Katana Kitten

A martini built on junmai daiginjo sake carrying hinoki, and a katsu sandwich made with a fried slab of mortadella, on Hudson Street.

Why go

Masahiro Urushido opened this two-floor bar in 2018 with Cocktail Kingdom Hospitality, and the form is a Tokyo izakaya run at New York volume. The Infatuation went back in November 2025 and made the comparative call: There are plenty of places to drink a yuzu highball and other cocktails that use Japanese ingredients. But none do them as well as Katana Kitten. The kitchen holds its end, which is unusual for a cocktail room, and the specials board is where the cooking gets interesting: soba in a mortadella XO sauce turned up on one visit.

The highball is the house form and the kit behind it is real: a Perlick froster keeping twelve-ounce steins below freezing, custom ice cut by Okamoto Studio, and a Toki highball machine sitting in the middle of the bar.6 The trade has voted on this room three times. It took Best New American Cocktail Bar at the 2019 Spirited Awards and then both Best U.S. Bar Team and Best U.S. Cocktail Bar in 2022.2 The World's 50 Best Bars put it ninth on the planet that same year3, and the 2026 North America list still has it on at No. 52.4

Order this / avoid

Order: the martini, which The Infatuation specs as one that "uses junmai daiginjo sake and is bursting essence of the hinoki tree." Then popcorn chicken and the katsu sandwich, "a fat, fried slab of mortadella." Read the specials before you commit.
Order: a highball if the martini is not the mood. Missy Frederick's pick is the melon-lime soda, built on Midori and closer to Ramune than to anything a Midori bottle usually produces.7
Order: the nori waffle fries and pay the extra for the curry sauce, which was $6 in December 2025.7
Avoid: a Friday or Saturday if you want to sit. The desk's own warning is that "on weekends, the bar gets three-people-deep."

What locals & experts say

The Infatuation (13 November 2025): Even though the space is small, it's relatively easy to walk in at non-peak times, and the food is good enough to stay for a second drink and some snacks.1
The Infatuation, on the room: The place is filled with Japanese movie posters and a lot of dollar bills, and generally pretty damn charming.1
Masahiro Urushido, on all that equipment, in PUNCH in March 2021: We don't do anything special here. We just try to do the right thing.6 He named the bar for a samurai sword crossed with a curious cat.
Bryan Kim, The Infatuation's editorial lead in New York, in his 2023 cocktail-bar guide: Don't leave without eating the mortadella katsu sando.8
Missy Frederick, Eater's editorial director for dining, went back in December 2025 and found the place unchanged since it opened in 2018, chandeliers made of dollar bills and all.7

Good to know

Timing: evenings and late, two floors, and a weeknight is the comfortable version.
Booking: walk in, early or midweek.
Price: 50 Best Discovery puts the average cocktail at $20.5
Make a night of it: Angel's Share is close by and Frederick pairs the two, coming here first if you want the happy hour.7
One door: the city's register carries a single permit under this name, at 531 Hudson Street.

Jeff's take (his words)

Note: Go here.

Verdict

must-visit — Come on a weeknight, walk in, and order food with the first drink so you are set up to stay for a second.