Fusion Fine Diner

Takazawa

Tucked away in the Tokyo business district is the dramatic, intimate steel and teak dining room where chef Yoshiaka Takazawa has for the past 7 years served one eleven-course set dinner to ten extremely lucky guests each night. His eponymous restaurant (previously called Aronia de Takazawa) boasts no Michelin stars, but its many dedicated patrons prefer it that way – it’s hard enough to get a booking here as is.

With reservation secured and nondescript concrete building located, you are warmly greeted by the chef’s wife Akiko, who invites you to observe the open kitchen where Takazawa-san prepares course after course of his signature French-Japanese fusion fare. Although the menu changes seasonally, you’ll find his signature ratatouille dish, a decidedly untraditional terrine of 15 colourfully mosaicked vegetables, alongside notable creations like the ‘Dinner in a Forest’, a visually stunning dish of Wagyu beef with roasted chestnuts and Gingko served up on a ‘bark’ (actually cork) platter with pine-tree branches, and the steaming ‘Fish and Chips on the Moon’, where market fish and potatoes arrive on a crater-like plate complete with black mayonnaise mousse. The detail that goes into these playful preparations is matched by the perfect execution of the food and the thoughtful wine pairing program. The only variable is, can you snag a reservation?