Narisawa, Tokyo

Narisawa, Tokyo (36,300 ¥, 11/14/2019, 13-Course incl. VAT & Gratuity)

Chef Narisawa was born in Aichi prefecture in 1969, to a baker and travelled to Europe at the age of 19. He polished techniques and skills in France, Switzerland and Italy before returning to Japan in 1996. He opened Napoule in Odawara, Kanagawa in 1996. In 2003, he opened “Les Créations de Narisawa” in Tokyo and renamed it Narisawa in 2011. Narisawa has ranked on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for a few years. He has built his fame on promoting organic and natural ingredients as a part of Japanese cuisine.

Narisawa is located on the ground floor of an office building in a relatively quiet neighborhood. It is relatively easy to find. The décor was simple, sleek and contemporary with white table cloths. Tables are located in a small square room with an open kitchen concept, can accommodate approximately up to 32 guests. You can observe the chef and staff through two panels of glass doors. In addition, there are two panels of wooden sliding doors which allows restaurant to close the kitchen view.

Narisawa only serves a set menu of 13 courses. The menu came printed on a little booklet finished with unbleached white hand-made Japanese paper and tied up with hemp string. It included an explanation on the Satoyama Scenery landscapes and Narisawa’s Sustainable and Beneficial Cuisine philosophy. Japan is 70% covered in forest, a highly mountainous groups of islands, the sea and the forests are never too far from the cities. Satoyama refers to this landscape of forests between the mountain and the towns (sato is village and yama is mountain).

To begin with, we were offered a red small shallow cup/plate and our server poured some 1-year old young Sake, from Ishikawa prefecture in Honsu, into ours cups. This red lacquered cup is called “Hiki Sakazuki” and is used to drink during a formal tea ceremony. Using this plate signifies the start of an important meal. Guests usually will ceremonially say “Kanpai” before drinking Sake. It is a gesture of cheer.

1^st Course – “Bread of the Forest 2010”. Moss

As the date indicates, this dish has been a feature on the menu for years. The live bread was brought over to our table and kept warm for 5 minutes by a candle underneath the bread box. Bread container was placed in the middle of a large plate filled with gorgeous looking autumn foliage and fruits. After the 2^nd Course Satoyama Scenery was served, our server grated some chestnut sprinkles on the dough and transferred the bread dough to a pre-heated stoneware (slightly greased at the bottom) at 200 C degree, covered the stone bowl with a piece of wood board and let it baked in the hot stone on table for 20 minutes.

The end product was two small bread balls cooked to a slightly chewy texture. The best part of this course was the butter. Butter was from Hokkaido, looked like a moss-covered rock in the forest, covered with black olive powder and green moss (spinach powder and matcha) and made for a great companion to the bread. After I made comments to our server that I hated to see leftover butter goes to waste, he brought a few more bread rolls. 

2^nd Course – Satoyama Scenery and Essence of the Forest

This dish is a great representation of Narisawa’s Satoyama practice and the most well-known of his signature dishes. The dish was served on a wooden slate covered with varieties of mixed herbs and greens in artistry multi-colors presentation. The black particles consisted of bamboo leaves ashes and coarsely grounded cooked soybean while the green particles consisted of spinach ashes and coarsely grounded soy bean with spinach juice. The brown stick was root vegetable burdock which tasted almost like fried yam skin. The little round piece of green was tempera of forest herb. In addition, there was a few mukago (Japanese baby potato). All these ingredients were laid on a bed of fermented soy bean yogurt (in light green color) and garnished by murasaki shikibu (the little red ball). This dish was paired with a small flask of bamboo filled with cedar and oak infused water, probably to evoke senses of walking through a lush bamboo forest.

The artistic presentation was fabulous and using of soy bean yogurt to smooth the taste bud was another outstanding innovation.

3^rd Course – Sea Snake, Okinawa.  Soft Shelled Turtle. Saga

They caught and dried the snake, and then brought it to the table. The flavor of the soup was rather subtle with the slightest tinge of chicken soup. There were cooked chrysanthemum flower pedals and turtle meatball in the soup. According to Chinese herbal medicine theory, snake is very effective on cleansing your body. So do the chrysanthemum. Turtle meat are rich in micronutrients. The turtle meatball was tender and delightful. Had I not known that the key ingredients were snake and turtle, I would have guessed them chicken soup and chicken meatball.

