Takazawa (Aronia de Takazawa)

On a modest little street in Akasaka sits Yoshiaki Takazawa’s culinary wonderland where hours are spent preparing food for a maximum number of ten diners each night. It is easy to miss, as the name “TAKAZAWA” is only printed on the glassdoor in a rather camouflaging shade of grey. Takazawa started out as “Aronia de Takazawa” in 2005 and with only two tables, I had never been able to plan ahead in time to reserve a table for any of my spontaneous Tokyo visits. I have literally struggled to fit this restaurant into my schedule for YEARS and this summer I finally managed to go! Thanks to the one additional table they decided to accommodate per night after hiring an assistant.

ok here we go

Upon entering the glassdoor I was greeted by these steps with the first and last lines of Joyce Kilmer’s poem “Trees” inscribed on the rail.

I was sat at the two seater table directly facing the chef’s sleek, metallic stage-like kitchen.  Because I have read before that chef Takazawa himself is somewhat shy, I took this quick snap before he appeared, when his assistant was the only one standing there.

The meal began with a mouthful of caviar served on an ice spoon. Or so I thought. Akiko, chef Takazawa’s wife and our hostess for the night, explained that the “caviar” was actuallly made with tomatoes. I spent a while staring at it until the spoon melted a bit in a sudden crackle. I quickly shoved the spoonful into my mouth after this photograph was taken. Just in time! A very refreshing mouthful of tiny tomato balls bursting in my mouth. 

Had hitachino beer to go with this just because it’s cute 😛 

For the second amuse-bouche we had chef Takazawa’s playful rendition of the standard appetizer combo: parma ham and melon – in jelly form!

The third and last amuse-bouche was matsutake mushroom tempura. This was SO much better than the tempura I had at the “legendary” Mikawa Zezankyo (see my last post). It was not oily at all and the matsutake itself was aromatic and sapid.

Then we were finally presented with our first course – Takazawa’s signature “ratatouille”. Akiko instructed us to devour all of this in one big mouthful. WOWOWOW THIS WAS AMAZING, and possibly the most colourful bite of food I have ever had in my life. Approximately 15 different kinds of vegetables were cut into small cubes and tidily combined to form this brilliant piece; each chew resulted in a different crunch and it was very interesting indeed.

Then we were served a thick, square piece of homemade corn toast accompanied by a mini jar of okinawa agu pork rillette. The toast was grilled to perfection, redolent of the sweet, fragrant corn. Combined with the delicious pork rillette, calling this one of the best pieces of toast I have EVER had would not be an overstatement. At this point I was very very very happy.

Course three was a vegetable parfait. This was a refreshing tomato gazpacho topped with a lovely layer of mozzarella mousse, basil sauce, caviar, a fried basil leaf and some delicately cut pepper cubes for crunch. Hmm. SO GOOD! Although the combination of primary flavours in this dish were, as you can see, common fare in Italian cuisine, what I found most remarkable was the perfect balance of texture and taste that chef Takazawa managed to strike with these standard ingredients.

Next we were presented with this beautiful platter of uni, kuruma-ebi, ikura and a baby crab, arranged on a blue board with shells scattered around in an image of the sea.

I was all ready to dive in when Akiko came over to place another gigantic plate, also reminiscent of the sea, right at the centre of our table. This plate consisted of baby squid, sazae, bafun uni, abalone, seaweed and jelly.

The presentation of this entire course was simply gorgeous! I felt like I was literally a sea monster eating all sorts of delectable organisms from below ground level. 

Then this showed up at our table. At any other average restaurant we would have thought that dessert has come too early by mistake – this looks like it cannot be anything but  Tiramisu.  But since we were at Takazawa, where almost no mistakes are ever made by the meticulous master chef & wife, we knew that we were in for a surprise…And we were RIGHT! This was corn mousse with crab meat topped with a cocoa & liquorice powder. I normally detest liquorice of all sorts but the liquorice here played only a minor role, of adding a bit of depth to the powder which was mostly cocoa. The corn mousse had a full-bodied sweetness which went very well with the meaty layer of fresh crab.

