Azabu Kadowaki
These days it´s no surprise to anyone that Japan´s capital is also one of the world´s greatest dining capitals. By some counts there are a staggering around 160,000 restaurants, ranging from casual hole-in-the-wall eateries to fine Michelin-starred temples of gourmet excellence (of which, by the way, there are more than any other city in the world - an impressive 135), and covering the entire gamut of world cuisines. And since you probably didn´t travel all the way here to eat French, Indian, or Italian, here´s a list of some of the city´s best Japanese dining experiences which have garnered the prized accolades from the world´s premier restaurant guide:
In Tokyo´s Minato district, Toshiya Kadowaki has been wowing diners for 26 years with his kaiseki (aka kaiseki-ryori, a banquet with many courses meant to showcase a chef´s versatility) in a small intimate space with a table for just six. The chef is known for blending traditional Japanese techniques and flavors with modern and international influences, yielding dishes in which, to quote Michelin, "ingredients in season come together to create fleeting sensations that linger in the memory forever." Examples include his signature truffle rice, a masterful sashimi platter, miso soup with clams, and a host of matcha desserts.
Another amazing kaiseki experience, this time in the famed Ginza district and with two stars, from mild-mannered chef Toru Okuda, whose two-hour tasting menus include exquisitely prepared dishes such as chargrilled wild unagi (freshwater eel); tuna belly diced into cubes, lightly seared and annointed with a soy-egg yolk dressing; and sweet, creamy murasaki uni (purple sea urchin); and lightly seared waygu sirloin.
At his namesake restaurant in Shinjuku (above), a hushed haven with minimalist lines, Hideki Ishikawa is another master of the kaiseki. Your ten-course tasting menu will include seasonal foods made with local ingredients, like rice with matsutake mushrooms, another clay-pot rice dish with succulent scallops, grilled eel with sweet onions, and deep-fried croquettes of sea turtle and lotus root - all very artfully presented, of course. Ishikawa´s three Michelin stars are well deserved indeed.
Ready for yet more kaiseki? Near the Imperial Palace, Seiji Yamamoto´s exceptionally pricey three-star take sticks with fresh, high-quality seasonal ingredients but prepared with a more modern flair, and to quote Michelin, "he handles his knives and tends his charcoal grill with relentlessly honed technique. He elucidates the properties of each ingredient and the best ways to prepare it with a scientific eye, displaying unwavering resolve." Expect the likes of “olive beef” (from cows who are fed only leaves from olive trees); straw-grilled pigeon; and squid on hot custard.
Takazawa
This tiny spot near Ginza Station has a mere six seats at a bar in a simple wood-paneled room but former truck driver Koji Sawada and his wife serve some of Tokyo´s best sushi nigiri omakase-style (chef´s choice), with diner favorites including hirame (flounder), sumika (cuttlefish), sayori (halfbeak), and akami-zuke (marinated tuna). Also worth noting: his long-grain rice cooked with white vinegar and freshly grated, top-notch wasabi to accompany the sushi.
This intimate dining room in Akasaka seats just ten at a time and offers Japanese-French fusion kaiseki created by chef Yoshiaki Takazawa and his wife Akiko since 2005; it´s also omakase style (you can tell him what your budget is and he´ll put it together for you). His most famous signatures is a ratatouille extravaganza of 15 vegetables encased in red cabbage, and notable among his other delicacies are "spaghetti" made from scallop puree and garnished with murasaki (purple sea urchin); and "Seven Tools," a multi-texture/flavor ensemble of various parts of monkfish.
Yoshitake Sushi
Since 2002, Masao and son Kazuma Fukamachi have specialized in Edomae tempura, which differs from the usual tempura by among other things using a finer, lighter batter for a more delicate experience, with fresh seasonal ingredients including prawns, whitefish, eel, sea urchin, and squid, along with vegetables such as sweet potato, eggplant, and green beans (which by the way are treated with the same respect as the more expensive seafood). Sourced daily from Tokyo´s premiere seafood market, Toyosu, and deep-fried in the finest white sesame oil, the result is a one-star revelation.
Working out of his elegantly spare restaurant - five seats at the counter and five in a closed room - on the ninth floors of the Brown Palace building in the Ginza since 20212, Masahiro Yoshitake is considered one of Tokyo´s best sushi chefs. His two-hour omakase menu offers tasty delights such as steamed egg custard with matsutake mushroom paste and salmon roe and red vinegar rice as well as various scrumptious sushi morsels including temaki (tuna hand roll), o-toro (fatty tuna), aji (horse mackerel), anago (sea eel), and uni (sea urchin).
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