Moments to Savour
In the restaurant world, much has changed over the past year. While we have mostly been confined to our own borders, and that includes our own four walls at times, restaurants have had to evolve, alter their offering, change their focus, or at worst, close.
I’ve still managed to dine out a lot within Australia and experience first-hand the effect the pandemic has had on the industry. We have a long way to go before we have true freedom of movement around the world, and I have missed being a global citizen, indulging in my favourite pastime, experiencing cultures through the incredible food on offer in great restaurants and eateries.
Recently, while clearing out my home where I now spend so much time, I came across many menus and photographs of my dining experiences and took a breath, while I remembered just how incredible so many of those were.
This led me to bring those moments flooding back by writing this piece and sharing it with you. The restaurants and eateries I have singled out here hold the strongest memories for me. The reasons for my choices are varied. When dining out, standout experiences are usually due to the sum of their parts, encompassing the food, the atmosphere, the service, the location, the company. Or perhaps it is something unique, over and above, something unexpected, that when added to these components makes them unforgettable.
These are ten places, over the past decade, many visited repeatedly, that I hold closest. When I remember them, I am mentally transported right back to that moment. Sit back and visit these through my eyes, in what were personal and exceptional experiences.
1 | SAWADA, Tokyo, Japan
Of all the sushi joints in all of Tokyo, I walked into this one ;) Well, I didn’t exactly walk in. For no-one can just wander in here. This tiny one room sushi-ya is strictly reservation only, and one of the city’s most highly regarded top-tier sushi temples. Sawada was the birth of my obsession with off-the-charts sushi like nowhere else in the world. Since my first visit here, I have never looked back.
Ground floor entrance. Sawada signage Level 3. Tricky to find!
Entrance to Sawada, immediately outside the elevator on Level 3
I first went to Sawada in 2012. It was the first of the Michelin starred sushi shops I ever visited. Little did I realise the impact my choice would have on me. Sawada ruined me, beginning my odyssey of seeking out the finest sushi experiences in Japan, of which I have luckily had many. To this day, Sawada is the best and most precise omakase I have ever enjoyed. After five consecutive visits, it remains my pinnacle sushi experience in the world.
Chef Koji Sawada is unusual, as he did not come from a sushi dynasty. Previously a truck driver, Sawada became a sushi chef in his early 30’s. He soon mastered the art of sushi and in his pursuit of perfection has created many standout pieces that have become his signatures.
The experience here is a 20+ piece, perfectly timed sushi only omakase. The raw, seared, marinated and smoked fish are immaculately aged and seasoned, the freshness unparalleled.
Sawada is an experience not for the meek. The food can be challenging at times, with chef Sawada a somewhat stern, daunting presence. The rules are strict. Be on time, otherwise you’ll lose your money and be turned away. Do not wear any cologne, this would ruin the delicate sushi. No photography whatsoever. No raucous behaviour. For many these rules would be off-putting to many. You don’t come here for a jovial gathering. I have no problem with the rules, but I would love to have taken a few snaps of the extraordinary parade of Japan’s finest seafood, masterfully prepared, and share them with you.
Quiet reverence is expected. But boy, this is pure theatre. Upon entering the pristine, tiny room on the 3rd floor of a nondescript office building in Ginza, you are struck by the beautiful cypress counter and the intimate, zen like setting. With only 6 seats, this is as personal as it gets.
Sawada is entirely a husband and wife operation
Greeted at once by Sawada-san and his wife, you immediately realise this is solely their operation. Both have distinct roles at each performance. Sawada is the sushi master, his wife his in-tune assistant, who also performs the grilling. It’s unique in that no electricity is used whatsoever. Aburi maguro is cooked over a bincho-tan grill.
To my mind, the shari (sushi rice) prepared here is the best I have had to date. With so many other sushi shops either overplaying (too much vinegar) or underplaying (too little vinegar) the rice at Sawada gets it spot on. The rice and the fish should have equal flavour dimensions. Both should shine and prep up each other.
