiet complexity to everything from soups and sauces to cocktails and sandwiches.
Whether you’re slurping noodles at Raku or sipping umami at Kato Sake Works, this citywide fest proves one thing: New York’s next flavor obsession might just come from a humble pot of broth.