Tokyo 2007 - Part 3: Things to Eat

Tokyo Restaurant Review

The following sampling of restaurants are in alphabetical order, and range from the very casual to the very fancy.

Cicada (www.cicada.co.jp) - A trendy new spot in Minato-ku offers a great selection of new Spanish cuisine. An excellent wine list (the best in my experience in the city) and excellent Spanish classics made with traditional Japanese ingredients. The set menu Christmas Dinner featured a wide range of dishes, which really highlighted the capabilities of the chef.

Hamadaya (www.hamadaya-midtown.com) - Hamadaya is a fine-dining restaurant in the traditional Japanese Kaseki style. Formally-dressed waitresses present a set menu in a formal dining room. Excellent execution of a great menu. For a very traditional dining experience, this spot next to the new Tokyo Midtown building is a key destination.

Ichiran (www.ichiran.co.jp) - Ichiran is a chain of 22 "noodle shops" all over the city; great for late-night eats. In a odd ritual, you purchase a ticket from a vending machine outside, wait for a seat at the bar to free up, and then present your ticket for a delicious pork or other noodle-based dish.

Kaikaya (www.kaikaya.com) - Located in Shibuya-ku, Kaikaya is a great dinner spot, that has a "local" feel despite being frequented by Gaijin as well as local. The inventive cuisine is mostly seafood, and includes such dishes as Tuna Spare Ribs (grilled tuna on the bone) and amazing Sashimi of all types with unique, western-style spices. The atmosphere is very casual and jovial, and you immediately feel like "one of the crowd". Order a bottle of the "house sake" and sit at the bar; try a range of dishes - the grilled octopus is amazing. English menus are available.

New York Grille (www.parkhyatttokyo.com) - The setting for the bar scenes from "Lost in Translation", the New York Grille boasts a spectacular view of the city. Fifty-two floors above Shibuya-ku, this restaurant and bar scene is where the power players of Tokyo wine and dine. A traditional "New York" menu, with the very fine addition of Japanese Kobe beef, is served in a large, crowded venue. While the service was perfunctory at best, the food was excellent and the view is not to be missed.

Phonam (phonam.jp) - For a good, quick meal of spicy noodles in Roppongi-ku, try this Vietnamese option. Fast food of very high quality.

RyuGin (www.nihonryori-ryugin.com) - Life-altering would be a good description for chef Yamamoto's bleeding-edge cuisine. Reminscent of Alinea, Moto and WD-50 in the US, and, of course, the grandfather of the chemist/chef hybrid, El Bulli, this parade of delicacies earns a spot on my "top 10" list of global restaurants. Chef Yamamoto prepares set menus that will surprise the most experienced palate. Starting with a Fugu (blowfish) soup and ending with a sub-zero frozen carmel apple, the menu showcases all that is amazing in modern cuisine. Japanese staples married with inventive preparation and the deft showmanship of customize plates and utensils (similar to Chef Cantu's Moto experience) allows one to truly see and taste the traditional Japanese ingredients and dishes in a way which will elicit wonder. RyuGin also has a remarkable set of servers, and its manager, Takeo Arimasa, carefully explains the dishes in both Japanese and English to ensure the foreigners who have come to see Chef's masterpieces get the full experience. Book ahead - as of this writing a six month wait list has graced the door of RyuGin in the wake of being highlighted in the Michelin guide for 2007.

Sushi Ko (no website) - Run, don't walk, to the best Sushi experience you will ever have. A set menu prepared excellently in this 12-seat restaurant in a back alley in Ginza-ku. Exceedingly difficult to find, but well worth the somewhat confusing journey. Course after course (about 20) of the most exotic and delectable sushi dishes is capped off by a fatty tuna not found outside of Tokyo, served both raw and grilled. Rarely does a restaurant break into my "top 10", much less two in one week, but Sushi Ko earns top honors for the best sushi I have ever tasted, or can even imagine.

Zakuro (no website) - Similar to many fine dining establishments in Tokyo, Zakuro has expanded to a number of different locations (currently numbering 6). I have eaten at Zakuro twice; once on a prior business trip at the Akasaka location and during this journey at the Ginza location. The private room option, giving you the full traditional Shabu-Shabu experience. The charcoal-burning "chimney" boils a broth that is then used to cook delicious, thin-sliced Kobe beef, vegetables mixed in with homemade sauces. A real unique experience that is frequented by business types from Tokyo and abroad. Make sure you know which location you have reserved at; the numbers listed often do not match the locations' address.