The NYC Restaurant Where You Can Taste The World's Rarest Mango

Sitting down at one of New York's best sushi restaurants, you might be ready to spend some eye-popping prices on fish — but it's the mango dessert that is going to really surprise you. Despite their lovely sweet taste, you might not think of mangoes as a luxury item. They have become staples at grocery stores far, far away from their homes in the tropics, usually with very reasonable asking prices in the range of a few dollars, even for nicer organic varieties. But none of those are Miyazaki mangoes.

Harvested around Miyazaki city in Japan, the namesake mangoes undergo a rigorous process of seedling selection, climate management, and harvesting, producing large fruits with famously intense flavor. The mangoes are so rare and sought after that they can easily go for over $50 a pop, with individual mangoes sometimes selling for over $2,000. That makes these fruits very hard to come by anywhere, especially outside of Japan. But scoring rare ingredients is part of what Sushi Noz in NYC does.

Opened in 2018 by Japanese-born sushi chef Abe Nozomu, Sushi Noz is a premium omakase restaurant in New York's wealthy Upper East Side. Sushi Noz specializes in edomae-style sushi, which originated in Tokyo before the advent of refrigeration, and thus specializes in aged and preserved fish. Sporting two Michelin stars, it's one of the most expensive sushi spots in New York, with its 14 seats and 20-course tasting menu going for up to $550 per person. And at least some of that must be going to the mangoes.

What could make a mango worth this much? To start, Miyazaki mangoes are managed before they are even grown, with seedlings being hand-picked for quality. They are then grown in greenhouses with temperature, humidity, and airflow all perfectly calibrated to growing mangoes. Bees are even rented and brought in to help with the pollination process. Once they start to bud, most of the developing fruit is pruned, which allows the remaining mangoes to get all of the nutrients from the tree. They grow so large that they require individually wrapped nets to hold them up, and the added light exposure turns the skin a signature deep red. Finally, they are not harvested early, but allowed to fully ripen and fall off the tree. 

Even after all this they are personally inspected for quality before being sold. So, how does Sushi Noz handle this exceptional fruit? It gets no embellishment or added flair because none is needed, as they are said to have a melt-in-your-mouth texture and an incredible sweetness in their natural state. The mango is served to each diner as a few simple slices, essentially pieces of mango sushi, in a crystal bowl. They are presented as the final capper on a two-plus hour long dining adventure. While you may certainly balk at the cost of such an extravagant omakase experience, at least there is no doubt that Sushi Noz is serving you the best ingredients the world has to offer.