The two most highly regarded sushi items, Bluefin Tuna and Uni (Sea Urchin) are the stars here. There is more of the very finest cuts of tuna on offer here than anywhere I can remember, through a spectacular progression of five tuna nigiri that climbed the fattiness scale from akami (the lean reddish flesh along the spine) through kamatoro (the prized, fatty gill flesh), building one by one in creaminess and richness.
Chef Sawada and his prized tuna
Sawada takes great pleasure in filling a large, rolled nori sheet to the brim with around 5-6 tongues of the very best uni from Hokkaido. The experience upon stuffing it into your mouth is as close to orgasm as I know. To this day, the best and most generous I have ever had.
Some of the fish is smoked beautifully, adding another unexpected dimension of flavour. There are some weird and unusual dishes on offer. The Sea Cucumber Eggs and the Ark Shell I found somewhat challenging in both texture and flavour. But they are all part of the immaculate adventure that is Sawada.
For me, there is nothing quite like dining solo in Japan’s best sushi restaurants. Just you and a handful of strangers, watching the pure theatre of each morsel being individually created, presented uniformly to each diner. A three-hour lunch or dinner passes by in what feels like half the time. The way that the meal has been so carefully considered that it ends at the very right moment when you are just sated. The perfect amount of food, perfectly balanced. I have more eye-roll back moments in Japan’s great sushiya than any other restaurants.
This is the joy of omakase, the chef’s choice, presented exactly in the correct order, each item complementing the previous, and slowly building the crescendo of flavour. Sawada nails this to perfection.
Sawada さわ田
5-9-19 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0061, Japan
2 | ROOM CUCINA, Syracusa, Sicily
Spinning to the other side of the world now, to one of my most recent trips before the pandemic. Man, I just adore Sicily! My second favourite world destination to Japan always delivers knockout food experiences cooked and presented with fine skill.
The island of Ortigia on Syracusa is a magical place, with its twisting alleys and crumbling buildings, the atmosphere oozing from every crack. On one corner just steps from the entrance, is a restaurant that excels in creating versions of Italian classics with modern twists and much surprise.
Room Cucina, Syracusa, Sicily
The flavours emanating from the dishes at Room Cucina are beautiful. Here is a restaurant that lands impossibly delicious flavours with ingredients of such freshness, from both land and sea. In an airy, comfortable, and light filled space, a concise, modern menu offers some familiarity with some interesting additions.
For me it was the amazing, sweet and ultra-fresh seafood that shone brightly. Red Shrimp in particular, a complete revelation. The sweetest, juiciest crustaceans I’ve ever had. Marinated in lemon and mixed into a pitch-perfect spaghetti with a stock of its own shells and a lustrous cacio e pepe sauce. A stupendous, satisfying dish.
Spaghetti, Mancini Cheese & Pepper, Lemon Marinated Red Shrimps - Room Cucina, Syracusa, Sicily
The true test of a great restaurant is getting their raw dishes not only right, but also elevating them beyond just raw slices on a plate. The gorgeous ultra-fresh raw seafood plate at Room was not only delicious but dazzling to the eye. Presented as a painter’s palette, the finest diced tuna tartare a centrepiece, surrounded with sashimi of Amberjack and bright, glowing Mazara Red Shrimp.
Tuna Tartare, Amberjack Sashimi, Mazara Red Shrimp - Room Cucina, Syracusa, Sicily
Room Cucina is so much more than initially meets the eye. This is clever and well considered cuisine that never strays from the comfortable but adds glamour and interest beyond the expected. A restaurant for everyone to love and admire.
3 | RONIN, Hong Kong
Everything about Ronin is right up my alley. Located amongst the narrow back streets in the old part of Central, Hong Kong, the restaurant lies behind a hidden neutral sliding door with no signage, just off a small park, lit by dim street lamps. Atmosphere plus.
Slide that grey door back and enter the wonderland that is Ronin
The first time I went I struggled to find it. When I finally did, a simple slide revealed a long, skinny room with a bar made from keyaki wood stretching from beginning to end with counter stools for all. The perfect spot for both late-night solo dining or intimate catch-ups. The fourteen only seats are amongst the most coveted in the city.
