Uchiyama in Ginza, as introduced in my Japan Times column on Friday, looks inscrutably nondescript at street level. The only signs advertising its presence are a simple nameplate hidden on the inside of the doorway, a small andon lantern at ankle level, and a steep flight of stairs to the basement. Don't be deterred.
Once you get down those stairs, it looks a whole lot more interesting. A strange altar — part Buddhist, part something else — stands just inside the front door. And right in front of you there's a simple whitewashed wall sliced through by a narrow horizontal slit, offering a glimpse of the interior.
The massive timber counter has room for 11 comfortable armchairs with plenty of elbowroom. It's a nice relaxed space with beautiful panels of wood burnished with Wajima urushi lacquer. And set into the opposite wall a long low alcove acts like a tokonoma, displaying a simple flower arrangement that changes with the seasons and the kitchen deities (which don't).
These photos date back to a lunch I had there back in early summer last year, when the weather was already more than warm. I settled in with a beer and watched the chefs at work while waiting for my bento lunch to arrive...
I ordered the ¥3,500 menu. Besides the bento-bako itself — a beautiful lacquered box with a lid of plain kiri wood — and the accompanying suimono soup, there were two small starters: a small serving of madai (snapper) and salmon prepared as nanbanzuke; and another of the house specialities, yaki-goma-dofu.
Although goma-dofu is a standard both in shojin temple cuisine and cha-kaiseki (as espoused by Uchiyama), this is the only place I have ever come across where it is prepared this way, grilled on the outside to create a skin that's firm, almost leathery, enclosing the delicate smooth sesame custard inside.
The bento-bako contained a lovely array of tidbits. Cooked morsels of seafood, meat, vegetables, egg; "a chef's tasting menu in an elegant lacquerware box."
The suimono soup was a wonderful fragrant deeply translucent clear broth, containing a slice of togan (winter melon) and a couple of little yuba pouches.
Once the bento-bako was finished — a most pleasurable half an hour or more of nibbling, enhanced by a flask of reishu (chilled sake) — it was time for Uchiyama's signature dish, the tai-chazuke.
The fillets of the fresh madai are sliced to order, and served in a shallow bowl filled with goma-dare, a thick sauce of creamed sesame seasoned with dashi fish stock and soy sauce. First you try the raw fish as sashimi, the richness of the dark-brown sesame sauce cut by the wasabi and the sweet neutrality of the rice.
Next you place the remaining cuts of fish on top of the rice and drench it all with piping-hot rokucha tea. Blanched this way, the fish turns soft and white, crumbling into the now-soupy rice. Delectable.
To wrap up the meal, a small dessert is served with tea. On this occasion, a soymilk gelato prepared in-house...
I lingered a while, watching the chefs at work some more, then made my way back up those stairs and out onto the street. A very fine 90 minutes at table. No surprise here that Uchiyama has won a Michelin star for the last couple of years.
Here's a link to Uchiyama's web site...
And here's a map lnk...
