March 26, 2015
Hands down, my favorite restaurant in Tokyo was Jimbocho Den. Perennially a top 50 restaurant in the world, their food is renown, yet it was one of the most creative and fun dining experiences I have ever had.
The resturant is very small with only 8 counter seats and one private dining room, making reservations very difficult. The style is modern kaiseki, but according to the sous chefs and apprentices, Chef Zaiyu prefers to see his cuisine as home cooking. No matter what they call it, the food was amazing, bold, daring, and playful.
My friend who came to Tokyo with sevaral buddies to celebrate my 40th birthday joined me for the occasion. We were able to compare notes, and we both felt this was our best meal in Tokyo.
On to the courses.
First course was a savory monaka, which is normally a dessert with either ice cream and/or red bean stuffing. However…
Inside the wafer was foie gras marinated with white miso, persimmons, and pickled daikon (for the texture and slight acidity). Amazing creation and an amazing start of the night.
Next up was an interesting presentation. It was called suppon or soft sell turtle soup. The shells and bone were bleached by cooking in sake to create the whiteness of the shell, that formed the lid and created a dramatic presentation.
The soup contained turnips to provide an aromatic vegetable component to balance the strong earthiness of the turtle meat. Lots of scallions were added to provide a peppery kick. The soup was very comforting and you would get a nice silky coating on your tongue and lips from the cooked-down collagen. Loved it.
Next dish came in a DFC take-out box. That is not a misspelling, as it’s DENtucky Fried Chicken. But if the KFC colonel would sell this at his chain, I’d order two dozen….every week.
In the box was a hand written card, with a rubber ducky (hidden), a mini American flag (he knew I was from the US), and a chicken wing hidden in the hay.
Here’s the wing on the specially made plate just for the wing. Obviously, it was not an ordinary wing.
It’s a stuffed wing with mochigome (glutinous rice), pine nuts, and goose berries. It was so good, and I was amazed at how the chicken was tender and juicy despite the stuffing. Wish there was more than one. I asked if I could get six to go later; Chef Zaiyu smiled, but I was serious…oh well.
Next up was lightly seared aji (spanish mackerel). The aji was aged to give it a soft texture, as well as provide better flavor. The skin was kept on and seared. Wasabi and ponzu accompanied the dish.
Next was slow cooked Kagoshima black pork (kurobuta) with seared bamboo shoots and seasonal vegetables. The pork was good, as it was tender and sweet; it had a nutty taste from being one of the best pork in Japan. However, I was slightly disappointed at this dish, as it was not as creative or unique like the other courses.
This was Chef Zaiyu’s signature dish. It’s a salad, but a salad made with 20 different ingredients. Each vegetable was prepared in different ways; the vegetables were mainly from his sister’s farm on the outskirts of Tokyo.
Thoughout the dish you’ll find little fun touches, like this carrot with a happy face- I forgot to snap picture of the ginko with a smiley face. Overall, the salad was incredible as it was full of flavors, either from different marination or from diverse ways the vegetables were cooked.
Next up was the shirasu (baby anchovies) clay pot rice and was the main dish. The rice used was Koshihikari rice, one of the top grains in Japan. The clay pot allowed the shirasu to help flavor the rice as it cooked.
The rice was perfectly cooked and had a nutty taste. The shirasu from Shizuoka was plump, fluffy, and very aromatic in a pleasant way.
House-made tsukemono (pickled vegetables) of cabbage and turnips was the side dish.
Miso soup also accompanied the rice dish.
The shovel-green-moss dessert was sort of a deconstructed tiramisu. It was made from sesame mascaprone with matcha and buckwheat. Looked like real dirt from roasted buckwheat and hojicha leaves.
Next to the shovel in a look alike starbucks cup was not coffee. The cup says “Star Comebacks” as they lost a Michelin Star (at the time, they had one star and in 2012, they had 2). However, you could tell that they did not care and only wanted to make light of the status. The dessert itself was another fun and exotic creation….
It was cane sugar cooked for over 8 hours; it turned into strongly-flavored caramel, combined with black truffles and custard to create a dessert that tastes like cappuccino without the coffee. The strong caramel taste accurately works with the truffle finish. It was simply brilliant. Another fun element was the the newspaper, which had letters circled here and there to form a “Thank You.”
Jimochen was simply amazing. It was not only a delicious meal, but also intimate, playful, and entertaining from the whole setting. Chef Zaiyu was animated and very engaging though out dinner. You can tell he is passionate about his work. DEN only take reservations by phone and two months to the day. On my upcoming trip to Japan, I made sure I secured a spot for a return visit for my wife and myself. It was just unforgettable.