Our NYC friend Kate Betts was in town recently to attend the opening of the new Armani store in Tokyo's Ginza neighborhood. Kate is the editor of Time's Style & Design issues, and she's married to Chip Brown, a terrific writer and one of Blaine's best friends.
Kate came over to see Lucinda and Arno, who leaped on the furniture and squabbled while we waited for Blaine, who was returning from a week in Seoul. We finally escaped to our restaurant, Esaki, near the Omotesando neighborhood.
Blaine's WaPo colleague, Ako, says the chef, Shintaro Ezaki (named in this New York Times review) is famous for using seasonal ingredients in tea ceremony-sized dishes that focus almost entirely on that ingredient.
The food is extraordinarily restrained and subtle - a meal for a Japanese purist. The Michelin guide's first Tokyo guide, which came out a few weeks ago, gave Esaki two stars for "excellent cooking, worth a detour." Here's the restaurant website.
This was our eight-course (!) experience. First, white wedges of squid, which I think were steamed, with yellow potato and an undetermined sauce.
Second, very crabby crab soup. I think the dark green dots were seaweed puree.
Third, sashimi.
Fourth, barracuda with broccoli rabe and pesto sauce.
Fifth, tofu pudding that was extraordinarily bland, but turned delicious when I stirred in a few drop of (sesame?) oil and a sprinkling of pistachio nuts.
Sixth, we each had a whole fish, which the waitress called "big hands thorny head". Cooked in fish broth with soy. "The cheeks are the best part!," she said.
This is what the fish looked like before... and after.
Seventh, rice with kampachi and rudderfish.
Finally, three desserts. This was the best one: white wine jelly with rice pudding and slices of grapefruit.
Custard cream with azuki bean paste and toasted pine nuts.
And chestnut dough filled with red-bean paste.
Let me know if you want a reservation...
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