THR

Hello all,

Apologies for starting a new thread here. I couldn't find an appropriate one to append my question to.

I have a question regarding the restaurants we have selected for Tokyo; and one that we are trying to decide between. We have the following reservations:

Saturday: Booked at Sushi Shin (1*) and Kanda (3*)
Sunday/Monday: No reservations; we will just wing it
Tuesday: Lunch at Sushi Iwa (1*), dinner at Joël Robuchon Ebisu (3*)
Wednesday: Narisawa (2*)

Our decision point is the Saturday. I am leaning towards Kanda as we have the reservation for Sushi Iwa on the Tuesday...

Anyone have any thoughts on Shin vs. Kanda? Or any comments on the selection? We tried for a few other sushi places (Jiro, Saito) but were unable to get a reservation.

Thanks for any advice/feedback

MattEvan

Instead of Sushi Iwa, try for Sushiya.

Instead of Narisawa (highly overrated in my humble opinion), try for Den or Florilege.

Sushi Shin is spectacular. Robuchon is what it is, great but available in several other cities.

aqwe

I would skip Sushi Shin and try to add a tempura restaurant, Motoyoshi and Fukamachi are two of my favorites.

MattEvan

It's obviously a point of personal preference, but I find high-end Tempura to be a poor value in general.

If you must, I do like Mikawa Zezankyo--it's on the "other" side of the Sumida in Koto ward. The chef (Tetsuya Saotome), an older man who is considered the dean of Tokyo Tempura, is also a noted calligrapher. He will sometimes take your menu and add his art to it. Will try to dig up my menu and post it here.

MattEvan

(That was the amaebi he served me a few minutes before!)

aqwe

I believe he does it if you order the Omakase menu since I was the only one that got it during lunch service, I did find his tempura on the oily side compared to the others I've been to.

mkjr

personally I see high end sushi as perhaps the poorest value in Japan.

I take the point that how much could a piece of shrimp cost.

I'd suggest a moderate tempura bar place but I'd personally draw the line at more than 10000 per person for any chefs choice sushi.

DrGiggles

+1. that plus some other facets of our meal would lead me to recommend going to a different tempura restaurant if you go that route. Given the limited number of meals you have though my vote would be to skip tempura this time around if it wasn't important enough for you to have on your initial list.

Pickles

I've said it before and I'll say it again: FT is not really the place to ask about restaurant recommendations in Japan.

mkjr

where is? in English? just curious.

THR

Sorry all : I did not realise this thread had responses!

We will try tempura in Kyoto. Thanks for your alternate advice. Researching now.

Pickles

Chowhound is pretty good. Tabelog is also available in English, so you can at least read the scores and the restaurant info.

chongl

Narisawa was a bit too 'experimental' for me.

MattEvan

One last suggestion: Instead of Joel Robuchon (can get that same menu in many other cities), consider up and coming French 1-stars Abysse or Le Sputnik.

mjm

Tabelog is particularly good for pictures and understanding the place before you go. It has a weakness in that many places tend to be reviewed by lopsided demographics. That said, as a tool it is quite useful. Chowhound is good for the FT about Food sort of crowd. To be honest, I am finding Facebook quite useful now too as people tend to link to places they like and then I can see their dining reports on their pages.