August 29, 2007

銀座小十 (Ginza Kojyu)

Aubergine, yuba and uni.

Hamo and soumen.
Squid and karei(flatfish). The chef told us to just squeeze the sudachi and add a bit of salt, instead of adding soy sauce. Portion is for two.

Suzuki(seabass) and anago. Portion for two.
Simmered octopus, winter melon and pumpkin.

Ochatsuke with tai(sea bream) mixed with sour plum.
Matcha sorbet, red beam and shiratama(rice flour dumpling).

A famous washoku/kaiseki restaurant in the middle of Ginza with 6 counter seats and some private rooms. Until 21:00 the 9-course dinner is 13650yen. From 21:00, 8-course dinner is available for 10500yen. We went for the latter, thinking it is of better value, but the difference between the two courses is quite big and the 13650yen is definitely much more worth it.

All the food is very standard traditional Japanese with no non-sense modern touch. Taste is very mild, simple, with the faintest amount of seasoning so that you can truly taste the fresh ingredients. Though I must admit that as much as I am used to Japanese healthy cooking style, I was tempted to ask for salt at some point. The chef told us that no oil is used in the cooking at all. Nothing is fried. That is fine with me but I wish the anago and suzuki fish were more fatty and less dry. My favourite part of the course are the super sweet squid sashimi, the very soft simmered octopus and the ochatsuke.

The drink list includes the usual sake, and also wine and champagne. The price is not written on the drink menu. I had 1 small bottle of sake and my friend had a glass of white wine, and two of us paid a total of 6000yen for the drinks. Certainly not cheap!

Even though our dinner started late, the whole course was delivered in only an hour and a half. We sat at the counter so we chatted with the chef until quite late. The chef is still very young, and very friendly and talkative. Apparently tourists who stay in the hotels nearby will come here to try Japanese food so he is used to serving foreigners. It is opened til 2am so when we left around 11:30pm, there were still customers arriving.

銀座小十
Add: 8-5-25 Ginza, Chuo-ku
Tel: 03-6215-9544

[ japanese food | 新橋・銀座・日本橋 ]

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