After that we were served this course entitled “Mount Fuji” made of a variety of  “rare” vegetables. Possibly the most well-executed vegetarian dish I have ever come across – not only was every bite delicious, the contents were very interesting. And this was  NOT because chef Takazawa presented the dish with a ceremonious pouring of water into the mountain of dry ice. The vegetables were actually incredible.

Each vegetable was specially prepared; matched with different sauces, garnishings, or marinated. I was also introduced to the “oyster leaf” (the small leaf at the front of the plate) which tasted exactly like kaki furai (fried oyster) with a dab of tartar sauce!

And then we had the “Candleholder”. At first glance I thought I could just dig into that gleaming brown circle but turns out it was just the design of the lid. 

And it was foie gras creme brulee inside the LID ! With mango puree in the tin candle base to go with. The gamey flavour of foie gras struck perfect balance with the mango’s fruity freshness and the crunchy caramelized layer of the brulee added a nice touch to the whole affair.

And it was all so SO good spread on the biscotti that came with it.

And then this was “Breakfast at Takazawa”. Compared with the other dishes, the combination of flavours present here had less of a “wow” factor but was nonetheless delicious. The idea behind this dish was to emulate a typical egg & cereal breakfast, fancified 100 times with summer truffles & cereal pieces that are in fact small potato chips.

Next up – the Mexican Lobster. The story behind this dish was simply that chef Takazawa went to Mexico, got inspired and decided to add poached lobster in Mexican flavours to his menu :p  The lobster meat was cooked exceptionally well – sweet and tender, and although I am not a fan of coriander it was not overpowering the lobster’s brininess. The salsa, being sourish with fresh tomatoes, successfully spawned some extra appetite, which I really needed after consuming about 10 dishes.

Our last savoury course was a meaty dish called “Paddyfields” – basically charcoal roast duck (sprinkled with summer truffles) with mashed potatoes shaped to look like a paddy field. Although I normally avoid eating animal skin, this smelled too good and looked too crispy to resist. And boyyy am I glad I broke my own rule – the skin did not feel fatty at all – just a layer of crispy goodness on top of a block of extremely succulent, flavourful duck meat. I was so full at this point … but this put me in heaven, I was dying happy.

What pulled me back on earth to prepare me for dessert was this palate-cleanser – the “melon soda”. These ingenius pieces of melon were infused with fizzy soda so that as you bite into the melon, the fizziness bursts in your mouth.

 Although the melon soda did work an appetite up for me again, I was praying that dessert would not be something too heavy. After 3 amuse-bouches and 10 courses I certainly was  not in the mood for creamy chocolate or caramel pastry. Luckily, chef Takazawa was probably aware of this and Akiko came out with the perfect “Wine-tasting” dessert! Akiko instructed that we should start with the row of white wine jelly from left to right, and then do the same with the row of red wine jelly. Each piece of jelly was infused with one particular ingredient – this was exciting as we tasted our way through each jelly, from particulalry sweet ones like the peachy white wine to more intriguing ones such as the coffee infused red wine.  The jelly blocks were also presented beautifully like little gems on a shiny silver plate.

Akiko also kindly gave me a copy of all the flavours laid out, just for reference, Indeed this was one fascinating session of winetasting. I actually would love to try all the pieces of jelly in liquid wine form.

Finally the night ended with a plate of petit-fours, consisting of cat-shaped miso cookies, caramel sweets, crunchy white chocolates, bone shaped calpis gummies and little cakes. 

What can I say… I’ve already booked myself a dinner again for when I’m in Tokyo this December 😀

TAKAZAWA

Website:  http://www.takazawa-y.co.jp

Address :

3-5-2 Akasaka, Sanyo Akasaka Building 2F Minato, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan

〒107-0052
東京都港区赤坂3-5-2 サンヨー赤坂ビル裏側2F

Telephone: +81 3-3505-5052