Ronin, Hong Kong
Ronin is a perfect collision between a high-end Japanese Bar and Izakaya. Walking in here, you just know you are in for a good time, and the later at night you go, the better!
Lovers of Japanese food and beverages will be in seventh heaven here. Each of my dinners here have had unexpected surprises, with each experience delivering knockout moments. Ronin is Japanese whisky nirvana, with over 100 on offer, the highball concoctions superlative. The sake line-up is one of the most impressive I’ve seen outside Japan.
Japanese Whisky line-up at Ronin, Hong Kong
With a strong emphasis on seasonally changing seafood prepared with Japanese flavours and techniques, dishes are presented as Raw, Smaller & Bigger, helping to navigate the perfect parade of dishes as you slug those delicious beverages.
Amongst the signatures which impressed me deeply were Crab shells piled with flower crab, uni, mitsuba and sudachi ; Unagi chirashi with kinome, pickled cucumber and sesame, and Kagoshima wagyu with negi, maitake and sukiyaki egg yolk.
Flower Crab, Uni, Mitsuba, Sudachi - Ronin, Hong Kong
Kagoshima wagyu, negi, maitake, sukiyaki egg yolk - Ronin, Hong Kong
Ronin manages to provide diners with a high-end, unstuffy dining experience and give those that want it, a rocking good time. The strong drinks that perfectly match the food go some way in helping achieve this. I have discovered more great sake and whisky behind this hidden door than any other restaurant. Ronin is an ultra-satisfying party, with that X-Factor where you soon realise there’s nowhere quite like it. I do consider it unique, with its own stamp. It’s a late night must do for me whenever I am in the city.
4 | RISTORANTE MANNA NOTO, Noto, Sicily
Another Sicilian entry makes the cut in my top 10 restaurants. Noto is an extraordinarily beautiful city, with all its baroque splendour. It’s easy to be spellbound when dining almost anywhere amongst such resplendent grandeur. There are many fine places to eat. But one stands head and shoulders above them all.
Manna is located up one of the steep streets leading away from the main street, Corso Vittorio Emanuele III. The restaurant itself is located within the stately Palazzo Nicolaci, in what were once the cellars. On a warm day, the coveted seats are those street side, with the sun glistening on the surrounding limestone. But it’s the food that you come here for, creative, clever and modern Sicilian cuisine par excellence. So good, that my companions and I returned for a second day, to experience both lunch and dinner.
Exterior. Manna, Noto, Sicily
The restaurant’s philosophy is simple. Thoughtful, seasonal dishes of freshness and the highest quality ingredients, with the addition of the love and passion of the owners. All restaurants should have this mantra. At Manna, this dedication shines brightly. Mediterranean flavours and aromas are the focus, a modern interpretation of local Sicilian ingredients, created with aplomb.
The dishes we enjoyed on our double visit in 2019 were sublime. The level of freshness, presented with such quality and some creative whimsy. Just look at this take on the classic Vitello Tonnato. Not only a stunner but about the very best version I can remember.
Vitello Tonnato - Manna, Noto, Sicily
Art on a plate. Juicy scallops - Manna, Noto, Sicily
With food presented with such care and dazzling flavours, I consider Manna to be one of the best restaurants in Europe, with excellent service and very reasonable pricing for the incredible quality. Happy days were had here. This is exactly the kind of local restaurant everyone looks for – a big cut above the norm, whilst retaining some familiarity and comfort. I long for the day I return.
Ristorante Manna Noto
Via Rocco Pirri 19, 96017 Noto SR, Italy
5 | SUSHI TAKAMITSU, Tokyo, Japan
What a discovery this was for me back in 2018. Sushi Takamitsu, in Naka-Meguro, Tokyo, was recommended to me by my trusted American Express concierge in Sydney, whose friends in Japan suggested it to her as a good option for me on my next trip.
To say I was completely blown away would be an understatement. An extremely talented chef, Takamitsu Yasuda goes above and beyond so many other, more traditional sushi chefs, with his insistence on the very best quality ingredients from all over Japan as well as his love of all things exquisite and luxurious.
