Just got back from a quick trip to Tokyo and amongst a variety of very good meals, with both low and high prices, a couple stood out.

The first was the Two Star rated Kadowaki, a tiny 'traditional' kaiseki restaurant. We were seated at the pass for a multicourse dinner presented by the chef. The meal was consistently excellent end to end, each dish complementing the rest and prepared right in front of us. This place clearly has a following, with a few folks also sitting at the pass having been there a few times over the Summer as well. There's a few interesting twists on the menu including the incorporation of burdock and truffles in interesting and tasty ways.

The other restaurant could not be more different - One Star rated Le Sputnik. A 13 or so course degustation paired with at least 8 wines. French influenced but with very Japanese ingredients including venison from Hokkaido. All of the courses were excellent, but the stand out was a very special foie gras dish that only one of us got (they only do 6 of these a night due to the intricate nature of the dish). Visually stunning and very tasty. (I don't photograph my food, but here's a picture from Chowhound. While this meal was truly exceptional, I suspect this chef has even more to show us over the next few years. But get here before everyone else finds out and turns this into a really tough reservation to get.

A big, big thanks to estnet for suggesting Le Sputnik - with all of the options in Tokyo I'm not sure it would have popped up on my radar but am really glad for the recommendation.