TOKYO.
Yamada Chikara.
By Nick Dwyer
The best place to go for a meal you will remember long afterwards
Yamada Chikara
1-15-2 Minami-Azabu
Azabu
(0081) 3 5942 5817
With more Michelin-starred restaurants than any other city on the planet, Tokyo is without doubt the gastronomic capital of the world. Although at times it can be quite tricky to unlock them. Having a basic knowledge of the language (or a friend that does), and doing a bit of pre-planning with your bookings, will reward you with some of the greatest meals you’ll eat in your life. It’s almost ridiculous to say it, but Yamada Chikara can lay claim to my most memorable gastronomic experience. With four years experience working alongside Spanish chef Ferran Adria at the ‘number one for so many years’ restaurant in the world – El Bulli -Yamada has certainly mastered the molecular gastronomic secrets of its haute cuisine but applies them to a modern take on Japanese kaiseki. One minute it’s a scientific experiment in your mouth with freeze dried foie gras in a hot beef consume, the next it’s roasted, smoke-infused eel and the freshest cuts of tuna and octopus around. I could go on, but trust me, this is a meal you’ll remember for the rest of your life.