On offer here is an abundance of riches rarely seen in other top sushi establishments in Japan. It’s the love of luxury that shines with the presentation of every dish here. Takamitsu prepares every morsel with delicate precision to diners on his 11-seat counter in a finely tuned 2-3 hour theatrical experience that truly dazzles.
Two stages of the omakase stand out as breathtaking spectacle. Sitting atop two Louis Vuitton leather trunks that serve as part of the preparation counter are enormous hunks of the finest available Bluefin Tuna. The cuts from the fish are unforgettable, melt-in-the-mouth moments, and form one of the omakase’s many high points.
Bluefin Tuna upon Louis Vuitton trunk counter tops - Sushi Takamitsu, Tokyo, Japan
Chef Takamitsu preparing the tuna - Sushi Takamitsu, Tokyo, Japan
The showstopper section of the omakase is the abundance of the highest graded Japanese Uni, multiple varieties, ranging from purple uni from Oma to Bafun uni from Hokkaido, the best making their way into the meal. There is a 10 minute or so sequence where boxes and boxes of uni are laid out in front of diners for inspection, wonderment, and photographs. At this point, I felt as if my feet had left the ground. For Sea Urchin lovers, this is Tokyo’s ground zero.
I have never seen such luxurious ingredients presented to diners in this way and it is not only awe inspiring, but playful and fun to be a part of. Takamitsu knows he has the best of the best on offer, and he watches the inevitably amazed reaction of diners with total glee.
Takamitsu is an aficionado of the finest Champagnes, and the list here reflects that. It is a perfect match with the omakase, as is a very refined sake list, one of which, designed to go specifically with beautiful, intricate Mackerel maki, is offered in stunning Kagami Crystal glasses, the very finest in Japan.
I was lucky to get onto Takamitsu when I did, as it didn’t take long for word to spread far and wide about the extravagance on offer here. Now with a Michelin star, I have no doubt it has become another very difficult restaurant to get into in the city.
When I can finally go back to Tokyo, I hope Chef remembers me and welcomes me back to the front of the queue. I do believe he will, such is his generosity. This is the one restaurant that is a must for me on every visit to Tokyo.
Sushi Takamitsu
1 Chome-28-2 Aobadai, Meguro City, Tokyo 153-0042, Japan
6 | NATIONAL KITCHEN BY VIOLET OON, Singapore
Singapore is a mecca for food lovers with a multitude of choices across all price points. I’ve eaten at a zillion places in the city eating every cuisine imaginable, but when I go it’s the rich, spicy Nyonya dishes I seek at least once per visit.
Sure, I can eat some fine dishes very inexpensively at the Hawker markets, but you must be in the mood for that. The restaurant I love the most dishing up powerful flavours inspired by Singapore’s rich history of Nyonya, Chinese, Indian and Malay cuisine is National Kitchen By Violet Oon, in the iconic historical City Hall building now home to the National Gallery.
Born in Singapore in 1949, Violet Oon is the grande dame of Singaporean cooking, a renowned chef and a foremost authority on the cuisines of Asia, specialising in Nyonya food. The room is like a jewel box, ornate with brass and glass mirrors and large chandeliers. It feels in no way stuffy, however, it’s cosy with supremely comfortable banquettes and chairs designed for both small and large groups.
Entrance - National Kitchen By Violet Oon - Singapore
Interior - National Kitchen By Violet Oon, Singapore
Here one can celebrate the familiar classics of Nyonya cuisine, most of which are the best versions I have ever tried. It’s a great place to discover some of the lesser-known dishes to Westerners, a place for an adventurous palate and particularly for lovers of spice and heat, as they don’t hold back here.
The depth of flavours in the dishes show a deft hand in balance, everything is in its place and you can taste the spices in unison, making the dishes a leap ahead of most other renditions in the city.
