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SESAMO APERITIF HOUR Sunday through Thursday | 4:00pm to 7:00pm Specialty cocktails | Italian amaro | Natural wine | Bar snacks from the kitchen 764 10th Avenue at 52nd Street, Hell's Kitchen | Walk-ins always welcome |
Happy hour in New York City usually means one thing: discounted pints at a sports bar or cheap rail cocktails at a place you would not visit any other time of day. Hell's Kitchen has plenty of those. Sesamo has something better.
The Sesamo Aperitif Hour runs Sunday through Thursday from 4pm to 7pm. It is a genuine Italian aperitivo tradition applied to an Italian-Asian bar program: specialty cocktails featuring yuzu, shiso, and Italian amaro, natural wine by the glass curated by owner and sommelier Sabrina Gao, and bar snacks sent from Chef Nikita's kitchen. Walk-ins are always welcome. No reservation, no cover, no loud sports television.
This is the Hell's Kitchen happy hour that people who actually care about what they are drinking have been looking for.
Table of Contents
What the Aperitif Hour Actually Is
The aperitivo tradition comes from Italy and specifically from northern Italian cities like Turin and Milan, where the early evening is for drinking something that wakes up your appetite before dinner rather than dulling it. An aperitivo is not a cocktail hour. It is a ritual: the moment when the work day ends, the evening begins, and the glass in front of you is chosen for what it does to your palate rather than how fast it gets you somewhere.
At Sesamo, this tradition collides with an Asian cocktail philosophy that treats aromatic ingredients with the same reverence. Yuzu brings citrus without heaviness. Shiso brings freshness without sweetness. Campari and amaro bring bitter complexity that makes everything that follows taste better. This is what a genuine aperitivo tastes like when a kitchen with two cultural traditions in its DNA designs the program.
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The Italian word aperitivo comes from the Latin aperire, meaning to open. The concept: open the appetite, open the conversation, open the evening. Sesamo takes this seriously. |
The Cocktail Program During Aperitif Hour
The Sesamo bar program does not switch modes during Aperitif Hour. The same team, the same quality, the same attention applies from 4pm to 10pm. What changes is the occasion: earlier in the evening means lighter, more aromatic, more aperitif-forward. Here is what you will find:
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COCKTAIL STYLE |
WHAT IT IS |
WHY ORDER IT |
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YUZU FORWARD |
Italian citrus tradition meets Japanese yuzu |
Bright, aromatic, slightly floral. The aperitivo format translated through an Asian citrus lens. Start here if you want something light. |
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SHISO SOUR |
Shiso leaf, citrus, spirit base |
Herbal, clean, slightly grassy. Shiso is to Japanese cooking what basil is to Italian: the defining fresh herb. In a cocktail, it is unexpected and completely compelling. |
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AMARO FLIGHT |
Three Italian amaro expressions, rotating |
Sesamo's most educational cocktail order. The bar team walks you through three different amaro styles while you eat. Order this during Aperitif Hour when the team has time to talk. |
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CAMPARI BUILD |
Campari, vermouth, Italian structure |
The aperitivo classic done properly. Sesamo respects the tradition and lets it be what it is. Sometimes the original is original for a reason. |
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SEASONAL BUILD |
Changes with what is good |
Ask the bar team what they are currently excited about. The seasonal cocktail is the one where the most thought has been applied most recently. |
The amaro flight is the Aperitif Hour order most worth trying if you have never done it. Three amaro expressions, curated by the bar team, with a brief explanation of each one. You drink your way through three different expressions of Italian bitterness while eating whatever the kitchen sends out. It is educational, genuinely interesting, and exactly the kind of experience that makes you want to come back.
The Bar Snacks: Why This Is Not Just a Drinks Stop
A happy hour is only as good as the food that comes with it. Generic bar nuts and frozen mozzarella sticks are the standard. Sesamo sends out bar snacks from the same kitchen that produces the dinner menu.
