东京麻布十番利夫利酒店

Hidetoshi Nakamura’s cuisine embodies harmony, subtlety, and purity. With minimal seasoning, he captures each ingredient’s subtle trace in water— using only water and sea salt. Mountain and sea are intimately linked through water. Nakamura reminds us that we are a part of the magnificent connection between Nature and her laws. This elegant aesthetic, of beauty through simplicity, exudes modesty, returning us to a spirit of gratitude for the natural world.

These days more and more guests are asking where the fish are caught. ‘If we could eat sushi where it’s caught, we wouldn’t need markets!’ retorts chef Takashi Ono. Discernment is a faculty built only slowly through long years of experience and knowledge. Along the way Ono has cultivated bonds of trust with seafood brokers, enabling him to source quality. The markets are the classic tale of ‘giri’ and ‘ninjo’, human connections forged in duty and loyalty. Sushi in purest form, stripped to its essence.

Tempura craftsmanship handed down from the chef’s father. The essence of tempura is respected, with just a few unique, imaginative changes added. Omakase set menus display a distinctive flair, with shrimp taking the lead role. The first piece is deep-fried rare, to elicit sweetness. Shiitake mushroom stuffed with minced shrimp pairs the bounty of mountain and ocean for a beguiling texture. Another shrimp piece, with viscera concealed within, exudes a tempting fragrance. The meal concludes with kakiage, tempura of mixed seafood and veggies, with shrimp appearing once more to take a bow. Choose

Chinese cuisine cultivated in Japan interweaves with Cantonese cuisine experienced in Hong Kong. The prix fixe menu puts the accent on fresh, hot and fragrant; each course is limited in quantity, permitting a wide variety of items to be served. Congee expresses the daily rhythms of Hong Kong; dim sum includes shrimp wrapped in rice flour and tofu skin. Longtooth grouper and boar are served in hot pots. Striving for harmony among the five flavours, a wide range of sauces, seasonings and fermented foods are skilfully intermingled in this culinary bridge between China and Japan.

The spirit of the tempura artisan lies in treading the well-worn path of tradition while enlivening it with unique interpretations. Service begins with light-flavoured fish and grows steadily stronger in taste through vegetables to shrimp. The umami of roasted sesame oil enhances lighter-flavoured pieces; stronger-flavoured items are lightly fried in cold-pressed sesame oil. The meal wraps up with an inventive flourish to heighten enjoyment of the season, such as ‘temcha’, a bowl of rice topped with clam tempura steeped in tea, which may be served in spring, or ‘tembara’, shredded tempura of s

This restaurant is temporarily closed and plans to relocate around the end of July. The prix fixe menu is joyously imaginative and well balanced. An impressive range of beef cuts are served, each with its own method of preparation for most delicious effect. Seared rump locks in the flavour, slow-grilled tail is fragrant. Chateaubriand is reimagined as a cutlet sandwich; sirloin, served shabu-shabu style, is shorn of unnecessary fat; fillet is grilled over charcoal to a rosy red.

Tomoya Kawada sees cooking as a reconciliation between nature and humanity. He names his approach Sazenka, which literally means ‘tea-Zen-Chinese’, out of a desire to create Chinese fare that mediates between the worlds of tea and Zen. His cuisine harmoniously combines the techniques he learned in China with the soul and spiritual features of Japan – ‘wakon-kansai’ is the theme. Japanese ingredients in season are used in spring-roll fillings and Sichuan stir-fries, lending a seasonal dimension to Chinese cuisine.