Matsukawa

Matsukawa, once the No. 1 restaurant in Japan by Tabelog. Many customers can only make an appointment once a year. I am lucky enough to know the Japanese intelligence, and I have tried it twice, in July 2018 and May 2019. The original appointment was for March 2020, but due to the epidemic, I couldn't go to the site. So the appointment became January 28, 2021. It's really a standard once-a-year meeting.

This orange dish is a specialty of the store. It is quite expensive and contains a lot of seafood. The fish is very well cooked and has something like fermented black beans on top but it is not very salty. The tofu is also great.

Making a reservation is a difficult task. There are 21 seats in total, 7 seats at the counter and 4 private rooms. The price is high, but much cheaper than the star restaurants in Paris. It's really delicious and impressive.

In Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, the Japanese-style flower arrangement in the front hall, the Ikebōri flower arrangement, is elegant and noble, with its branches stretched out, fully displaying the beauty of the East. From the interior decoration, dish presentation, garden to utensils, and the presence of geisha, everything about Matsukawa is revealed Dressed exquisitely. There is no menu, the ingredients are precious, the dishes are varied and only reservations are accepted! From the moment the ingredients are put on the stove, guests can always watch the process of making the ingredients, stimulating vision, aroma, and emotions, and enjoy the multiple enjoyments of sight, smell, and taste. Special delicacies: matsutake mushrooms, royal rice, sea rat jellyfish, water yokan, and pomelo pot.

Matsukawa successfully pressed the aesthetics of Kyoto into the hearts of Tokyo residents. It embodies the current trendy aesthetic and represents the highest realm of Japanese cuisine in this era. The Beijing style is undoubtedly the pinnacle in terms of taste and status, but its biggest shortcoming is the aesthetic sense of space. Whether you walk into a restaurant like Kyo-style or Kurogi, it feels more like a serious cooking place. High and narrow chair legs, cramped seats (I really have to complain about their chairs, each one looks as if they were bought from the same store), and a bar counter filled with pots and pans - this is the most common sight in high-end Kappo restaurants in Tokyo, such as Kyōmi. Just by looking at the bar, I have lost touch with the word "beautiful space". Even if they are not Beijing style, few other famous restaurants can reach the aesthetic level of Matsukawa. The fact that Matsukawa chose to open an independent store in Akasaka Stera House is enough to illustrate his aesthetic taste. That kind of spatial beauty can only be felt in Kyoto, especially in a few restaurants in Gion. There is a kind of still life-like beauty that flows quietly and floats in the air.

This is a very good high-end restaurant. From the restaurant environment to the service of the waiters, they are all first-class. Their puffer fish milt and matsutake mushrooms taste particularly good. The seafood hot spring egg rice we ordered this time is also very delicious. The third picture shows the complimentary dessert.

It's a very expensive Michelin restaurant, but I think that unlike other high-end restaurants I've eaten at, the dishes here look more simple and rustic, yet exude a sense of luxury, so I personally like it very much. There are also many types of dishes.