Out with the New, In with the Old

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1-5-4 Higashi-Azubu / Minato-ku / +81 3 3583 7852 / 11am-1.30pm, 5pm-8pm / www.nodaiwa.co.jp

Out with the New, In with the Old

Nodaiwa

Seeking out Tokyo’s hottest and newest dining destinations is a delightful (not to mention delicious) pastime, but sometimes, there’s simply no substitute for experience. And when a restaurant is into its fifth generation of family ownership and operation, they undeniably have experience in spades.

Located in a timber farmhouse transplanted from its original mountain site into the heart of bustling Minato-ku, Nodaiwa offers more than 200 years of history, flavour refinement and preparation expertise of its specialty dish, unagi (freshwater eel).

Though the dish is traditionally served in a more casual manner, at Nodaiwa, the process of sourcing, preparing and serving the eel is conducted with almost sacred dexterity. While graceful, kimono-clad obaa-san (grandmothers) show guests to their table in either the dark, lacquered-wood ground floor dining room or upstairs private tatami room, wild-caught eel (as opposed to farmed) is painstakingly grilled, steamed and jellied to perfection.

Signature dishes include shirayaki (grilled unagi served with salt, wasabi and shoyu) and unaju (golden-brown broiled unagi served with tare sauce over rice), and both feature on set-course banquets ranging from the ¥4,500 ‘colourful’ set to the ¥15,750 ‘caviar’ set. Given Nodaiwa has just retained its Michelin-star rating in the Tokyo 2013 guide, there really is no better time to say out with the new and in with the old!

The deeply ingrained and exquisite design aesthetic that permeates Tokyo is just one facet of this brilliantly glittering and vast city, at once profoundly traditional and wildly unconventional, fabulous in equal measure. It’s one giant, jolting culture shock and stylish surprise that’s not to be missed.