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What the kitchen sends out during Aperitif Hour The bar snack menu at Sesamo is not an afterthought. It is designed by the same kitchen that produces the dinner menu, and it reflects the same Italian-Asian logic: small, intense bites that make you want to drink more, eat more, and stay longer. |
What to expect: Small plates and bar bites that rotate with the season and the kitchen's mood. These are not the same items week to week. The lardo dumplings often appear in bar snack format during Aperitif Hour. So does the beef tartare on Sullivan Street Bakery sourdough. Ask the bar team what the kitchen is sending out tonight. That is always the right answer. |
Why This Is the Best Happy Hour in Hell's Kitchen
The neighborhood has a lot of bars. Not all of them deserve the word happy. Here is how Sesamo's Aperitif Hour compares to a standard happy hour, honestly:
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STANDARD HAPPY HOUR |
SESAMO APERITIF HOUR |
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Concept |
Beer + well drinks discounted |
Italian aperitivo tradition applied to Italian-Asian cocktails |
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Drinks |
Standard discounted pours, often boring |
Yuzu, shiso, Campari, amaro flights, natural wine by the glass |
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Food |
Bar nuts, wings, generic snacks |
Kitchen sends bar snacks: actual food from Chef Nikita's team |
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Atmosphere |
Loud sports bar or generic neighborhood bar |
Low-lit, cozy, genuinely designed for conversation |
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Timing |
Often Friday only or 3-6pm when nobody goes |
Sunday through Thursday 4-7pm, the hours people actually need |
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Who leads it |
Whoever is pouring that shift |
A bar program curated around the same Italian-Asian logic as the food |
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What follows |
Usually nothing planned |
Dinner at Sesamo, or Broadway, or just another drink |
The timing row of that table is worth focusing on. Most happy hours in New York run 3pm to 6pm, which is when office workers cannot leave. Sesamo runs 4pm to 7pm, which is when they actually can. On Sundays through Thursdays, that timing aligns with the real rhythm of the after-work evening in Hell's Kitchen.
Who Is the Aperitif Hour For
Everyone, but here are the specific situations where Sesamo's Aperitif Hour is the obvious choice:
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AFTER WORK The 5pm decompression You finish the day and you need somewhere that is not your apartment and not a loud sports bar and not the same place you always go. Sesamo at 5pm on a Tuesday is exactly right: low-lit, easy to get a seat, excellent drinks, and a kitchen that sends out lardo dumplings while you decompress. |
BEFORE DINNER A proper aperitivo The Italian tradition of aperitivo is specifically this: a drink before eating, chosen to stimulate appetite rather than satisfy it, accompanied by small bites. Sesamo's Aperitif Hour is literally this concept. It is not a marketing happy hour. It is an Italian-Asian kitchen taking the aperitivo seriously. |
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SPONTANEOUS TUESDAY No plan? Perfect. The best aperitif hour experiences do not involve planning. They involve finishing earlier than expected and going somewhere worth going. Walk into Sesamo before 7pm on any weeknight, sit at the bar, and let the evening take care of itself. |
SOLO AT THE BAR The most underrated Sesamo experience Solo bar dining at Sesamo is genuinely good. The bar team pays attention. The stool is comfortable. The full menu is available. The wine list is interesting. You eat exactly as well as anyone at a reserved table, without the coordination required to get a group together on a weeknight. |
What Comes After the Aperitivo
The Italian aperitivo was always designed as the opening act. Sesamo's Aperitif Hour feeds directly into the dinner service, which starts at 4:30pm every night. If you arrive at 4pm for the Aperitif Hour, you are already positioned for a perfect evening: cocktail or amaro flight, bar snacks, then a smooth transition into dinner when you are ready.
The dinner menu includes the tamarind bolognese on hand-rolled pasta, lardo-stuffed dumplings, Szechuan pasta with aged parmesan, risotto with Thai basil and lemongrass, and slow-braised meats finished with XO sauce. The Theater Prix Fixe at $60 per person is available every dinner service, timed for Broadway curtains 12 minutes away on foot.
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Sesamo is at 764 10th Avenue at 52nd Street in Hell's Kitchen. Aperitif Hour runs Sunday through Thursday from 4pm to 7pm. Dinner runs Monday through Sunday from 4:30pm to 10pm. Walk-ins always welcome at the bar. Featured in Forbes, TimeOut New York, Noms Magazine, and W42nd. |
A Few Practical Notes
- Seating: Bar seating is walk-in only, no reservation needed. If you want a dining room table for dinner after your aperitivo, book on Resy.
- Aperitif Hour days: Sunday through Thursday only. Friday and Saturday, the full bar program runs but without the Aperitif Hour pricing.
- Best arrival time: 4pm to 5pm is when the bar is quietest and the team has the most time to walk you through the menu.
- Parking: Street parking on 52nd Street and surrounding blocks. The C/E subway at 50th Street is a 5-minute walk.
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Join Sesamo's Aperitif Hour in Hell's Kitchen 764 10th Avenue at 52nd Street, Hell's Kitchen | (212) 265-2755 | sesamorestaurant.com Sun-Thu 4pm-7pm | Walk-ins always welcome | Dinner follows from 4:30pm | Book dinner on Resy |
Plan your visit: Reserve a table at Sesamo, Italian-Asian fusion at 764 10th Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC. Discover more at sesamorestaurant.com.
