Skiiipi's Culinary Adventure to Japan

[skiiipi]

I recently got back from a culinary journey to Japan
Dined at a total of 9 Michelin star resturants in 7 days

Thought I'd share some photos here, for some I've already written a review on Trip Advisor so I just quoted the reviews. For others I may just post pic for now and come back to add comments later.

First one is Sukiyabashi Jiro in Roppongi (this was actually my last restaurant before leaving Japan, but it was the most recent from my phone to upload)

Unfortunately I was unable to get a reservation to his father's restaurant.
But after reading numerous reviews about his father's restaurant being a very "hostile" environment for foreigner, I was actually more inclined to try his sons location.

Takashi Ono was very friendly as was his apprentice. His apprentice spoke very good English. The seating arrangement was clearly arranged in a way where the non Japanese guest sat closer to his apprentice vs. The Japanese guest.

Like other high end sushi restaurants, Takashi paid attention to whether or not the customers were left or right handed and altered the size of sushi based on the gender of the customer. (Also ebi for girls had no tail whole for men the chef kept the tail attached)

The sushi rice was more vinagery than the other two michelin sushi restaurants I tried in Japan, but the fish quality was very good. The 4 pieces of sushi that stood out as better than other sushi bars (including a 3 star sushi resturant) was the house smoked Bonito, the chu-toro (which was not seared and can easily be classified as otoro) and the otoro which was the fattiest piece of otoro that I've ever had, and last and not least..the tamago was indeed the best I've had.

I made the mistake of bringing up Nakazawa whom used to be an apprentice at his father's job. He now owns a resturant in NY. Apparently there was some bad blood between Nakazawa and Jiro and Shiro. And Jiro and his family wishes to have no connection with him any more. Takashi-san stopped serving sushi upon hearing his name...walked in front of me (clearly mad and bothered) to tell me the back story between Nakazawa and Jiro....I thought I was going to get kicked out.

It's worth noting after a 15 pieces, Takashi brings out some premium fish that is not included in the lunch set menu, I tried all of the extra pieces and the cost of lunch was a little over $300 usd. Of the extra pieces...the highlight was the otoro.

[skiiipi]

This was a 2 Michelin star tempura restaurant in Osaka....
Prior to this i've never had "fancy" tempura, and given the cost of this meal was under $100, it was the cheapest 2 Michelin Star meal that I've ever had.
The food was tasty, and the tempura was very fresh. I think my favorite piece was probably the corn.
Note their dinner menu is a bit more expensive and can range upto $200, and I think it includes more seafood tempura

[skiiipi]

Kyoto is known for its traditional Japanese Kaiseki Cuisine, with 7 3-star Kaiseki resturants I had a lot to choose from.

I asked my hotel for recommendation on a mid price point one (the highest price point ones can be over $1000/meal), and they recommended Kischien

The restaurant was located in a residential area near a temple. It was basically a house. Upon entering you are asked to take off your shoes by two japanese servers (male) dressed in kimono and kneeling on their knees. (The remained their on their knees for the entire dinner).

I was brought to a waiting area there appears to be 2-3 private dining rooms. At 6pm (my reservation time), I was brought into the counter seat area, there was a total of 6 seats at the bar and was all fully filled.

The meal lasted a total of 4 hours, we finished exactly at 10pm. Some of the highlights was the Otoro Sashimi, the Matsutake Mushroom, the Japanese honeydew, the chest nut pudding. (note that there was 3 price points of menu offered here, I opted for the most expensive one, there was a couple that went for the lesser expensive menu and they did not get the honeydew melon or the matsutake mushroom, instead they got a cantaloupe melon instead)

This meal ended up costing over 50000 yen, and with no alcohol (besides the welcome sake that was included in the meal) Note that I did drink 1 bottle of the Irika green tea which sold for 7000yen here at the restaurant. Given there was no alcohol I think this was the most expensive meal that I've ever had.

[skiiipi]

Sushi Yoshitake In Ginza

Out of Saito, Jiro and Yoshitake, this was the only 3 michelin star sushi restaurant I was able to get a reservation at, and boy was I glad I did.

Best sushi that I've ever had by far!

I think I know sushi and this meal blew me away.

Every piece of sushi was top quality, highlight was the sushi rice in abalone liver sauce.

The chef paid attention to details, he alters the consistency of sushi rice based on if you are eating with ur hands or chopstick. He alters the plating if u are left handed and he also alters the size of the sushi depending on gender.

The restaurant is tiny. 7 seat bar plus a 4 seat private room. When sitting at the bar there is less than 1 feet of space behind you.

The chef was friendly but spoke minimal English, his apprentice also spoke minimal English as compared to Jiro in Roppongi.

