A Japanese restaurant (a real one!) is nothing like any other type of restaurant. It is a whole…read morestate of mind that is revealed furtively from the facade, the door crossed, the curtain before dining room, the courteous but distant reception, a decor with simple design but where a thousand discrete elements reveal the complexity of arrangement.
Do not leave now! Don't worry, I'll avoid the banalities of the genre: it's like Japan, in a Kyotite atmosphere, we change continent in one step, etc.
The waiter is French and has lived in Japan. I do not know if it was his stay there or a previous job (I had a strange intuition) but it is a rigor and an all-military organization that will displease those who "wannabe" cool. This waiter would be jaywalk at Chartier. He is perfect here.
If the menu offers different types of beef to eat, please yourself and choose the one of Kobe even if the addition will increase.
I will start by making you save some money by avoiding Aragoshi Yuzu style appetizers. Invoiced at 12 euros, despite all the sympathy that we can have for the country of Rising Sun, it is not worth it.
We start with a nice salad. Nothing really special. It's good, fine, delicate. This corresponds to our European appetizers. Everything really lies in the vinaigrette that does not destroy the mouth and is very tasty.
With the salmon begins the cooking ceremonial that is an integral part of the meal. No juggling food, acrobatics utensils or rotating plates. We are not at the circus or to make a YouTube video.
The food and plates are presented to you before cooking and prepared live on the famous Teppanyaki which gives a part of the name of the restaurant. Ginza is a district of Tokyo. Onodera is a family name.
Obviously, no communicator explained to our owners that such a name was of boundless complexity to remember for any average Westerner.
At the price the menu is, we can start to be a little picky. But apart from cooking fish, which I probably would have removed 1 to 2 minutes, nothing to complain about. The grilled skin aside gives a complementary crispness. Do not try the little pink condiment alone! Imperatively with a mouthful of flesh.
Then comes the chosen piece, Kobe beef, authorized for export since only few years.
The price is delusional so the piece is congruent. Do not expect a 1.2 kilo rib for two!
In addition, if you love very rare meat, (no, you are not French!), it is not what is recommended for this animal. You will be oriented towards cooking a little more, without being the sole, of course. As you are polite (and smart), you trust.
Okay, the ogre that I am must learn that quantity is not everything and taste sparingly (and wisely!) this beautiful meat.
Maybe I'm just at the beginning of my apprenticeship, (or have I eaten too much non-Japanese meats in my past years) but I must admit that, if it's excellent, I did not fall off my chair either. Tears did not flood my cheeks. My throbbing did not suffer a sudden panic.
This remains a very beautiful experience. It is a rare product, elegant, fine, delicate.
I took the garlic rice supplement to land quietly.
As usual, Asian desserts never transcend me. It is for me (but perhaps I have some misunderstanding) one of the major weaknesses of Japanese and Chinese restaurants. The use of bean paste always produces a blandness and a floury texture that can not be compensated for by the addition of various elements, however fine or strong they may be.
Sake deserves oenological formations in the same way as our classic wines. I discovered the extraordinary multiplicity of "crus" in the Sakagura restaurant in New York. They had an impressive cellar only of this beverage. I took a jug of Hakkaisan here without really knowing if I was making a good choice. Again, a lot to learn ...
As you can imagine, the bill is quite huge. It's normal, Ginza was the money district. We do not come here with our food stamps..
The website is a disaster ... How can a multinational that apparently has twelve institutions in the largest cities in the world display such a pitiful site?
First of all the link GoogleMaps arrives on a 404 page.
The Yelp link was not good. (I changed it, thanks, you have a debt of gratitude!)
Then the translation is probably passed via GoogleTrad successively by "Japanese / English / Baluchistan / Hungarian highlands / Russian post coma ethyl with anti-freeze / French".
So take one or two checks and pay a trainee to upgrade all this ...
Check of 186 euros for 1.
