Introducing The Culinary Exhibition Series: Yoshoku Nakago from Kyoto | September 29 – November 22, 2026
Japan’s Master Chefs, In Residence
THE GALLERY by Odo announces The Culinary Exhibition Series, an ongoing residency program inviting Japan’s finest chefs to New York. Like an art exhibition, each edition is numbered. Each chef lives and cooks in New York, adapts their craft to American ingredients — and, in what makes this program unlike any other, formally transfers their recipes, techniques, and quality standards to the Odo culinary team before returning home. The menu then continues for approximately two months.
The chef leaves. The cuisine stays.
The series began in May 2026 with Vol.01: RAMEN FEEL— Chef Daisuke Watanabe of Tokyo’s Ramen FeeL.
THE CULINARY EXHIBITION SERIES: YOSHOKU NAKAGO - Chef Nakago Matsumoto — Kyoto
Beginning September 29, Chef Matsumoto of Yoshoku Nakago in Kyoto will bring his interpretation of yoshoku to THE GALLERY.
Yoshoku is the Japanese way of making Western-inspired food its own. Hamburger steak, beef stew, croquettes, Napolitan — these dishes became part of everyday life in Japan: familiar, comforting foods, shaped over generations by Japanese ingredients, techniques, and tastes.
Chef Matsumoto approaches these classics with the experience of a chef trained in French cuisine. Before opening Yoshoku Nakago in Kyoto in 2023, he spent many years as chef de cuisine at Bistro Sept, one of the city’s most beloved bistros, and trained under Grand Chef Masaru Kamikakimoto at Hotel Europa, Huis Ten Bosch (Nagasaki). Today, Yoshoku Nakago occupies a more-than-100-year-old kyomachiya townhouse on Momiji-no-Komichi in Kyoto.
For his New York residency, Chef Matsumoto brings the dishes that define his kitchen: menchikatsu (minced-meat cutlet), Japanese hamburger steak, Japanese beef stew, and pork ginger.
The menchikatsu (メンチカツ: minced-meat cutlet) is particularly close to the spirit of Yoshoku Nakago — a crisp, light exterior with a tender beef-and-pork filling, finished with his house demi-glace. “The juicy umami that bursts out from within is the true joy of yoshoku, especially from Yoshoku Nakago,” says Chef Hiroki Odo, owner chief of Odo and THE GALLERY by Odo, of Chef Matsumoto’s menchikatsu.
The hamburger steak is built on the same hand-kneaded beef-and-pork base, while the beef stew takes a lighter approach than the richer style often associated with the dish in the United States.
There are also small details that connect the menu back to Japan. The dinner menu’s sweet corn soup, for example, is served with namafu (a delicate Kyoto wheat-gluten specialty) from Fūka, the historic Kyoto fu maker — adding a gentle, chewy texture to a familiar yoshoku classic.
LUNCH — $38
Includes salad, rice, and a choice of one signature main.
Zensai — Coleslaw Salad with House-Cured Ham & Potato Salad
Entrée (choice of one) — served with white rice and corn soup
Menchikatsu (minced-meat cutlet)
Japanese Hamburger Steak
Japanese Beef Stew
Pork Ginger
Dessert — Gâteau au Chocolat
Additional entrées $22.
DINNER — $70
Zensai
Coleslaw Salad with House-Cured Ham & Potato Salad
Sweet Corn Soup, Namafu
Ebi-Fry (crisp-fried shrimp) with Tartar Sauce
Entrée (choice of one) — served alongside Spaghetti Napolitan
Menchikatsu (minced-meat cutlet)
Japanese Hamburger Steak
Japanese Beef Stew
Pork Ginger
Dessert — Gâteau au Chocolat
Additional entrées $22.
The Baton Pass
Before returning to Kyoto, Chef Matsumoto will complete a four-stage handover with the Odo kitchen — from cooking alongside our team to final quality supervision — and a weekly remote quality audit will continue through the final service on November 22. What remains when the chef leaves is not an imitation: it is the dish, to his standard, every day.
We hope you will join us for this next chapter of The Culinary Exhibition Series — and discover a side of Japanese food that may feel both familiar and entirely new.
Yoshoku Nakago, Vol.02
September 29 — November 22, 2026
Lunch 11:45am–2:30pm / Dinner 5:00–10:30pm
THE GALLERY by Odo
17 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011
We look forward to seeing you at THE GALLERY.
About Odo Hospitality
Odo Hospitality is a constellation of intimate dining and drinking concepts anchored in New York's Flatiron district, created by Chef Hiroki Odo. At its heart is Odo, a two-Michelin-starred kaiseki restaurant recognized by The New York Times as one of New York's best, offering a multi-course journey rooted in Japanese tradition and reimagined for the modern era. The Odo universe extends across Odo Lounge, a hidden speakeasy offering premium Japanese mixology; HALL, a convivial neighborhood bar celebrated for its Japanese-influenced burgers and elevated cocktails; THE GALLERY by Odo, an art-forward culinary space pairing elevated Japanese small plates and sake with rotating art exhibitions; and Odo East Village, home to Chef Odo's original "Kaiseki Izakaya" concept blending technical precision with the warmth of a neighborhood izakaya. Rounding out the portfolio are Odo Lab, an evolving platform for culinary innovation and cultural programming, Sushi Muse, a luxury sushi delivery concept, and Odo at Home, a digital boutique offering artisanal tableware and Japanese lifestyle objects. Together, these concepts reflect Chef Odo's abiding commitment to Japanese craft, cross-disciplinary creativity, and quiet luxury.
For more information, visit www.odo.nyc
About THE GALLERY by Odo
Founded by Hiroki Odo in 2021, THE GALLERY by Odo is a hybrid restaurant, cultural venue, and creative space located in New York City’s Flatiron District at 17 West 20th Street. Built on Chef Odo’s lifelong passion for the arts, THE GALLERY regularly hosts exhibitions, culinary collaborations, and curated dining events that highlight cross-disciplinary creativity. Managed in the spirit of Odo’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant, the space serves as a platform for innovation in both the culinary and cultural realms. For more information, visit www.odogallery.nyc.
