Mr. Hiromitsu Nozaki (野崎洋光) is a famous chef of Japanese cuisine who gets a lot of media exposure. But he is not a celebrity who tries to buy own name. Rather, he is a serious promulgator of traditional Japanese cuisine by using basic skills and simple ingredients. His restaurant is "Waketokuyama (分とく山)" and its head restaurant is located in Hiro (広尾). There are several branches and one of which is located in the InterContinental Tokyo Bay (インターコンチネンタル東京ベイ) in Takeshiba (竹芝).
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| Lobby of InterContinental Tokyo Bay |
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| Entrance of "Waketokuyama" |
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| Japanese modern interior |
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| Amuse |
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| Clear soup of Common Japanese Conger with artemisia tofu) |
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| Sashimi sampler |
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| Grilled abalone with sea lettuce |
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| Assorted side dishes |
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| Fried eggplant and Japanese seaperch with tomato jelly |
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| Just-made Japanese pilaf with sea urchin and lotus root |
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| Pilaf, miso soup and pickles |
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| Milk pudding with peach compote |
The interior is modern Japanese style and relaxing in the limited lighting. If you want, you can also eat at counter seats in front of chefs. In the dining room, each table is wide enough and put with much distance between other tables. You can enjoy private dinner in the good atmosphere. Service is not so casual but courteous.
Dishes were definitely delicious. Delicate and sophisticated. Following the traditional way of cooking, the taste is modern. If you are used to strong taste, it might be a bit difficult to identify this mild and delicate taste. Grilled abalone was impressive. Fresh sea lettuce brought us good smell of ocean. Abalone was soft and tasty with rich sauce using its liver. And assorted side dishes was superb. Each small dish was cooked in a very delicate manner. I could enjoy six different taste and texture.
In the end of dinner, Japanese pilaf with fresh sea urchin and lotus roots were just made by a big earthen pot. Burnt aroma stimulated appetite even at the end. As we couldn't eat it up, we could bring the left to home! It was a nice afterglow to taste "Waketokuyama" next day at home.The price is not cheap for its name, location, quality, etc. The set meal we ate was JPY13,860. We can't go so often, but it is a nice restaurant. My rating is 4.3 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!
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