Q&A -Tokyo Restaurants and Dining Guide
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ChuToroZuke
Hello all, and hope everyone is doing well. I just wanted to ask general questions of Tokyo high end restaurants (e.g. kappo kaiseki and sushi at the counter). For those places that have re-opened for indoor dining, what precautions are restaurants taking in terms of safe guarding against coronavirus for the staff and customers? For some restaurants I only see pictures of chefs wearing masks when they make sushi and that seems to be it. Are these places also filling all of their seats, or are they being spaced apart (ie some distance between seated guests but not all seats filled). Do some sushi restaurants put up wall guards between parties to have some separation, have guests apply hand sanitizer before eating, or take temperature checks before allowing customers to enter? Just curious what different restaurants are doing. Thanks!
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guest
@ChuToroZuke it varies quite a bit in my experience.
At the very least they wear masks continuously at all places I've been.
Some also put 1 seat distance between groups which reduces seats drastically (e.g Ichikawa, NK).
I haven't seen partitions between patrons at high end places yet, although this is very common in ramen joints etc. But heard Sushi Saito installed a hanging glass wall between him and patrons (although didn't prevent them to get Covid cases few months ago btw).
Température checks and sanitizing at entrance is the norm, but I think some places skip it.
guest
Hello Saito San and everyone, has anyone been to a sushi restaurant called Kobikicho Tomoki? On Tabelog seems like rating not that high although not many reviews so is it a new sushi restaurant? I think it has 2 Michelin stars as well. Also the price seems to be around 50,000 JPY. Would you highly recommend to visit this restaurant? Which other sushi restaurants would you compare it to in Japan in terms of sushi style? Thank you very much.
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guest
I have been there a couple of times and from what I hear, it is indeed a famous sushiya which has some history. The current chef-owner is the 2nd generation and his father (or father-in-law?) had even higher reputation at his time. I guess that's the reason why some senior managers/directors in local Japanese companies choose this sushiya for their business dinners with foreign partners. The chef-owner also speaks English well as he traveled abroad (a lot?). So it's also fine for foreigners to visit there alone.
For the food it cannot be bad at this price and the chef is excellent at chopping green onions (or leeks?) :) I just feel that, while every dish is above average, he does not have his own signature dish. At a price around 50k, I really expect some unique booming experience there. Sawada (my favorite sushiya) is only a few blocks away and costs me even less for the dinner. I do not mean overpriced, but for 50k in Ginza I would rather considering Sawada or Arai first.
guest
@guest Thank you!
deniseteng
@guest
It’s near impossible to secure a reservation with Sawada. Any tips to book it? By luck only? Thanks!
guest
@deniseteng Sawada releases seats on Omakase at 1pm every Friday. The impossible part (for most of us) is entering Japan now.
deniseteng
@guest
All seats are gone in seconds. I can’t even make it to click the dates when it’s open for booking. Should I upgrade my internet speed? Thanks!
guest
@deniseteng are you using a foreigner's account? If yes, Sawada just does not release any seat to a foreigner's account at the moment, while I'm not quite sure how they tell a local account from a foreign one.
deniseteng
@guest
Thank you for the info.
guest
hi saito-san, could you please tell me how many restaurants hasegawa Minoru have now? it seems quite confusing as there are different names and some looks like the same places? eg. hasegawa minoru, kaoru hiroo, etc. they have many restaurants right?
thank you
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Leo Saito
chief editor, TokyoTableTrip
1.Hasegawa Minoru（French）
https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1307/A130703/13220575/
2.broc Hasegawa Minoru Lab（French）
https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1316/A131602/13236720/
3.Toshi（Chinese）
https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1307/A130701/13225413/
4.Pyon（Kushiage）
https://tabelog.com/en/tokyo/A1316/A131602/13247544/
guest
thank you saito-san.
How abt kaoru hiroo, is that also in Hasegawa Minoru group?
hiroo513
Kaoru Hiroo is located on the second floor of Hasegawa Minoru. Starting this year Hasegawa Minoru moved to being open twice a week and Kaoru Hiroo is open 5 times a week. A fifth restaurant called Wajo is scheduled to open soon (if not already) in Daikanyama.
guest
What will Hasegawa Minoru do the aside from those 2 days?
guest
Hello Saito san, not sure if it's possible (since they are probably all very good or equal) but would you be able to rank these restaurants in terms of your most favorite to least? Kimoto, Iyuki, Hoshino, Shinohara, Matsukawa, Ogata, Kataori, Yamagishi, Doujin.
Thank you!
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Leo Saito
chief editor, TokyoTableTripIt may not be an ideal way of kaiseki cuisine in the sense that it doesn't make very elaborate dishes, but Kataori, which offers dishes that maximize the quality of the finest ingredients, is my favorite these days.
1. Kataori
2. Ogata
3. Kimoto
4. Hoshino
5. Yamagishi
6. Iyuki
7. Shinohara
guest
Thank you very much Saito San. If not too much trouble I would love to know where Matsukawa, Doujin, Mitaka, and Seizan would fit in that list.
guest
Kataori is also my favorite! But Ogata...
guest
@guest You don’t like Ogata? Any particular reason?
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