Some of the dishes that have truly impressed me during my visits are an off the charts, thick Beef Rendang, comprised of Beef Shin cooked for hours with an array of spices flavoured with Kaffir and Bay Leaves in creamy coconut, fabulous Butter Prawns, fried in butter floss and crispy curry leaves, and a signature Dry Laksa – fresh rice noodle tossed in laksa gravy topped with juicy prawns, tau pok and bean sprouts. All fantastic dishes.
Beef Rendang - National Kitchen By Violet Oon, Singapore
Angka Prawns tossed in spicy fragrant chilli padi garlic rempah - National Kitchen By Violet Oon, Singapore
Dry Laksa, National Kitchen By Violet Oon, Singapore
This is Asian comfort food, but a cut well above, so well executed and explosively flavoured. Visitors to Singapore who want to enjoy the best possible renditions of the classics, some with modern twists, should come here, as there’s simply no better house for it.
National Kitchen By Violet Oon
1 St Andrew's Rd, #02–01 National Gallery, Singapore 178957
7 | LA MAISON DE LA NATURE GOH, Fukuoka, Japan
My only visit to Fukuoka was in 2018. With only four days to explore the city, I knew I had to choose my dining options well. I wanted one high end experience and I certainly made the right choice with La Maison de la Nature Goh.
Tucked away down a small alleyway in Fukuoka’s Nishinakasu Street, the small, intimate space is immediately appealing, with an air of unmistakable luxury in the surrounds. This is a very fine omakase restaurant, with chef Takeshi Fukuyama creating chic French-Japanese fusion dishes over a six or seven course menu.
Entrance, La Maison de la Nature Goh, Fukuoka, Japan
Creative team - La Maison de la Nature Goh, Fukuoka, Japan
All of the dishes here were marvels of both technique and flavour. Every ingredient is sourced solely from each prefecture of the Kyushu region, including the signature, a sensational giant prawn, shiitake, and brown butter emulsion, and the finest Kagoshima beef I have ever had in Japan.
Kagoshima Beef - La Maison de la Nature Goh, Fukuoka, Japan
What makes La Maison so special isn’t just the superb food. What is so good is the complete absence of stuffiness often found in omakase restaurants of this calibre. This felt very casual with polished service that was laid back, welcoming and friendly. An X-factor, indeed. Servers here give you a very personal experience. Their knowledge of how the dishes came to be created and of the matching wine and sake selections are second to none. I learned much about the sakes of Kyushu during my dinner here. It really was an all-immersive experience.
Chef Takeshi had plans to close the restaurant in 2020 and open a new establishment teaming up with famed chef Gaggan Anand of famed Bangkok restaurant, Gaggan. I’m not sure if that has come to fruition, or whether it’s on hold due to the pandemic. If it does happen, I have no doubt it would be a masterful and unmissable experience.
La Maison de la Nature Goh
2-26 Nishinakasu, Chuo Ward, Fukuoka, 810-0002, Japan
8 | DIVINO MARE Syracusa, Sicily
Of the ten restaurants in my list, this is the most humble. It’s also the one that speaks most about time and place, a perfect capsule of memorable and unexpected moments.
Located just around the corner from the wonderful fish market and port, just past the entrance to the beautiful island of Ortigia, I stumbled upon Divino Mare when I first visited Sicily in 2016. The day was sunny and glorious (as most are on the island) and I had a hunger on and a desire to sample the freshest seafood straight from the market.
Divino Mare could not be simpler. Basic tables and chairs laid out in the sunshine facing the market, a long, daily changing menu with the best of the days catch written in Italian standing proudly at the entrance. I took a punt.
Daily changing extensive menu - Divino Mare, Syracusa, Sicily
I began to brush up on my Italian (via Google translate), but it wasn’t long until I was served by the owner, a handsome, rustic looking Sicilian who welcomed me and led me through the menu. I had two dishes that day and both had me in raptures.
So simple in execution, but so perfect. The quality of the produce, just what I was seeking, was evident and shining. First up, a big bowl of local Mussels, just steamed and in a divine broth of marsala wine. The mussels were small, tender, and sweet. Delicious. With garlic rubbed bread to mop up the juices and that lovely broth.