4^th Course – Amberjack, Hokkaido.  Kabosu, Kagoshima

The English term for Kanpachi is “Amberjack”. But, because Yellowtail can also be called “Japanese Amberjack”, oversea sushi diners sometimes think they are the same fish. Amberjack is the species Seriola dumerili which is less fatty and not as much exported. Amberjack has pale pink flesh and sweet flavor. Compared to its cousin, it is lower in oil and its flesh is a bit softer. Amberjack from Hokkaido is marinated in Kabosu sauce with olive oil. Kabosu, from Kagoshima, is a citrus fruit of evergreen broad-leaf tree. It is popular in Japan, where its juice is used for improving taste of many dishes such as cooked fish, sashimi and hot pot dishes. It tasted less citric than yuzu and its aroma was less pungent than yuzu. The sliced Amberjack sashimi was garnished with sesame seeds and julienned colorful vegetables including Japanese green onion (green), carrots (yellow), carrots (orange), and radish (red). Chef has prepared this dish with minimalist approach by using top grade ingredients only. The cutting technique and preparation were superb and the presentation was artistic.

5^th Course – Buckwheat, Hokkaido.  Wild Mushroom, Shizuoka

This was a Japanese version of pasta dish. Gnocchi was made with buckwheat from Hokkaido and served with the great savor enhancers - wild mushroom from Shizuoka and white truffles from Alba, Italy. Gnocchi was flavored in chicken broth sauce with white cheddar cheese and foie gras from Nagano. Pasta and truffles always made a good pair. Chef Narisawa has fully applied his western technique on this pasta dish, it was truly sumptuous.

6^th Course – Conger Pike, Aichi.  Sudachi, Tokushima

Conger Pike (Hamo) is a species of eel. This dish was a Conger Pike roll filled with matsutake mushroom from Aichi prefecture. Conger Pike roll was coated with panko to keep it juicy and tender throughout the frying process. It was served with sudachi foam from Tokushima, red sauce made from plum and red leaves, and sansho pepper, shiso purée (small green dots) made from Japanese sansho pepper, shiso leaves and white miso. Sansho’s distinctive feature is the unique refreshing aroma and spicy taste, and shiso has the pungent and grassy flavor of spearmint, anise, basil and cinnamon. Sudachi is a small, green citrus fruit of Japanese origin that is a specialty of Tokushima prefecture. It is a sour citrus, not used as fruit, but used as food flavoring. Chef used the sauce and sour sudachi to balance the overall-taste.

For centuries, Hamo has been considered inferior and unpopular because it contains hundreds of tiny bones. It was only when one clever soul invented hamokiribocho, a special knife that separates the bones without destroying the delicate white flesh, then hamo in “already deboned and filleted” became available and grew popular.

It is a contentious issue among the Conger Pike experts regarding when is the best season to eat Conger. Some claim that Hamo taste the best in July when it takes just enough fat because Hamo spawn in autumn. The regions around food crazed cities Osaka and Kyoto (the old capital) have been in love with Conger.  Traditionally, it was served with sour plum. Kyoto aficionados have always considered the autumn versions are the tastiest.

7^th Course – Inaniwa Udon, Akita.       Sea Urchin, Hokkaido

                    Salmon Roe, Hokkaido.   Green Yuzu, Shizuoka

This was another Japanese version of pasta dish, udon. Udon is a thick round shaped spaghetti (without egg) has more body and chewy than the ordinary pasta. I have never tasted any overcooked udon.

In this course, Inaniwa udon from Akita prefecture was served along with fresh sea urchin (uni) from Hokkaido. Uni was so cleanly fresh, not even the slightest ocean smell. Salmon roe from Hokkaido was succulent and not too salty. It was served with sauce made with white tomato sauce, olive oil, and yuzu kosho (literally yuzu and pepper, made from fermented chili peppers, yuzu zest and salt). Yuzu is a green citrus fruit tastes like a mix between a Meyer lemon and grapefruit, while yuzu kosho is fragrant and packs a lot of heat. In this course, chef used green yuzu to complement uni’s taste while used yuzu kosho to offer a little kick to uni and udon.

8^th Course – Langoustine Shrimp.  Kanagawa, Kanto

It was an unusual combination, Chef used meat based “Luxury Essence Soup” instead of shell fish based soup. Luxury Essence Soup was made by steam cook pork, chicken and ham for 6 hours and extracted the broth for serving with a dash of olive oil. Langoustine shrimp from Kangawa, Kanto prefecture (south of Hokkaido) was used. Langoustines look almost like Maine lobster (and are the lobster family), and are much smaller, far slenderer thru the body and have elongated pincers instead of wide claws. The major differences between lobster and langoustine shrimp probably are size and price, langoustine usually priced less than half of lobster’s price.

Langoustine shrimp was very tender and succulent, served with varieties of colorful fresh and tasty vegetables including radish, beet, carrot, Brussel sprout, yellow carrot, broccoli and baby okra.

