because the other restaurants display plastic versions of the dishes they offer, while Robata Honten shows off a tray of fresh vegetables by its door.
“I think that I am able to see the scales on the fish that other people cannot see and then just coat each piece in the appropriate amount of batter. After that, the trick is simply to count the seconds the fish should be cooked for.”
Like all artists, he makes it sound rather simple.
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Tokyo restaurants that exude hospitality
By Nicholas Lander
Published: April 11 2009 01:42 | Last updated: April 11 2009 01:42
Dining at Robata Honten or at Mikawa in Tokyo is an unforgettable experience. Both are presided over by men in their 60s, one a restaurateur, the other a chef. Both exude old-world Japanese hospitality. Both inhabit buildings at least 60 years old. And both, as in so many of Tokyo’s restaurants, only take cash.
Robata Honten is on a narrow road full of restaurants but it stands out because the building is lower than its neighbours (a clue to its age) and because the other restaurants display plastic versions of the dishes they offer, while Robata Honten shows off a tray of fresh vegetables by its door.
It is the vegetables, plus the bottle of wine in the window, that makes me stop and peer through its sliding door. I am intrigued by what I see. The whole interior seems to be made up of dark, well-worn wood. A man in formal Japanese attire stands in front of a strikingly tall woman in a dark kimono.
Takao Inoue, the well-dressed man, is running a restaurant that had previously been owned by his grandfather and father. He says that all the paintings, as well as the ceramic plates and bowls on which the food is served, were made by friends.
All the food is served from the ground floor, where a chef sits in front of his robata or grill. There are about 25 dishes of food from which you make your selection before sitting at the counter, where your food is brought to you.
When I ask Inoue about the food, he describes it as “Japanese family style but not too traditional”. There are vibrant salads of mizuna, asparagus, sardines and plums; trays of fresh fish such as herring, octopus, wakasagi (similar to smelt) and yellowfish with daikon; finally, there is a string of hot dishes, including pork belly with hard-boiled eggs and star anise and a wonderfully thick stew of oysters stuffed with enoki and shimeji mushrooms. Dinner ends with excellent green tea and, most unusually, some sweetmeats.
There are more delights at Mikawa, where Tetsuya Saotome has cooked for the past 33 years next to his nabe, or tempura pot. “I have cooked for about 50,000 guests in that time,” he explains. “So that means, with about 10 different pieces per person, about half a million pieces of tempura in total.”
Saotome stands in front of a chopping board, with a bowl containing the flour and egg and his nabe. Alongside are pairs of long-handled bamboo and metal chopsticks that, with a strainer, form his batterie de cuisine. Just below are large tins of sesame and salad oils. As cooking techniques go, it could not be more minimalist. Over the next couple of hours, Saotome produces tempura of the head of the shrimp; squid; various local Japanese fish; conger eel; asparagus; and, best of all, a single plump shiitake mushroom. The final two dishes are a bowl of miso soup with clams, and a bowl of rice topped with tiny scallops, the latter cooked in a tempura batter that is so good that I finish it with immense regret.
Like Inoue, Saotome has a continued passion for his particular culinary art. “I’m not frying,” he says, “but baking in oil and my role when the fish is in the pot is to calculate the right combination of air, water and batter.
“I think that I am able to see the scales on the fish that other people cannot see and then just coat each piece in the appropriate amount of batter. After that, the trick is simply to count the seconds the fish should be cooked for.”
Like all artists, he makes it sound rather simple.
nicholas.lander@ft.com
More columns at www.ft.com/lander
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Details
Robata Honten, 1-3-8 Yuraku-Cho, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo, tel: +81 03-3591 1905. Approx Y5,000 (£35/$50) per person
Mikawa, 3-4-7 Nihonbashi-Kayabacho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, tel: +81 03-3664 9843. Approx Y15,000 per person
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
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