Located in the quiet street of Azabu Juban area, restaurant Kadowaki gained its “fame” among international people when in 2008 the chef-owner Toshiya Kadowaki publicly refused his cooking to be assessed by “French people/foreigners” from Michelin. Little did he know that the inspectors were mostly Japanese for the Tokyo guide; perhaps he eventually noticed it and agreed to be included in the prestigious guide in the following year in which his restaurant was bestowed a 2-star, quite an achievement
As a fan of Japanese traditional kaiseki, you would notice that my spouse and I have been to several of them. For variation for this visit, I would also like to dine at more modern places but still clearly using Japanese cooking technique. That’s why Kadowaki fell into this category; Kadowaki-san is known to prepare some ‘fusion’ dishes using non-Japanese produce. Similar to other kappo kaiseki-style places, the menu was omakase however what diners actually have totally at the Chef’s discretion. I meant unlike my experience at other places, comparing what we had to other diners at the counter, only 3-5 dishes were the same. Also, what the chef provided to diners at private rooms; about half of them were different from what he cooked for people at the counter. Note that the rice dish was the same for everybody: the famous rice truffle. The positive part from this was that Kadowaki had lots of different dishes he can serve even in the same season
Including the dessert, the tasting menu at Kadowaki consisted of 8-9 courses. There were some dishes that I was impressed by, for instance:
-Both of us loved the creamy and ‘sweet’ puree of yurine. It was accompanied by the chewy yet still tender awabi and some fragrant black truffles
-During Fall, Kadowaki was quite known for its beef shabu2 served with matsutake dashi. Since Kadowaki-san used the top Matsusaka beef (soft, marbled and rich) + the aromatic & earthy Matsutake, it’s pretty much a guarantee that this dish would be a heavenly pleasure. The only ‘drawback’ was that the onion soy sauce was too intense for my taste
-Rice with black truffle is the most well-known dish at Kadowaki. When I mentioned to fellow diners at other restaurants that we would dine here – the first thing he mentioned was this dish. It was indeed live up to its reputation: The rice (mixed with shoyu and goma abura) was perfectly cooked and served with Australian ‘black diamonds’; each grain was a joy with savory. As usual, it was served with nori and tsukemono. I could easily go for the 3rd bowl if possible …
These were the kind of dishes that could elevate this place to 3-star
However, there were a couple of dishes that might hinder it such as:
-I was not too impressed with the “age” dish – it was ‘burnt’, bitter and the batter was ordinary (perhaps I expected it to be as good as the items at tempura restaurant). I referred to deep fried taro root and sweetfish served with red paprika and ginkgo
-For the deep fried fukahire, Kadowaki managed to keep the texture and its pure flavor. The batter was better and crisp but it had too much oil stick to the ‘surface’
The other dishes were consistently good but nothing really wowed us. We enjoyed the sashimi dish; it was hirame wrapping matsutake with some lime – subtle and exuded the contrast of the sea & the earth. Possibly even better, Kadowaki-san prepared tai with some shavings of white truffle for other guests. I was somewhat tempted to ask for it, but for a 2nd thought it was very early October – not the peak of the alba truffle & it was very expensive … You could see the pictures (from the link below) for the complete dishes that we had.
I would rate my meal as 94/100 (2 ½*) – the current Michelin rating was about right. The use of ‘foreign’ ingredients were actually spot on; the creative ‘fusion’ dishes was original and actually worked well most of the time but still faithful to its authentic Japanese root.
The service was good but not outstanding. Except for a new staff that used to work in the US, nearly all of them barely spoke English but of course they’re friendly and helpful. They just cleared dishes and re-filled our tea since most of the interaction was with the chef. Kadowaki-san was easy going and had decent command of English. He may not be as warm as Ishikawa, but pro-actively tried to engage a conversation with his guests in spite of the fact that we’re the only foreigners seated at the counter. Business-wise, the restaurant seemed to be doing very well. Both the counter and private rooms accommodate for 2 seating each night were fully booked. Even there was a couple next to us (dressed like a celebrity) didn’t come until around 9:30 PM
Overall, it was a nice and satisfying meal. You can see the pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/118237905546308956881/KadowakiTokyoJapan#
