Kanda

Lovely restaurant and hard to find. Tucked away and discreet. It’s on the ground floor of a building and you’ve got to walk into a side nook. No signs indicating the door leads to a restaurant. Once in, the warm welcome and food made up for it. On the pricier side but each dish was well balanced and flavourful. What surprised me was the rice. Cooked in an earthen wear pot, it was fluffy pristine and white as snow. This must be the sweetest rice I’ve ever eaten, and that’s saying a lot since rice is my cultural staple diet. Found out they even imported the water from Kagoshima prefecture to cook the rice. Had a duck meat dish as it is unusual to find duck in a Japanese restaurant; done to tender perfection. Their dumpling soup was also very good. Flavourful and light with no hint of oil anywhere. All dishes were delightful but I didn’t quite enjoy the fried roe spring rolls. Found it dry but then again, I never enjoy fish roe.

Any 3-star restaurant should provide excellent service, genuine hospitality, and excellent food. While the food here is generally good to very good, there were many service failures: 1. No host to greet us when we arrived. We had to wait a long time awkwardly before we were seated and we were perfectly on time. 2. Chef was being monopolized by an obnoxious, show-off guest from the Lion City. Instead of engaging with all of his customers, Chef spent time engaging (though he did not seem particularly happy with being engaged by) with Mr. Obnoxious Lion, who repeatedly asked “do you like Romanee Conti? Next time I bring Romanee Conti. So next time I bring Romanee Conti. Confirmed, ah? Next time I bring the DRC.” Ok, we get it, but this is Japan and being a little bit humble and deferential goes a long way. 3. Waiters/waitresses were inattentive, did not proactively refill waters, did not proactively offer more drinks or to take more drink orders. There was one moment when Chef even reprimanded a waiter for being slow on pouring a red wine. 4. Chef sneaked out before the guests left! Chef did not say goodbye or good night or thank you to the guests. Ok, we get it, you have three stars, but that’s just so rude in Japan not to see your guests off in a counter setting or at least say you “have to leave and you’re in good hands with my staff, thank you.” 5. Restaurant staff were in a hurry to leave. Meal was frantic throughout instead of a gracefully served dinner worthy of Michelin stars. We have dined at Michelin starred restaurants at all levels within Japan and around the world. Trust us when we say that your money is far better spent and will be better appreciated elsewhere.