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sanji
Sat Nov 24, 2007 5:06 pm

Re: Shinbashi restaurants
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Hanasanshou - Kyoto Kaiseki (花山椒)

Address - Shiodome Media Tower, 1-7-1, Higashi Shimbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-7227
Opening hours - 11:30-14:30 (L.O.) & 17:00-22:00 (L.O.)
Telephone - 03-6252-1177
Menu - in Japanese (partial English translation available)
Michelin Guide 2008 - 1 star

This restaurant is located at the 25th floor of the Park Hotel Tokyo in Shiodome (in Shiodome Media Tower building). Hanasanshou offers seating for 58 persons on a 128m2 surface, in a modern and comfortable design.

There are large windows offering a good view on Shiodome surrounding buildings, as well as a couple of seats at a counter.

I selected this restaurant not only because I wanted to taste Kyoto Kaiseki food, but also because it got 1 star in the Michelin guide 2008 - the first ever published in Japan.

There is a selection of several menus (5250, 7350, 8925, 10400, 12600 yen), but the details of the dish is not mentioned; the waiter will just ask you if there are things you don't eat, and then the full course menu will be directly composed in the kitchen. For example, the only difference between the 7350 and 10400 yen course is the addition of a sushi plate in the latter. We went for the 7350 yen one.

A succession of about 10 dishes will be brought at the table following the rules of the kaiseki food; even untrained eyes will notice the beauty of all plates, the care taken to present the food and the smart use of natural elements to underline the fact that all food is organic one - in late Autumn, many red leaves are used for the decoration. The only problem was that the tray under the plates was rather worn out...

First dishes included mushrooms and fish, and were both tasty and original; the soup was a little disappointment, the taste being really weak and the dashi without any special signature. Sashimi were of good feature, but again not so different from those you get in a nice izakaya...
One of my favorite dish was probably the flat fish, which was just grilled and served with a small touch of miso - the combination was extremely tasty, and the simplicity of that dish emphasizes the subtleness of a kaiseki course... After a chicken soup with yama imo (mountain potato), we were served the traditional rice and miso soup combo, which announce that the course is at its end. The last service was a simple plate of fruits.

All together, it was an interesting experience. I was a little disappointed but the amount of food, as I still was a little hungry even after the rice set. Still, for 7350 yen, this is a good opportunity to taste real kaiseki food in Tokyo.

Let's finish by mentioning the good selection of nihon-shu (1200-2200 yen for 1 go) and shochu. The overall bill reached 10000 yen per person, as a 10% service charge is added to the total.

Internet - http://www.parkhoteltokyo.com/restaurantsbar/restaurants03/index.html