Ryugin is the first restaurant I went to on my arrival in Tokyo. It has three stars and is sensational. The chef is young and extremely creative.
The meal started off with a bang: 13 types of vegetables with a pine nut sauce. Next came flash fried uni wrapped in shizo leaf and nori (seaweed) served on a bed of burdock root.
There was a long parade of dishes, including seasonal mushrooms, Matsuba crab (only available in the winter months),
a stunning sashimi course with lobster and smoked Spanish mackerel, grilled fish with gingko nuts (in season), charcoal grilled Wagyu beef with diced crunchy vegetables.
Following a palate cleanser of pear and gari and the requisite rice garnished with yuba (my favorite form of tofu) and pickles (delicious), came several desserts with a small bowl of Matcha tea. There was tangerine candy (crack open the candy to find frozen yogurt and add some hot tangerine sauce. With the crunchy pieces of candy, this multi-faceted dessert was a sheer delight.
Before the end of this wonderful meal, came a hot sake soufflé followed with a wonderful soothing and delicious egg ice cream in soft serve.
Of course, a meal like this comes with a price, but it was so superb that I felt it was merited and I knew I would want to return. As I was leaving the restaurant, the chef came out of the kitchen to greet me and to shake my hand. I think they are always very happy to welcome foreign guests who have clearly sought them out.
At the end of my trip, my friend, Kyoko asked me to tell her my absolute favorite dish of the vacation. She was surprised to hear that it was at the Udon place that I went to with her and her husband, Toshio. It is a simple, inexpensive, regional restaurant in the Ginza which serves a type of udon that comes from Akita in the north. The owner chef is Sato Yosuke and that is also the name of the restaurant.
We started with beer and some appetizers: the seasonal mushrooms, Matsutake were served as tempura and were excellent.
Next came a dish of succulent monkfish liver which is very rich and flavorful. Grilled fish (Hata Hata) came next and it was accompanied with a large serving of the fish eggs which were extremely crunchy. All of these dishes (except for the monkfish liver) were new to me.
To accompany the main dishes, we opened a bottle of Shu (a strong sake) from Akita. The specialty of the house is udon and it is served cold or warm on a screen, accompanied with a warm sauce. Both Kyoko and I ordered a green curry sauce that was full of pieces of excellent chicken.
I loved the spicy, satiny sauce and with the cold noodle, it made for the dish that I had to say was the favorite of the whole trip! Kyoko was surprised but when it comes down to it, I find delicious simple food very appealing.
Kyoko always likes to take me to new places but I will definitely ask her to send me the map to get to this restaurant so that I can convince other friends to accompany me there.
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