Ukai-tei (teppanyaki)

This is the ninth post in the series titled Tasting Tour of Tokyo detailing my recent trip to Japan. Other posts include Kikunoi Akasaka, Rokurinsha, Mikawa Zezankyo, Kaoriya, Sushi Sawada, Sushi Aoki, Street Food in Tokyo, and Omotesando Koffee.

I originally was really, really tempted not to write a single word for this post.

There's something beautiful and surreal about going to Ukai-tei, a Michelin starred teppanyaki place in Omotesando in Tokyo. Pictures speak a thousand words, and you almost don't need text to complete the story. A huge part of the experience is the private "show" from the chefs preparing each course in front of you. Yes, it's teppanyaki, but it's not what you might imagine. There's no silly tricks where the chef throws food into people's mouths. Gone are the dramatic flames and other flashy displays done purely for entertainment.

This is refined, classy teppanyaki. It's all about the food and how to best prepare it with limited tools - namely, just a huge flat grill and two metal spatulas. The ritual is intriguing, almost mesmerizing to watch.

So I wanted to try to recreate some of that magic for you here.

However, Bryan convinced me that my readers would walk away from this post knowing absolutely nothing about the restaurant, which - in the long run - is not that helpful.

So I'm willing to compromise. There will be less words than normal so you can soak up the experience visually as much as possible. This will be a photo-driven post. However, I'll try to insert a few words here and there so you know what's going on.

Enjoy the show.

Take the elevator to the top floor of the "Chanel" building in Omotesando.

Enter what feels like a cross between an imperial Japanese home and a European museum.

And emerge into to a bright sunlit room.

Every diner enjoys front-row seats to the action.
 We start with the Marinated Red Sea Bream, (3150 yen) which is refreshing and light, but just cannot compare to the highest grade sashimi we have been enjoying at sushi places earlier in the week.
The Steamed Abalone (for two) (9450 yen) is a signature dish. However, we opt to order the famous steak instead ("Best Quality" black beef). I've read that the preparation of the abalone is half the excitement, and some say the taste is a bit underwhelming, so we choose taste over presentation.

We still get to see the fascinating presentation. To our right, our "neighbors" have ordered the steamed abalone. The chef whips out a pair of live abalone, dumps salt all over them, and then steams everything for quite awhile under that copper dome before serving it, shell and all, to the surprised guests.

We continue with this gorgeous Consomme Soup (2100 yen), clear yet packed with deep, intense beef flavor. We learn that it is made from the bones of the premium black cows (also the source of the super expensive steaks here).

Matsutake Mushroom is in season during the fall, and it's one of my favorite mushrooms.

The preparation is simple, though mesmerizing to watch nonetheless.

Served simply with salt and lime, it is divine.

I am fascinated just watching the teppanyaki chef in action, especially the deft way in which he is able to do so much with just two simple tools.

Garlic chips paired with steak is a revelation. I need to try this at home someday.

And then, the moment. Our chef brings out the Ukai "Best Quality" beef, the highest grade beef they sell in the entire restaurant. This small piece of steak - believe it or not - costs 34,650 yen.

Check out that marbling.

There are four breeds of Wagyu in Japan: black, brown, polled, and shorthorn. 90% of "fattened" cows are black cows, which typically comes from one of three regions, Kagoshima, Matsuzaka or Kobe. Even though Kobe is the most famous, all three regions produce premium quality beef and it's hard to say which one is the best. The restaurant usually chooses its cuts based on the quality of the meat on a particular day, not based on which of three regions it originates.

They recommend "medium rare" so that some of the fat would render.

This steak is pure decadence - buttery, luxuriously soft, and full of flavor.

Bryan immediately proclaims it's the best steak he's ever had (sorry previous front runner).

 I can see why they recommend not ordering a huge steak. Frankly, it's quite rich and you very well may not be able to finish.

Bryan disagrees. He is ecstatic I only have room for 2-3 pieces. He happily savors the remaining 8-9 pieces, slowly piece by piece.


Each set menu ends with what they call "meal", which is some form of starch served at the end.

We loved the fragrant Garlic Fried Rice (1580 yen), which takes on the lovely char ("wok hei") from the heat of the teppanyaki grill. It is fantastic.

I think we are too full, but Bryan convinces me to try at least one dessert "for the sake of the blog" .

We soon find out, we have only experienced half the fun.

Anyone who opts for dessert is whisked away into another gorgeously appointed room. It sort of reminds me of a traditional European tea room.

A dessert cart, probably the most decadent one I've seen since Joel Robuchon, graces the center of the room.
 Next to it, a larger table holds additional sweets that don't fit the cart.

