I’ve been wanting to do this post for a while, because this place is truly in a league of its own.
Narisawa is a french and japanese fusion restaurant, with two Michelin stars and was in 2013 voted the 20th best restaurant in the world, and the no. 1 restaurant in Asia. Quite the resume if you ask me. Narisawa is also the restaurant that really opened my eyes to the world of Michelin starred restaurants. A pricy but very nice discovery.
Chef Narisawa trained 8 years in Europe, and returned to Japan to open his own restaurant. In 2003 he moved the restaurant to where it’s still placed today. His biggest inspiration is nature, and he only uses ingredients that are in season, grown naturally and never forced. That of course makes for a changing menu, but also a sustainable one (Narisawa also won an award for no. 1 sustainable restaurant last year).
I went there when I was in Tokyo back in the spring. Not only is the food presented more beautifully than I’ve ever seen, it’s also creative. The very first thing served for us, was our bread – only here it was still getting ready to be baked in a setup of flowers. When it was ready, the waiter rolled in a stone oven, that baked the bread next to the table. Afterwards came an impressive 12 courses with ingredients from all over Japan including kashu pork from Chiba, langoustine from Suruga Bay, horse crab from Hokkaido and spanish mackerel from Hagi – to name a few. When we thought the night had come to an end, the waiter rolled in an impressive, no overwhelming dessert table. I’ve never seen anything like it, and it was filled with mini macarons, mini tarts and mini cakes.
Narisawa is truly an experince you can’t miss when visiting Tokyo, I know I can’t wait to come back.
Narisawa, Minami Aoyama 2-6-15, Minato-ku, Tokyo.
