Clear water, clean cuts
Kiyo (清) means clear, pure, clean. It is the name of the river in Chef Arai’s home town — and a fair description of how we like to cook.
From a Ginza back-alley to Tribeca
Kiyoshi Arai grew up in a fishing town on the Sea of Japan, where his grandfather sold mackerel from a bicycle cart. At seventeen he took a train to Tokyo and knocked on the door of a seven-seat counter in Ginza. He was told to come back in a week. He came back the next morning.
Twenty-two years later, Kiyo keeps the rhythm of that first counter: a short menu that changes with the tides, rice that is never refrigerated, and an evening built for conversation between chef and guest.
We fly fish from Toyosu five days a week and buy the rest from day-boat fishermen in Montauk and Maine, who text us photos from the deck.
Twenty-two years, five moments
- 2003
Apprentice in Ginza
Kiyoshi begins at Sushi Tsukasa washing rice and scaling fish — for three years, nothing else.
- 2014
First knife at the counter
Promoted to the counter after eleven years; serves his first omakase.
- 2017
New York
Moves to Manhattan to lead a counter in Midtown and meets our sake director, Hana.
- 2019
Kiyo opens
Ten seats on a quiet Tribeca street. Booked out in the first week.
- 2024
One star
Recognised by the guide for “a counter of rare calm and clarity”.
Behind the counter
Kiyoshi Arai
Chef & ownerTwenty-two years behind the knife. Sharpens his yanagiba every night after service.
Hana Okuda
Sake directorCertified kikisake-shi. Keeps 64 sakes, nine of them only for regulars.
Ren Takahashi
Second chef · tsukebaPrepares every warm course and the tamago, which takes him an hour a night.
Where it comes from
We name every supplier on the night’s card. A few we have bought from since day one:
- Toyosu market, TokyoBluefin, shellfish, seasonal fish — five flights a week
- Montauk day boatsFluke, black sea bass, summer bluefin
- Yamaguchi Farms, NiigataKoshihikari rice, polished weekly
- KagoshimaA5 wagyu, one course a season
Ten seats. Two seatings.
One evening that will not happen twice.
Seats open on the first of each month for the following month, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. Counter dining for parties of one to four.