(Tokyo, Japan). Sukiyabashi Jiro Roppongi is a 2 Michelin-starred sushi restaurant run by the son of Jiro Ono who was showcased in the documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi". My husband and I loved the documentary and for years dreamed of eating at the original location.
When I began planning our trip to Japan last year, one of my first "to-do's" was to contact the concierge at Westin Tokyo months in advance to ask about getting reservations. To our surprise, the concierge regretfully informed us that due to an unpleasant encounter between Jiro and one of the Westin Tokyo guests, he was refusing to accept any more reservations from them at the time. What???? To be honest, this sort of turned me off of going - what kind of man would ban the guests of an entire hotel based on one negative experience? Then I started reading reviews and blogs which suggested that while the sushi was great, it wasn't necessarily the "best" in Tokyo and was overpriced. More troubling was that some reviewers claimed their reservation was denied because they didn't speak Japanese, even though the reservations were confirmed by their concierge or Japanese friends. Based on this I gave up on trying to get reservations and looked into other sushi restaurants such as Sushisho Masa and Sushi Yoshitake. Then, just a month before our trip, a friend offered to help get us reservations because she had a colleague in Tokyo who personally knew Jiro. She was able to get us lunch reservations at the Roppongi Hills branch. (Note - it's customary in Japan to send gifts so we sent flowers to her colleague, so arguably these reservations "cost" us $100.)
The restaurant is located near the Mori Art Center, but the entire Roppongi Hills complex is quite large so give yourself ample time to find the restaurant (which is located on the 2nd floor). When we arrived, there was some confusion as to what name our reservation was under, but it was ultimately resolved (I'm not sure how), and we were seated at a L-shaped sushi bar - very bare and basic. I'm told it looks exactly like the original location but it's oriented differently because Jiro Ono is left-handed, and his son is right-handed. For lunch, there was only a total of 7 diners, so it has an intimate feel.
Once the food started, we felt as we were part of something special. Everything was amazingly fresh and tasty. They served the same fish in several ways in order to showcase its different flavors and textures which was very interesting, but since we didn't understand Japanese, I'm sure we were missing out on some fascinating knowledge.
After the main lunch course was finished, my husband proclaimed that the eel was the best he'd ever had in his life. I think my favorites were the shrimp and the tamago (which almost took on the form of a pound cake). (As a side note, there was a young lady who could barely eat anything. She tapped out after maybe 4 pieces (what a shame!), but her husband happily ate what she couldn't.)
Then the chef offered additional specialties (for a supplement) - such as abalone, specialty crabs, etc.
The entire experience was lovely, but very formal and quiet. It wasn't until almost the end of the meal, that the chef started warming up to the guests. He seemed particularly pleased when I told him I was Taiwanese. Apparently Taiwan offered a lot of support during the tsunami and his eyes actually welled up a little when he spoke about it. Then he took the time to take pictures with every diner.
To be honest, if we hadn't eaten at Sushisho Masa right before this amazing experience, we would have thought this was the best sushi of our lives. But now, I would have to rate this as the 2nd or 3rd best. But remember Sushisho Masa gave more sushi for less money (our meal at Jiro was about double the price of Sushisho Masa); and the ambience was much more relaxed and "fun".
All I know is I'm very happy I got to experience this restaurant and everything was delicious.
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