9^th Course – Eel, Aichi.  Rice, Kyoto

Unagi eel, from Aichi prefecture, was served with rice from Kyoto in a traditional Japanese way. Unagi is the Japanese word for freshwater eel while anago is the Japanese word for saltwater eel (Conger Pike). Unagi is more expensive than anago because they are born in the ocean, migrate to rivers and then go back to the sea to begin the cycle again. In this dish, Chef charcoal grilled and slathered unagi with delicious house made Teriyaki sauce (soy sauce, sugar, mirin, sansho leaves).

Koshihikari rice from Kyoto was boiled first and mixed with vinegar, sugar and mirin before it cooled down completely. Koshihikari is considered the best rice in Japan, it retains moisture longer to assist in perfect sushi shaping. Its texture and taste are soft, moist, springy and slightly sweet. Freshly grated wasabi was also adorned on top of unagi along with black rice powder around the bowl.

10^th Course – “Life & Death” Yezo Shika Deer, Hokkaido

My taste bud was still lingering for more Kobe, I requested for Kobe beef as an alternative to deer meat. Therefore, I got Kobe beef and my companion got deer meat.

a). “Life & Death” Yezo Shika Deer, Hokkaido

Yezo is the Japanese word for baby, Shika is the Japanese word for wild deer. Wild baby deer fillet mignon from Hokkaido was served with varieties of vegetables (beet root, roasted pumpkin, red & yellow sweet potato, fresh gingko nut) displayed in the plate like beautiful autumn foliage. It was served with brown sauce made with orange juice, coriander, cinnamon, beef broth and red sauce made with wild berries juice, beet root juice. In addition, there was onion foam made with onion purée and cheddar cheese. Best of all, more white truffles from Alba, Italy and a rare scene of caramelized edible maple leaf. Since the flesh was from a 6-month old baby deer, it tasted tender and succulent without any gamy taste. It almost dissolved in your mouth.

b). Ichibo, Kobe

I noticed the appearance of this Kobe A5 was different from what I had at Gyuma, Osaka. I got a quick education from my server on Kobe steak. What I had at Gyuma was from Kobe A5 Sirloin steak which was significantly more marbled while what I had at Narisawa was from Ichibo A5. Ichibo was a cut of steak from the rump. A rare part of cattle called Ranichi is marbled meat of thigh, Ichibo named after it because it connects to H (“Ichic” in Japanese) shape bone. Visually, I can see the tissue and texture of rump is different. Rump has longer fiber tissue. However, because its A5 grade, it dissolved in your mouth. In other words, rump was leaner than sirloin. I hate to admit, I prefer more to the flavorful and fatty sirloin, hence tastier, sirloin.

The arrangement and presentation for the Kobe A5 rump was the same as for the wild deer. They were equally scrumptious and enjoyable.

11^th Course – Melon, Kumamoto

This course was a palette cleanser with a theme flavor of melon, with several variations on the main ingredient element similar to the Pierre Gagnair style.

Mellon bits from Kumamoto was accompanied by white foam of melon juice, vanilla ice cream, melon granita, melon soda, melon parfait and passion fruit seeds. It was refreshing and delightful.

12^th Course - Chestnut, Kyoto.  Green Yuzu, Sizuoka

There were two parts on this course:

a). Roasted Chestnut – Mashed chestnut from Kyoto was shaped like a ball, wrapped in chestnut leaves and roasted. Autumn is the season of chestnut; chestnut flavor was in full swing from the roasting in wrapped leaves.

b). Vanilla Ice – Vanilla ice cream was served on a bed of roasted chestnut and mochi with chestnut sauce. What made this sub-course unusual was the grated green yuzu on top of ice cream made your palette invigorating with citric flavor to complement the earthy flavor of chestnut.

13rd Course – Yame Matcha, Fukuoka

 This was the last course for the Tasting Menu. Two crispy rice shells look almost like macarons. Crispy rice shells were outsourced to Monaka and made with a distinctive logo of Narisawa – a bee. Chef Narisawa believed bees are an important specie in the world, therefore, he chose bee as the logo for Narisawa. Crispy rice shells were filled with varieties of delicacies in multi-colors:

a). Green – matcha sauce and matcha jelly

b). White – shirotoma, like mochi

c). Brown – brown sugar jelly made by finely ground brown sugar (wasannbonn), and sweet red bean paste balls

We got a nice surprise, Chef was kind enough to offer us a complementary anniversary cake, a layered matcha cake. It had 3 layers with matcha sauce and matcha cream fillings. On the top, it was adorned with two lovely matcha flavored macarons and white chocolate slices. It was the best matcha cake that we have ever had.