It really depends on your tastes and preferences, as well as your understanding and acceptance of different styles.
I can tell you why I like it. The sake selections are great for those really into harder to find quality brands, and there are some offerings unique to just Kirakutei. Chef has personal direct relationships with some of the sake breweries, who are able to source some unique brews for them not available elsewhere. Owners are super friendly, and okamisan speaks enough English that if you converse slowly with simple sentences, you can get by.
Chef owner doesn't have or list formal training, but I feel he's super talented and creative, and does not conform to any style. He loves eating around (high and low end) and stays in tune with trends, and thus draws inspiration and creates his own style while staying grounded in both modern and traditional washoku principles. Some of his really good friends are well respected chefs in town (Kurokaki, Amamoto, Ivan Orkin etc). Those who dislike this place perhaps feel the skill level is incomparable to their favorite harder to get into places (and many at times not fair comparisons to begin with), or they simply do not understand nor are willing to accept chef's style, or maybe they feel they would rather spend similar money somewhere else.
Out of the three times I've been, I've always been pleasantly surprised. The last visit was amazingly splendid, particularly when they paid extra attention to pouring sake for me that matched the food. I also recommended two friends to go there and they loved it as well.
To really appreciate Kirakutei, one will need to embrace a larger view of Japanese cuisine and be willing to put aside comparisons of literally anything. Don't think of Shinhara, Kimoto etc, and enjoy it for what it is. It's also easy to confuse it with "kaiseki" which it is not, but you will still get a sashimi course, grilled course, dashi course, dessert, and a gohan mono course of kama meshi, or the wickedly wonderful shrimp curry rice (simmered for a long time and is very intense), and something that would equate to a hassun platter. Kappo izakaya high end might be a very loose descriptor of the restaurant before the Ginza move, but perhaps modern washoku is more apt.
If you do try, please come back here and share your thoughts, good or bad.
Thank you Saito-san. Your sense of humor and clever wit today is at its finest! I appreciate a good joke, haha. (facepalm on the Shinkansen tip) I will swim out to Suruga Bay if I have to. I was thinking of stopping in Fujinomiya on the way back.
So another recommendation of gyokuro. I guess I'll have to have some then. Will look forward to the post meal tea. And also took down your suggestion @localtaste. I thought Yame Gyokuro was the famous variety, but I guess Shizuoka must have something on par.
Most of the top hotel concierge services in Tokyo can easily book this shop, too. If you are staying at a 5 star hotel and they are telling you they cannot secure a reservation at Takamitsu, I'd recommend moving to a different hotel.
They are completely different. Miyoshi focused more on expensive over the top ingredients & theatrical effect while Jo offered more variety of dishes showing the culinary skill of the chef, in additional to ingredient sourcing skill. Jo is a smaller restaurant with wooden counter. It’s a simple yet elegant restaurant so the vibe at both places is completely different too. By the way, there’s one gentleman in their board wrote his comment on Miyoshi on this board too.
Sorry for the late reply but I think that they only accept reservations via facebook from Japanese customers . I actually gave the contact of one of my friends in Japan instead of my own information. (+ I wrote to them in Japanese). They must've thought I was Japanese haha. Maybe next time you should try that instead.
They do not have any particular starting time specified, and their system is such that guests can request for a time between 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. that is convenient for them.
Below are the prices and the cancellation charges quoted by my hotel for satake when I went for lunch early this month(Aug 2018).
Restaurant: Sushi Satake
Course: 12,960JPY per person course only
Cancellation policy: 100% of te course if you cancel the reservation on the reservation day.
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