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Akasaka Ogino | Composed Silver-Award Kaiseki
January in Japan carries the festive atmosphere of a new year. In many familiar restaurants, you hear the same line: 「明けましておめでとうございます」, a…
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Kyodai Sushi | Winning with Elegance
On every trip to Niigata, one stop is non-negotiable: Kyodai Sushi. The chef looks sharp and slightly intimidating: a V-neck vest…
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UOZEN | A Countryside Gem in Niigata, Grateful for Nature’s Gifts
There’s arestaurant in the mountains of Niigata that I’d tried—and failed—to visit several times. Either the chef was out hunting, or he…
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Shokudo Todaka｜A Restaurant Straight Out of The Solitary Gourmet, Tokyo’s top “Shokudo”
Tokyo has plenty of hard-to-book restaurants, but a place that’s fully booked out to 2030? Even in Tokyo—actually, even in all of…
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Kudan｜A Two-Star, Tabelog Bronze Kaiseki with Unforgettable Lard Rice
Kudan｜A Two-Star, I actually haven’t done that many “proper” kaiseki meals in Tokyo (Yamazaki doesn’t count), so when a friend came to…
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Kyoto | A Belated Autumn with 🥢Kyo-ryori and 🍶Fushimi Sake
🍁 I’d always wanted to experience autumn in Kyoto. To stand on the Kiyomizu-dera stage and look down at a valley of…
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Tokyo’s Top Strawberry Cake & an Immersive Japanese-French Dining Experience | Naoto.K
With so many restaurants in Tokyo, Naoto.K may not be the single jewel at the very tip of the pyramid, but it’s…
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Sushi Yasumitsu（鮨 やすみつ）｜An Irreplaceable Sushi Counter
Tokyo has no shortage of excellent sushi. The baseline is high, and once you start grouping shops by style and lineage, you…
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Toriyone Kyoto（鳥米） ｜A Century-Old Restaurant at the Foot of Arashiyama, and the Most Heavenly Chicken-Fat Yuba
On any Kyoto itinerary, Arashiyama is an unmissable stop. Mountains, water, gardens—everything you want in one place. And when autumn arrives and…