The sweetest Mussels - Divino Mare, Syracusa, Sicily
But it was what followed that changed the course of my dining habits from that day on. I’m a pasta nut, everyone knows that. A day like this, relaxed, on vacation basking in the sun, lunching with a lovely glass of Inzolia, the local white wine – I just had to indulge in a fine Italian pasta dish.
I had read about how ricci (sea urchin) was a particular Sicilian specialty. I was dying to try it, to see what all the fuss was about. On the menu that day was Spaghetti ai Ricci De Mare. Nothing prepared me for what I was about to taste.
It’s rare to experience something new and be bowled over by it. By now, I’ve eaten just about everything out there. But there is something about sea urchin that makes it one of the finest tastes of all. It is certainly polarising for many. To me it’s a creamy, insanely delicious, and textural marvel, a flavour so unique it’s hard to fathom.
The dish at Divino Mare was a very simple spaghetti cooked with some fish stock, white wine and garlic, studded with bright orange, tiny tongues of just fished local ricci. I can still taste that first mouthful. It was so delicious and unlike anything I’ve ever had that I was completely enraptured. A “wow!” moment dialled up to one hundred.
Spaghetti ai Ricci de Mare at Divino Mare, Syracusa, Sicily
With pasta, less is more, if you base the dish on sea urchin. Let the creaminess of the crustacean shine as the main event. Truly, you don’t need much more. Since then, I have eaten hundreds of the critters in restaurants all over the world. Their focus in Japanese sushiya and omakase restaurants amongst the highlights. But the memory of that first ever try still lingers. And I’ve never had a version of that dish as good, to this day.
The focus and the menu at Divino Mare keeps evolving and it has gone through some changes. It is now mostly tapas and small bites, still very reflective of the seasons and the island’s produce, but a move to how people most like to dine today in a tourist location.
Divino Mare is one of the few eateries where all of the elements aligned to create the most perfect meal on the most perfect day. I’ve been back a few times, it remains very special and somewhere I’ll never forget.
Divino Mare
Via Raffaele Lanza, 10, 96100 Siracusa SR, Italy
9 | FUJIYA 1935, Osaka, Japan
“A dining experience that evokes tasty memories of the season”
In preparing for my visit to Osaka in 2018 I had several restaurants lined up, but this was the one I looked forward to most. Fujiya 1935 has always been at the forefront of perfection, ever since it opened in 1935. In an elegant and understated room, upon entering you just know you are in for something very special.
Osaka born Chef Tetsuya Fujiwara remodelled the restaurant that had been in his family for four generations, turning it into the spectacular dining destination that puts seasonal ingredients at the forefront, to be created into dishes vividly rich in aroma, flavour, and texture.
Fujiya 1935 interior
Ingredients are sourced from Japanese prefectures that are renowned to have the very best. It was here, over a long lunch, that I enjoyed one of the most perfect meals of my life.
Chef Fujiwara studied in Italy and Spain and his skills are on full display here, through his creation of Japanese dishes with a European twist. What I liked so much is that the Euro influence was not French, which is very common in Japan, but Spanish, and the dishes were inventive and strikingly different.
With extraordinary attention to detail, this is an omakase of beauty, precision, and surprise. The idea is also to evoke memories of the season, to strike a chord in diners through colour, flavour, and texture, reflected in the beauty of Japan. This is exactly what you get.
The beginning of the meal started with such a wow factor of taste and technique that I could almost not believe it. A fluffy bread ball infused with air bubbles of tomato, where you can taste the difference in texture, whilst the palate received flavours of both tomato and bread in equal measure. Hard to describe, and from what seemed so relatively simple, the dish was a triumph, and only led to subsequent dishes of equal outstanding quality.
Bread with air bubbles of Tomato - Fujiya 1935, Osaka, Japan
The two Michelin stars the restaurant has gained in no way makes the experience stiff and too refined. It is a civilised affair, but there is generous warmth in the service and the presentation, in a confident restaurant firmly focused on its goal to surprise, move and delight.
Hokkaido Pacific Saury, Gingko Nut, Fennel, Linguine - Fujiya 1935, Osaka, Japan
There are few restaurants in Japan quite like Fujiya 1935. It’s a fantastic, unforgettable experience.
