Kamiyama. Style and elegance, just steps away from the bustle and bling of Shibuya. As featured in my Japan Times column this week.
Arriving at Kamiyama could hardly be more atmospheric. The entrance is set into a black wooden wall along a quiet residential side street. Ankle-high traditional lamps illuminate a short flight of bamboo-fringed flagstones, leading to a sliding wooden door hidden behind a dark noren(entrance curtain). It’s hard to believe you are just steps away from the brashness of Shibuya’s Center-Gai.
You have come to eat soba noodles, but it feels rather more like entering a ceremonial tea house…
At lunchtime, the ground-floor dining room is used, which offers a pleasant glimpse of the bamboo outside — especially nice at this time of year with the windows open…
If you've got an appetite, there are good value lunch specials (¥1,000 with seiro soba; ¥1,200 with the seasonal special). They will include a donburi (here, with chicken and cooked vegetables); a salad; a small bowl of pasta (not well seasoned, though); and some kimchi. Plus, of course, your noodles — which here are the seiro (chilled, with a dip).
Or you can just settle in with a serving of noodles alone. They are delicate and flavourful. Just as you'd expect, from a sobaya who learned his skills at the excellent Takeyabu in Kashiwa, Chiba.
In the evening, Kamiyama is even more atmospheric, with the andon lamps glowing at ankle level…
You will be ushered downstairs to beautifully spot-lit dining room, where you take your place at a large communal table split down the middle by a long thin "garden" of pebbles and foliage. There is also a private room to one side.
Besides the soba, Kamiyama serves a selection of side dishes, ranging from soft, savory tamagoyaki (rolled omelet) to grilled chicken and even wagyu steak. In the spring, platters of sansai (wild plants) are served. Here are some I had earlier this year…
What's on that platter? Kogome (fiddlehead ferns); taranome (buds of Japanese angelica tree); aiko (aka miyamairakusa/woodnettle); and shidoke (aka momojigasa/parasenecio).
The tamagoyaki omelette is satisfying, and not too sweet (served with a mound of grated daikon)…
Among the various choices of soba, I do enjoy the tororo, with grated yama-imo yam…
And to close, the sobayu — the thick, milky noodle cooking water — is served in handsome cast-iron kettles that are now beautiful bashed and patinated…
Afternotes: Despite the headline given to my piece, Kamiyama is hardly "hushed". At lunchtime they play classic soul. At dinner, the sound system tends more to jazz.
• You will find Kamiyama hidden behind the Creston Hotel in Kamiyamacho, just a few minutes from the centre of Shibuya.
• Its website is here…
• Takeyabu formerly had a branch in Roppongi Hills (now closed) and before that in Ebisu (long gone).
Last night we said sayonara to Buchi. After 10 years, this excellent pioneering little tapas-style standing bar has closed its doors.
Over the last few days, friends and fans have been making their way up to the far end of Shinsen, dropping by for a final few drinks. We made sure to get there in good time for the final evening.
Of course, co-owner Hisae Iwakura was there, as dynamic and enthusisastic as ever, to welcome everyone — just as she was at the very start.
And of course there was plenty of good food and drink to be had — after all, that has been Buchi's calling card since the start. Cold cuts, garlic toast with foie gras butter, artisan tofu with fresh-ground black pepper, smoked octopus, bruschetta, fresh figs with mozzarella, pasta, even venison meat balls…
On the junction of two busy avenues and with the expressway looming overhead, it was never a beautiful location. But there always was a great buzz, with the crowd often spilling out onto the sidewalk.
And that was the way it was yesterday, for one last time...
So what made Buchi so popular? These days it may not seem so remarkable, but when it opened back in 2004, Buchi rewrote many of the rules about standing bars.
By giving the place a stylish logo and look, serving quality food and drink, both Japanese and Western – including the radical step of offering premium sake in single-serving one-cup jars – and staffing it with knowledgeable (and attractive) young women, it really struck a chord that translated into enduring popularity.
This is how I wrote up the phenomenon in the Japan Times, not so long after Buchi arrived on the scene.
