THE CAPITOL HOTEL TOKYU (キャピトルホテル東急), famous as a hotel where the Beatles stayed in 1966 for their first visit to Japan, has renovated all the building and has reopened since October 2011. THE CAPITOL is located in Nagatacho (永田町), where is the center of politics of Japan. Within walking distance, there are the Diet (Parliament 国会) and Prime Minister's Office and Residence(首相官邸).
On weekdays, there would be many customers such as politicians businessmen, etc., but when I visited on Saturday, THE CAPITOL was calm with relatively few people. I had a Japanese Kaiseki meal (会席料理) with my sister at "Suiren(水簾)", their Japanese restaurant. We regularly organize a gorgeous lunch for treating ourseleves, particularly when we receive bonus!
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| Lobby of THE CAPITOL HOTEL TOKYU |
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| Outside of "Suiren", Japanese restaurant |
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| Entrance of "Suiren" |
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| Inside of "Suiren" |
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| Variety of amuses |
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| Soup with fresh seaweed |
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| Japanese sake |
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| Assorted sashimi |
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| Grilled plate (fish, Ise-shrimp, scallop, and vegetables) |
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| Tempura of turban shell |
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| Pork shabushabu |
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| Rice with assorted ingredients and miso-soup |
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| Melon and grapes |
Suiren is located on the lobby floor in another building which is surrounded by a small artificial pond. The interior of Suiren is modern Japanese, rather than traditional and consists of a main dining room, private rooms, a room for sushi and rooms for Teppanyaki. We sit in the main dining room, but we could be relaxed thanks to few customers and enough distance to other tables. Waitresses put kimono which contributes to the good atmosphere of Suiren.
We ordered a Kaiseki meal at JPY9,240 including tax and service charge. The composition of meals was excellent! The taste and texture of each dish were very different that we could eat more and more. Only good ingredients were used for the meal and the way of cooking was also delicate. In particular,tempura of turban shell was very nice. If I pointed out negative aspects, the portion of each dish was not so big (my sister said she could eat a cake after eating), and the service was a bit detached as this kind of restaurant. Definitely waitresses were kind but a little bit lacked hospitality taking into account the high Japanese service quality in general.
But we could fully enjoy the lunch. Cost performance is not so bad considering the location and the taste. Next to our table, I noticed a young female celebrity took an interview over eating. As it seems so many ordinary people don't come to the CAPITOL, I could say it is one of the best-kept secrets in Tokyo. My rating is 4 out of 5. Gochis-samadeshita!
Hi, this is far west from Tokyo and Im interested in Japan meals, sushi, chicken rice bowl... Kaiseki also look pretty good and I would try if much less costly. BTW, in such restaurant, do they require some Japan-style manners? coz I do not use chopsticks... I heard Japanese guys sometimes use their hands for eating, is it OK there, too?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about the manners. Enjoying a meal is the most important thing and it is the best manners anywhere. In fact, if you ask a fork, knife, every restaurant is willing to prepare for you. As for eating with hands and spoon, it is usually applied to eat sushi so that we can directly taste the freshness and taste of sushi. I recommend you to use hands for particularly sushi.
Anyway, try first!
THX for your responding. definitely I eat sushi by hands like you Japanese do. Anywayz, I hope to touch the heart of Japanese cuisine as you recommend one of these days, cheers! ARIGATO
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