You don’t need to feel as if you are dining at a temple is the motto of Zaiyu Hasegawa, the chef of a modern kaiseki restaurant called Den (2-2-32 Kandajinbocho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; tel.03-3222-3978 ). His “counter” restaurant has 2 Michelin stars and ranks very high on the Japanese language site tabelog.com. Nothing surprising about that – apart of the really delicious food, you will also have a really good time at Den. Zaiyu’s san cooking is inventive and playful, yet it’s not just a game. No compromises are made when the quality of the ingredients is concerned and the cooking techniques (Japanese and French) are mastered to perfection.
The images below are from my two recent dinners, so some dishes might look similar…