喜山馆酒店

Hideki Ishikawa’s guiding principle is ‘mui-shizen’: serve cuisine that is true to nature, free from artifice. Flavours are light, respecting each ingredient. Simplicity makes presentations all the more impressive, with consideration for harmony among flavours. Niigata rice is cooked fresh and served in earthen bowls, imparting the taste of the chef’s homeland. Kitchen and service staff work together with the practised solidarity of a well-rehearsed team.

‘Tentenkyokyo’ carries the heartfelt wish that guests will enjoy tempura and soba to their heart’s content. Shiba shrimp, skewered and deep-fried, is a standard of soba-shop tempura beloved since the Edo period. Although the sea from which shiba shrimp were once harvested has been reclaimed as land, the tradition lives on. Shiba-shrimp tempura embodies the spirit of Edo, and the food culture resonates even today. For your omakase set menu, you can choose whether to include small dishes in the bill of fare or focus solely on tempura.

Experimentation with new flavours blows winds of innovation into Japanese cuisine. The chef’s purview extends to Western ingredients such as truffle and caviar. Reverence for dashi, however, keeps his dishes within the bounds of Japanese cuisine. The chef treads a unique path, weaving creativity and Western flamboyance into Japanese fare. The counter seats are always fully booked but, with luck, a cancellation might make the private dining room available.

A ‘sugidama’, a traditional ball made from sprigs of Japanese cedar, hangs from the eaves of a house with a unique green décor. The restaurant is the creation of Milan-based Yoji Tokuyoshi and the concept is ‘Italian food with Japanese ingredients’. To draw out the delicious flavour of ingredients in season, preparations are kept simple. A menu focused on à la carte selections encourages guests to enjoy freely. The richly seasonal menu offers something new to discover on every visit.

Amid the refinement of a dignified tea arbour, the chef cooks with sincere devotion. His attentiveness derives from his early work at a ryotei, where he was a doorman in charge of footwear. Tanimoto’s forte is charcoal grilling, preparing each ingredient with the strictest attention. The meal ends with a generous lineup of various rice dishes including, white rice, takikomi-gohan and chazuke, followed by tea poured by the chef himself. The spirit of graceful service brings satisfaction to the depths of the soul.

‘Fushikino’ is a mashup of two words, one referring to a Zen phrase, and the other meaning ‘mysterious’. Together, they suggest things that never before existed. The restaurant’s aim is to create something unprecedented, an unexpected culinary experience made possible through the trinity of food, sake and utensils. The menu lists familiar items of Japanese cuisine, but one-of-a-kind touches manifest in subtle details, such as onion soy sauce and aged ponzu sauce. Drink pairings of one cup per dish, served in sake cups lovingly produced by modern artists, are an entertaining grace note.

Watabe was founded as a fishmonger but morphed into a restaurant when it became known for the delicious eel the owner grilled at his shop. ‘Enma-ju’, which features both shirayaki, eel grilled without seasoning, and kabayaki, eel dipped and broiled in sweet sauce, served over rice in a box, is a tribute to Konnyaku-Enma, a deity enshrined in nearby Genkaku-ji Temple. In the evening, the menu takes on a distinctly French cast, with items such as terrine of kabayaki and foie gras and smoked eel with Brie de Meaux cheese. Eel cuisine Watabe style, with foundations in French cuisine, is the aim he