Visited Tokyo for five days and Osaka for two. Surprisingly not many tourists outside of the usual areas like Ginza and Shibuya during peak times. We had many fantastic meals, listed below. If anyone has any specific questions about a spot, I’m more than happy to go into specifics.
Sushi Takeru, Ginza. Sho style. Best ankimo of my life! The kazunoko and karasumi side by side was awesome.
Cignale Enoteca. Second time here. It was just as incredible as the first time. Very exciting and visually stunning Japanese Italian fusion. Ingredients are extremely high quality (Yamayuki tuna, freshly made pasta and breads, our chef even mentioned that he personally went the day before to Kagawa, over three hours away just to get the best broccoli). Highly recommend!
400 degrees, Shinagawa. This pizza spot (two locations) has been making its rounds on social media. Since I’ve been to PST & Savoy, we went here hoping to compare. The dough here is a lot more mochi-like in texture. I think this is my new favorite pizza. Second pie pictured was a blue cheese and honey.
Yakitori Moe-Es. This was simply the most incredible yakitori experience ever. Somehow managed to beat Takahashi for me. The boneless teba was some of the juiciest, most perfect bite of chicken I’ve ever eaten. Just consistently perfect yakitori skills by the chef. The hatsu is sliced in half and inverted, making the fattiest parts of the heart absorb the heat first, is the chef’s own invention.
Yoroniku, Azabudai Hills. I couldn’t have asked for a better yakiniku experience. Very high end, with a pretty incredible wine and sake list to boot. The beef was marvelous, never exceeding into that "too fatty” territory with just the most incredible textures and flavors.
Shunsaiten Tsuchiya, Osaka. Two star tempura Kaiseki. Really enjoyed the batter here. Great variety of ingredients. I would recommend this spot over the typical ones in Tokyo. A lot of food for the price.
Tonkatsu Koshiro, Osaka. Surprise highlight of this trip. A short but mighty tonkatsu omakase, highlighting over 5 different breeds of pig. I’ve never had pork or tonkatsu like this. I need to find better adjectives than amazing or perfect…If you go, grab a curry spice packet to take home. The owner also has four other restaurants in Osaka, including a yakiton (pork skewers) location.
Yakitori Ichimatsu, Osaka. Ichimatsu was indeed very good yakitori, however it fell a bit flat in terms of actual taste compared to the other spots we visited. I will say though it was the most creative yakitori meal I’ve ever experienced. They roast coffee beans on the grill to make coffee at the end of the meal. They use charcoal infused batter for a deep fried skewer. They use chicken oil for their candles. Really remarkable thought put into it, however it just didn’t taste as good as I hoped it would.
Myoujyaku. Newly three starred Kaiseki in Tokyo. Compared to Hayato, this meal takes a little more mental effort (at least for my western palate) to appreciate. It is very subtle, yet masterful. Every dish was essentially boiled down to two to four ingredients. His signature Iwashi dish uses a white egg yolk “crepe”, where you’re instructed to roll an entire iwashi bones and all.
Cocon, Meguro Tokyo. This is an under the radar Australian, Japanese, and French tasting menu. The Chef (Masa-San) is a one man show, doing everything including drinks, service, dishwasher, etc. What a fantastic restaurant!! Creating flavor and ingredient combinations that worked so so well. YOU SHOULD GO HERE. Sound track was killer too.
His signature dish, kangaroo tartar with lime juice and agave was superb.
Unagi, guacamole, shiso, pickled cukes.
Tsuagani and onion chawanmushi with rosemary foam.
White asparagus, lard, kawachi bankan (like a pomelo citrus), celery jam, brown butter.
Winter veggies, yuzu, scallop, awabi with a vin juane sauce with snap peas, brocoolli, turnip, and cauliflower puree.
Sawara, congee, sumac, and takenoko.
Duck breats from Kyoto, eggplant dengaku, pumpkin seed miso with a balsamic stock sauce.
Masacarpone, carmelized apple ice cream, strawberries.
Watanabe-san came from Kyubey and Arai, following Arai, then Sugaya. to the extent there’s any Sho references, i think they’re from Arai’s training, not really Sho in style of meal unless he switched up the progression. admittedly Arai is more Kyubey and aesthetically / directionally Tsuruhachi than Sho (despite a different lineage than Tsuruhachi). but the ankimo-narazuke preparation as otsumami and the isobemaki are nods to Sushi Sho indeed. the ankimo-narazuke is great - ask them to do it as a temaki or better yet hosomaki (4 cut)!
sounds good!
good point, not “too fatty,” but really great texture. yes, and i think that a fair amount of people unfortunately devalue wagyu based on limited exposure of export wagyu to to the west, without having tried it much in Japan. I’m surpsied that Vanne is able to keep such consistent quality throughout his 3 (?) restaurants now; the difference between the branches really is the atmosphere.
yeah Myoujyaku is really a subtle masterclass with a unique and technical approach that appears minimalist but is actually quite difficult. it’s not really built on dashi. it veers nearly austere at times. the Kansai connect is important for some ingredients maybe but also for some stylistic elements, then at times it’s quite out of the box unique approaches or flavor combinations.
the iwashi crepe yes it’s his signature dish but tbh the best dishes for me have always been others (surinagashis for example have been super memorable). Hayato is definitely more like the kind of style and progression you’d find at many other places in Japan. while not the same, the approach at Kappo Muroi reminded me a bit more of that of Hayato. taking a grilled fish for example, Kappo Muroi and Hayato remind me of one way, Myoujyaku takes another way. Myoujyaku is showing a different way with different cooking methods for a meal that’s really quite fine on texture and essential, inherent flavors of specific ingredients.
Here are some of the sake bottles we drank as well…most memorable was actually not a sake, the Eshikoto umeshu, which was beautifully balanced. Also the Eureka X Senkin collab that was aged in a bourbon barrel for 5 months and an additional 5 years afterwards. The pink bottle had some sort of chip in it that when you first open the bottle, it gets activiated. From then on, if you place your phone near it, it shows a map with a trace from the brewery (I believe it’s Yucho Shuzo) to where the bottle was originally opened.