As long as you order one dessert, you have your endless choice of "petit fours" off of the carts. We decide to share the Caramel Pudding (I have a weakness for this velvety dessert), which happens to be the least expensive item on the menu (840 yen). Most other desserts cost either 1260 yen or 1580 yen. The coffee drinks are all 1050 yen, and Bryan opts for a coffee.

It's really hard to decide which small bites to try.

I settle on a few macarons, a sesame cake of sorts, and a madeleine.

Bryan chooses pound cake (maybe lemon flavored?), homemade caramels, and a homemade marshmallow.

You can sit here at your leisure for as long as you want. If you don't feel like steak, you can come straight to this room and enjoy "afternoon tea". One dessert plus unlimited petit fours and coffee or tea costs 3680 yen.

Service is exceptional here. The hostess escorts us all the way out to the elevator, bowing as the doors slide shut.

Thanks Ukai-tei for a perfectly executed, magical meal.

The Facts
For dinner, courses range from 24,150 (Special Course which includes crazy luxurious ingredients like Beluga caviar, fois gras, matsutake mushrooms, the special abalone, and Ukai "Top Quality" sirloin) to 12,600 (appetizer, soup, sole, beef, "meal", and dessert & coffee).  Lunch is even cheaper, with set menus ranging between 6,830 and 12,600.

All of the set menus come with "Top Quality" beef, which is not the highest grade. If you want the "Best Quality" beef, you will have to order a la carte, like we did.

Every single set meals comes with dessert, tea, and coffee, which means you get to enjoy that magical sweet experience at the end no matter what.

This restaurant is not too hard to find. It is on the main road in Omotesando on the 5th floor of the Chanel building, which is pretty easy to spot. If you still have room afterwards, you can head to Omotesando Koffee, which is what we did. It's not a far walk at all.

There are also other branches of Ukai-tei in Ginza, Yokohama, and several other locations. They also have restaurants devoted to tofu, charcoal grilled chicken, and seasonal Japanese cuisine. I think their steak is the most famous, though.

Ukai-tei Omotesando
5-10-1 OMOTESANDO-GYRE 5F
Jingu-mae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
TEL: 03(5467)5252

Omotesando Koffee

This is the eight post in the series titled Tasting Tour of Tokyo detailing my recent trip to Japan. Other posts include Kikunoi Akasaka, Rokurinsha, Mikawa Zezankyo, Kaoriya, Sushi Sawada, Sushi Aoki, and Street Foods in Tokyo.

Is there really such thing as a "best kept secret"?

After all, good secrets in the food world are hard to keep, and hidden gems quickly gain cult status through word-of-mouth, blog posts, and social media.

But it's hard to keep track of it all. And frankly, even though this tiny coffee shop has gained quite a following in the past year, I had no idea it existed. It's only because of my lunch and subsequent conversation with Shirley of Lovely Lanvin during our ethereal  tempura lunch that I even found out about this place.

Welcome to Omotesando Koffee, one of the most unusual coffee shops I've ever visited.

Omotesando Koffee is most definitely "hidden". The tiny cube of a shop is quite difficult to find. Bryan and I meandered around this ritzy neighborhood in Omotesando quite a few times before we saw this tiny little sign.

Omotesando Koffee is probably unlike any coffee shop you've ever seen. Once you get past the traditional Japanese fence, beyond the lush green plants, you stumble upon this old, tatami-style Japanese home.

Except that it's anything but traditional.

The inside of this Japanese "home" is completely empty except for a large, single cube stuck right in the middle of the house. A lone barista stands inside the cube with his La Cimbali coffee machine and a few snacks.

The menu is simple - variations of iced "koffee", hot "koffee", and some snacks.

One of their most well known snacks or "kashi" is the Baked Custard, tiny cubes that remind me of French canelé (which I love).

I love the Baked Custard, which has a nice, hefty crust yet is gorgeously chewy on the inside. It goes perfectly with my cup of cappuccino. I think it's cute how they serve all of their desserts inside coffee filters. The coffee filters are also printed with the shop name as well as a map of the surrounding area.

The cappuccino is excellent. It's on par with my favorite coffee shops in Cambridge.

Off to the side you can buy other fun coffee related items, such as metal filters, insulated mugs, and even a "cup of coffee" literally made out of coffee beans. Of course, the cube-esque theme is quite pronounced here as well.

As I look around, I realize that I'm very lucky to be able to even visit this place.

You see, Omotesando Koffee was intended to just be a temporary pop-up. In fact, the old Japanese house was slated for destruction sometime in 2012. The original lease was only 12-months long. Owner Eichii Kunitomo's went with this box-like design because it could easily be disassembled and reassembled as it "popped up" around the world.

Things have changed since those original plans. The pop-up became so popular that people didn't really want it to leave the neighborhood. The 12-month lease has since been extended, which means Omotesando Koffee isn't going anywhere anytime soon.


