I grew up watching the original Iron Chef TV show and Hariyuki Sakai was my favorite chef. When I heard he still operates 3 restaurants in Japan, I made a solo reservation during my recent trip in Japan.
This was their lunch menu, modified to accommodate my seafood aversion.
- 3 little bites: left was a cauliflower mousse, center was venison with sweet potato, and right was creamed cheese and fig
- soup course was a mushroom chawanmushi with ginkgo nuts, finely diced mushrooms, and yuzu, served with chicken consommé poured on top
- appetizer was prosciutto and tomato salad with grapes, olive, basil oil and some sort of delicious white creamy sauce
- next was chicken two ways: piccata and pan seared chicken thigh, served with tomato sauce, herb oil, and seasonal veggies
- main course was Japanese A5 Tournedos Rossini. It’s seared tenderloin topped with foie gras, shaved black truffle, and a black truffle Madeira sauce, served with fresh Italian porcini mushroom, root veggies, and pommes purée. This was the best steak dish I’ve ever had. Perfectly executed and insanely decadent. I can see why it’s been on the menu forever. Also, that porcini mushroom was frickin mind-blowing.
- first dessert was flan with apple preserves topped with a Japanese pumpkin espuma
- second desert was pear compote with caramel mousse, melon sorbet, and fresh pear with whipped cream and melon geleé
All in all this was a fantastic meal from a childhood hero of mine that exceeded all expectations. I’ll definitely be back next time I’m in Tokyo.
$100 out the door for my lunch with two NA drinks and the steak upgrade. Base lunch menu is approx $50. Hours are 12:00-14:30 and 17:00-20:00 Wed-Sun. Reservations by phone only. There are three locations. This was at the Minato Aoyama location. Cash and credit accepted. No parking and no wheelchair access (that I could find).
by Celestron5