Fujiya 1935
2 Chome-4-14 Yariyamachi, Chuo Ward, Osaka, 540-0027, Japan
10 | MIYASAKA, Tokyo, Japan
Perhaps the most unique dinner of my life, for so many reasons, was at a very beautiful subterranean restaurant in my favourite eating city, Tokyo. I first read about Miyasaka on a Japanese food booking site, with a perfect English translation, that was descriptive but only gave away so much. Intrigued, I made a reservation.
At that time, my trips to Japan focused very much on restaurants whose philosophy is providing the very best local ingredients from each season. Naturally, this meant kaiseki, a style that is strongly Japanese and is like no other. My goal was to increase my food knowledge through trying as many unique Japanese ingredients as I could, all presented with finesse and precision.
Chef Miyasaka trained for ten years at an exclusive kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto, before taking his concept back to Tokyo. I knew what I would be getting here would be the authentic kaiseki experience, presented by a master.
I’m not daunted by dining solo in Japan’s best, counter seat only restaurants. I love throwing myself headfirst in there. Some would certainly feel intimidated by their refined quiet. Miyasaka is one of these places, and I loved it.
The reason I found my two experiences here so unique was not about the food, nor the service or atmosphere. It was because it was by far the most Japanese. For at Miyasaka, not a word of English was printed on the menu nor spoken, by the chef, the assistants or any of the other patrons.
At both of my dinners at Miyasaka, I was the only Westerner. How wonderful is that! At this point I can imagine many of you cringing at how tricky the experience would be. It was in some ways, the most frustrating of which was not knowing many of the ingredients I was eating. Many of the flavours, of course, were familiar, as far as Japanese technique goes, via the broths and sauces. But there were mystery ingredients aplenty.
Miyasaka, Tokyo, Japan
What was remarkable was that whatever I was eating was absolutely and utterly delicious. I could not believe the quality of the cooking here. With so many unknowns before me, I had two of the very best meals of my life at Miyasaka, and I just loved the complete anonymity I had there.
I certainly got my wish to try unique Japanese ingredients. Frustrating though, to have no way of knowing what they were! I chose the right restaurant in my quest at that time, as Chef Miyasaka sticks to traditional Japanese cuisine methods to bring out each ingredient’s individual seasonality. The best of the best finds its way onto the menu here, from producers right across Japan. The detail in the cooking is astonishing. To make his sublime dashi, the flavour of the kombu and the katsuo is brought out by using natural water from Gifu prefecture, considered amongst the very best in Japan.
Chef Miyasaka has a particular love of white rice as the very centrepiece of Japanese food culture and presents what was one of the most extraordinary dishes I’ve ever had, seemingly so simple but far, far from it. As the finale of the kaiseki, white rice in an earthenware pot is perfectly cooked to “Niebana” (sweet white rice with a high level of moisture)
Perfect white rice - Miyasaka, Tokyo, Japan
The rice is given to diners at the precise point of perfect cooking when the flavour is at its maximum. The rice was like no other I’ve ever had to this day, with incredible depth of flavour. Glistening, shiny, perfect granules, texturally magnificent. Its simplicity defies how amazing it is. I cannot provide more photos, as Miyasaka is another of Japan’s strict no photography restaurants.
I dined at Miyasaka in Autumn and then again in Spring. The flavours of the seasons were in abundance, amongst a riot of colour, through the plating of the dishes on glorious ceramics, including one dish that was a symphony of creative, seasonal magnificence.
Miyasaka, Tokyo, Japan
Amongst an array of scattered, brightly coloured Autumn leaves, seasonal tender fish lay with green gingko nuts skewered onto pine needles, fried chestnuts and chargrilled matsutake mushrooms, one of the most revered delicacies of Japan. The dish is like an oil painting, the thought that has gone into it and the precision of the placement and the balanced seasoning. A true masterpiece.
In this small, lovely room, I dined across Japan from the mountains to the seas, through exquisite dishes both to the palate and to the eye.