The meal lasted just under 2 hours. There was an option to order al la carte after the set meal but I was more than satisfied with the serving sizes.

[skiiipi]

How could I go to Kobe without trying Kobe Beef.

So I found a 1 michelin star teppanyaki restaurant to try real Kobe beef in KOBE!
Reservation was very easy to get, and when I was there, the restaurant was not full, there was maybe 2 or 3 empty seats left still.
There was a few options to choose from in terms of menu, I went with the one that offered the most amount of Kobe Beef, about 6ozs and it was roughly 17000yen.

The beef was amazing, and was better than the wagyu at Octopus Garden as well as the piece of Wagyu at the French Laundry. The fried rice was surprisingly delicious as well, it was fried using bits of kobe beef fat....anything fried with fat is bound to be good.

[skiiipi]

So this was a last min reservation, I got to Kobe earlier than I had planned, so I phoned up my concierge and asked him to find me a good place for lunch and he recommended Fushimi which is a 1 michelin star sushi restaurant in Kobe.

The sushi quality and taste was comparable if not better than Shiro's in Seattle, and at 12000yen, it was cheaper than Shiro's as well. However there was not as many type of fish offered compared to the 2 sushi bars that I went to in Tokyo

This is a husband and wife operation, the husband cooks while the wife served. The wife actually spoke very good english and she was able to translate for the chef when needed.

[Jayboogz]

wow. i just had dinner and i think im hungry again lol.
didnt read too much of your post cause those pictures were too attractive...
im headed to osaka in december any suggestions of where to eat?!

[skiiipi]

This restaurant is in Osaka, it is a 3 Michelin Star Japanese "Innovative" style restaurant. The Chef is relatively younger and mixes some french cooking technique with traditional Japanese ingredients.

Chestnuts must be in season because it was used quite often in this meal (as well as the meal in Kyoto), as well as Matsutake mushrooms also appeared in a few dishes. The chestnut cake (looks like a fluff ball) was probably the highlight, but overall all the dishes were really good.

At under 20000 yen this was definitely worth it.

[skiiipi]

Another spontaneous restaurant choice

On my second day in Tokyo, I woke up earlier than I had thought, so I decided to go to a Michelin star unagi restaurant.

Nodaiwa was supposedly quite famous (reccomended by my hotel concierge) so I decided to give it a try. I didn't make a reservation as they do not take reservation for 1, but I walked in at 11am and was seated right away.

The meal featured steam and broiled unagi, as well as unagi jelly and a small piece of what I believe was smoked or cured unagi

[skiiipi]

Originally Posted by Jayboogz

wow. i just had dinner and i think im hungry again lol.
didnt read too much of your post cause those pictures were too attractive...
im headed to osaka in december any suggestions of where to eat?!

Fujiya 1935 was worth it and so was Shunsaiten Tsuchiya...those are the 2 I tried in Osaka, Kobe is a short train ride away and I'd reccomend Fushimi and Setsugekka as well

[skiiipi]

My first Michelin restaurant in Tokyo.....and for a 3-Michelin star restaurant I was disappointed...maybe I didn't have the pallet to appreciate the food or maybe I was too tired from the travel but none of the dishes stood out.

For around 20000 this meal wasn't cheap either, and honestly was not that memorable.

All I remember was one of the servers was really cute (no I didn't get a pic....so yes I know this comment is worthless without pics)

oh yea and this is the last post
I also had dinner at state bird provision when I got back from Japan but I didn't take any pics, and honestly that meal was incomparable to anything I've had in japan.

[skiiipi]

just a random bowl of Ramen I had at a train station while I was travelling from Kobe to Kyoto....really good and best part only 400yen

[subordinate]

Mother of god man.

Mouth Orgasm.

[knight604]

100/10 post will read again, so jealous.

[Retrac]

So hungry now

[westopher]

Very cool skipii.
I'm loving your posts in here. You are really experiencing some of the most amazing food in the world. Its quite inspiring.
I have a serious love affair with Japanese food. Its such a disconnect from what I know in a culinary sense. After so many years of cooking, when I go out for a meal at a restaurant that uses french techniques, 90% of the time I think, why didn't I just cook at home? I never feel that way after a good Japanese meal, wether its sushi or a bowl of ramen. I can't wait to head to Japan and experience the food and snowboarding.

[BoS_DC2]

[gilly]

what a baller. 9 Michelin star restaurants... wow.

[smoothie.]

thanks for making me hungry

10/10

[skiiipi]

Originally Posted by gilly

what a baller. 9 Michelin star restaurants... wow.

Haha it was an expensive trip.....
But the experience was quite worth it.