Great hotels, Broadway shows, chic shopping and world-class art museums are all well and good, but I enjoy New York’s food as much as anything. Often for these restaurant review columns, we focus on the most promising new openings. In Manhattan, that doesn’t narrow down the options nearly enough. Noticing a large number of upscale Chinese and Chinese-fusion debuts, I visited the five that looked most exciting. If you’re more in the mood for French or Italian, you can find all of our various restaurant recommendations here.

53

Located beneath a wing of the Museum of Modern Art, I expected this sleek restaurant to be touristy, but the crowd had more of a power-lunch sensibility. The bar near the entrance could well have served as a set in Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” — I immediately made a mental note to return for cocktails — and I liked the airy main dining room clad in midcentury-style wood paneling. Everything that we tried on the menu by Singapore-born chef Akmal Anuar was delicious. We opted for the $53 per-person set lunch, plus a few additions (like oysters with uni and yuzu-flavored ponzu gelée that perfectly balanced briny, savory and citrusy notes). The sweet-savory salmon carpaccio had a delectable dash of sesame oil, and crystal dumplings contained buttery brunoised vegetables, but the kung pao chicken — highly recommended by our waiter — was an uncommonly fine example of the dish. But best was the black cod in a clay pot, with delicate fish atop rice with a crusted bottom. “This is something I’m going to crave,” my dining companion remarked. Closed Saturday lunch.