Thread: Koju (Ginza, Tokyo) - real deal kaiseki

Koju was my first meal in Japan, 3 hours after arriving at the hotel. It is one of 8 restaurants to get the coveted Michelin 3-star award in Tokyo. It is the cermonial "kaiseki" style - the way the old emporers ate. The format is pretty rigid and we Westerners will never truly understand everything that is going on (the dishes, pottery, and presentation all have myriad ritualistic connatations and references.)

For example, I later learned all of the bowls in this meal were made by a Japanese "national treasure" (they take their pottery *very* seriously) - Koju, for which the restaurant is named - all of them pictured below cost $5k *minimum*. Crazy.

My first impression of the meal was very good but austere. It took a few days for my appreciation to germinate; but I realized I was soon comparing everything to this meal.

One of the top 10 meals I've ever had (but only 3rd best on my Japan trip!) Cost = $300/pp - very reasonable for the quality.

Full review:
ChuckEats blog Koju (Ginza, Tokyo) - Minimalism and Perfectionism

Some choice dishes:


Deep-fried abalone - perfect beyond words - just look at the picture. The lime and salt, so very simple, brought it to spectacular life.



Dashi soup w/ shrimp ball and matsutake - it was fall and the harvest season was in full swing. The rabbit in the moon motif would be repeated in some way in most of the high-end restaurants. The shrimp ball, if you could call it that, was full of large pieces of shrimp, not a mush.



Sashimi - toro, sea breem, squid - You're instructed to eat the first piece with salt/seaweed/lime, the second with soy/wasabi, and then your preference for the third (there were 3rd pieces hidden in there somewhere.) It was also interesting how finely they grate the wasabi (saw it at Sushiyo Masa too) - it almost looks like the powdered stuff. The toro was the best I've had - it had the full tuna taste of Bostonian tuna with a perfect balance of fat. The squid, more flavorful and slightly less crunchy than anything I've had, really took to the lime treatment. At this point, one did not need to convince me that fish in Japan would be markedly superior to the US.




Fish wraped around matsutake, lime, Japanese beef - first, the plating was the most beautiful thing ever - it was quite literally fall on a plate. The Japanese beef took the fattiness of Kobe and combined it with an *intense* dry-aged flavor - it was the best of both worlds, right there in three incredible bites. I know the Japanese do not generally dry-age their beef but this had it in spades. The fish, which I don't know, had a smoky flavor that meshed well with the matsutake.






France and Japan are miles beyond anyone else when it comes to fine dining (although Spain is making a decent push.) Where France excels at manipulation and artistic expression, Japan excels at minimalism and nature's expression; in a way, the comparison encapsulates the differences between Eastern and Western cultures (ie, selfless vs ego.)

If given the choice, after this trip, I would choose Japan if only given one option.

- chuck

that looks like quite the experience. great thread!!

Chuck - I want to live with you!

I am salivating right now... Chuck, start planning the next "Chuck Eats" meet!

i love japanese food, i am so jealous...yummmmmm!!!

Damn that looks good.

Absolutely tantalizing as usual Chuck, and the price does seem very reasonable for the formality, presentation and quality rendered. Amazing stuff. So the toro actually surpassed your Boston experience?

yes, that was the best piece of toro i've ever had. a lot of "good" toro is very fatty and oily but lacks much taste. this had an *amplified* tuna taste, while still retaining the excellent toro texture.

- chuck

Try a French Kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto, MISOGUIGAWA. Outstanding!