Only one question remains to be answered: why the strange name? Well, in the dialect of Hiroshima, Iwakura-san's home, Buchi means "extremely" (similar to the Kansai expression "mecha").
So thanks Iwakura-san and all the staff: "Buchi yokatta da" — it was really great!
PS: This is certainly not the end for Iwakura-san and her husband, Higashi-san. They are as busy as ever, working on new projects and managing their existing ones: Kinsai, in Naka-Meguro; Bon Gout Noh, on the other side of Shibuya; Kitchen Cero in Meguro; and Cafe Bleu, just around the corner in Shinsen.
Maishin – as introduced in my Japan Times column on Wednesday – is now the best place to find premium sake in all of Shibuya.
But it's not for everyone.
Only Japanese is spoken, and there's no English on the menu. Smoking is allowed. The stairs down are steep, and the door at the bottom is formidable – only the bottom half of it opens, so you have to crouch down to slide it open and get through. And then you gesticulate from that position of supplication to find out whether they have any free seats.
And before that, of course, you have to actually find it. Which is hard, even if you know where it is on the map, and even though it is only minutes away from Shibuya's busy stations and seething shopping streets. [I've put some hints and a map link down at the bottom of this post].
But if you like your sake and are keen to find plenty of non-mainstream brews, Maishin is certainly worth seeking out. And, as at so many other sake-specialists – including the other places in the Nozaki group – the food is really quite good. Here are some of the standards and standouts.
The ankimo (monkfish liver) is good, and so are the ebi shinjo and the buri teriyaki. And the sashimi is certainly of superior izakaya quality…
And then there are the crossover dishes. That's where things get a bit interesting.
Starting with the buta-no-kakuni paizutsumi: a chunk of pork belly that has been slow simmered to cook it, then wrapped in pastry casing and baked in the oven. Instead of being simply plated with a blob of yellow karashi mustard on the side (as kakuni would be usually), it's given a delicate tracing of mustard in the savoury dashi/pork gravy. Ace.
And then there is the house-special wagyu/foie gras steak, which comes with a colourful selection of organically-grown root vegetables and liberal swooshes of balsamico sauce.
But it really is all about the sake. The fridges are bulging with premium brews from all around the country, with Denshu (Aomori) especially well represented on the menu.
And where Maishin really scores is with its special brews, limited editions, competition brews and seasonal rarities. The menu lists a lot of them. But it's easier just to ask manager Takeuchi-san.
Here are a few he's suggested for us over the past few months…
To go with that sashimi, Takeuchi-san picked out two wonderful daiginjo – Denshu Tobindori (left) and Eikun Tobinkakoi Shizuku (from Shizuoka).
And with that wagyu steak, he proposed three very different brews…
That's a 3-year aged junmai-daiginjo from Enseki (Kagawa) on the left; a red sparkling sake from Kyokuko (Tochigi); and a kimoto from Soga Pere et Fils (Nagano). The Kyokuko really hit the spot.
The place to sit (if you're solo or there are just two of you) is at the central counter. Besides getting a ringside view of the main sake fridge, you also get to converse with Takeuchi-san. He's a major sake buff, who used to be in charge at Nozaki Sakaten in Shinbashi.
• Maishin – 米心 in Japanese – means "rice heart". It's a name that resonates on several levels.
• The photo at the very top of this post showing the interior was taken in bonenkai season: in fact the usual demographic at Maishin is considerably younger and hipper.
• Although Maishin does not have a no-smoking policy, the ceiling is high enough and the extractor fans strong enough that this has never been a major problem for me.
• As mentioned, the entrance to Maishin is not easy to find, as the stairs are well set back from the street. Look for the NTT Docomo store on the left side as you make your way up the Dogenzaka main drag. Then, right next door, look for the sake bottles, the sign and the sugidama over the stairs.
This shows the approximate location.
There's a more detailed map link here…
Probably the finest sake selection in Shibuya…
And some excellent eats too.
All is revealed in my column in The Japan Times...
It's up now, over here…
Food writer and restaurant reviewer for the Japan Times contact: foodfile (at) me (dot) com
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