Tamasaka: Modern Kaiseki

Tamasaka is a modern, airy restaurant located in the Marunouchi business district. The highlight here is the counter seating where you can view the kitchen staff painstakingly preparing and garnishing the dishes. Not much English is spoken and there is no English menu. However, if you can pretty much eat anything and are up for a taste adventure, you should be fine.

 We started with a summery appetizer consisting of cold winter melon and eel.

 Next course was a light consommé of fish tofu with vegetables - perfect to build up the appetite.

  This was followed by a small selection of sashimi - squid, tuna, yellowtail and prawn in a beautiful plate.

Next came a plate of various seasonal delicacies - sweet potato, tofu, grilled white fish and a whelk perched on a round of daikon. The green maple leaves were a nice touch  - highlighting that these were the bounty from the sea and land in early summer.

We then received another broth dish  with freshly-made soba and clams.

The next dish was a few slices of quality beef with salad. This was delicious.

Nearing the end, this was a fun dish and tasted great. They gave us raw scallop and a hot plate so that we could cook our own scallop.

By this time, I was quite full but we still had the requisite rice, miso soup and pickles. The rice was very delicately flavored with fish and peppers - a good counter-balance to the richer dishes that came before. 

Every dish was delicious - there was nothing that missed its mark. All in all, a reliable choice for an elegant kaiseki meal. Website is www.tamasaka.com and the place is easy to find in the Maronouchi Brick Square complex.