Who knows how long it will be before the shop is able to go where it dreams of going, reflected by the long list of destinations on its website? When will it get to actually disassemble and reassemble in a new location, the way it was designed to move?

I guess we'll have to wait and see, though it seems perfectly happy at Omotesando for the moment.



The Facts
This place is not far at all from all the wonderful places to shop in Omotesando (my favorite being Kiddie Land, which I think has one of the best selections of Ghibli & Totoro themed stuff in Tokyo). You can easily walk from Harajuku (another really fun neighborhood to visit) to Omotesando. They are right next to each other.  If you really like walking, you can do what Bryan and I like to do, which is to walk all the way from Shibuya to Harajuku to Omotesando.

One of the most famous tonkatsu restaurants in Tokyo, Maisen, is located just around the corner from this coffee shop. You can easily visit both in one day, maybe grab a coffee here after a meal at Maisen?

This place is cash only. If you need to get cash, there is a 7-11 right around the corner which accepts international debit cards.

This is a fun place to visit, though if you're short on time, I think it's also OK to skip it, especially if your goal is to experience things that are uniquely Japanese. The coffee is good, but not better than the best artisanal coffee shops in the US. Instead, I like to think that it's offering a wonderful opportunity for the Japanese to experience really good coffee, something we're blessed to have in abundance here on this side of the globe. 

"Street Food" in Tokyo

This is the seventh post in the series titled Tasting Tour of Tokyo detailing my recent trip to Japan. Other posts include Kikunoi Akasaka, Rokurinsha, Mikawa Zezankyo, Kaoriya, Sushi Sawada, and Sushi Aoki.

The idea of street food in Japan may almost seem like a oddity.

After all, it's considered quite rude in Japanese culture to walk while you're eating. Even though vending machines seem to be everywhere on the streets of Tokyo, people are expected to stand near the machine and finish their bottles before walking to their destinations.

Despite all that, you still do see street food quite a lot. One of the most famous (and most fun, in my opinion) streets is the path leading up to Sensōji Temple, a huge Buddhist temple in the Asakusa neighborhood of Tokyo (walking distance from Kappabashi, my favorite kitchen shopping neighborhood!).

Sensōji Temple

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you'll know that I absolutely love snacks and street food. From the unique rice wine yogurt in Beijing and the "bawan" (rice dumpling) in Taiwan to the roli roti in San Francisco and the gyros in Greece, I love it all.

If you love street food and snacks as much as I do, I would highly recommend taking a stroll down this fun path. You'll get to see people making fresh rice crackers (sembei) over hot coals, red bean filled cakes made by hand or by robot, and many, many other fun snacks.

One of my favorite Japanese snacks is senbei, a type of rice cracker. On the street leading up to the temple, you'll see people "grilling" these crackers over a bed of hot charcoal.

It's fun to watch them puff up and brown. You can buy a pack to take home or also just try one piece.

I was also fascinated by this guy who sat behind a window tirelessly hand-making little red bean cakes using a traditional cast iron mold.

The crowd surrounding this man was huge, each person fascinated by the process.

I was tickled by these Doraemon shaped cakes filled with some sort of yellow custard cream.

Another place decided to forgo the human and use this really neat robot machine to churn out a similar type of cake. You could buy one piece to try for 60 yen, or buy packs to take home.

Aren't these cool? I think they are green tea mochi cakes, nicely browned on a hot plate.

I'm not even sure exactly what this is, but it surely looks delicious. If you know what these are, please let me know in the comments and I'll update the post! [Update! It appears that these are grilled or toasted mochi. Thanks all for your help!]

You know you've reached the end of the path when you arrive at the huge temple. After this, if you're comfortable with wandering a bit, you can meander through various side streets to reach Kappabashi, a really fun place to get very reasonably priced Japanese dishware, kitchen supplies, and fake display food. It's one of my favorite places to shop, and probably isn't more than a 15-20 minute walk away. I used the GPS feature on my phone, which was very helpful.

But Wait! There's More!
Although the path leading up to Sensōji is the most famous, it's not hard to find other types of food being sold on the streets, especially at festivals or outdoor markets. Bryan and I serendipitously stumbled upon this fun outdoor market during out most recent trip to Tokyo. Here's a look at some of the fun foods they were selling.

All sorts of sweets made with (presumably) taro, green tea, and maybe vanilla or mango?

I thought these loaves were super cute. The one on the lower left corner sort of looks like Totoro.

I believe these are okonomiyaki, the Japanese version of an omelete/pancake filled with various types of savory fillings, such as vegetables, seafood, and even noodles!

Cold cucumbers on a stick! Perhaps they are marinated?

I am guessing this is puffer fish, based on the cute little inflatable pusher fish on the left side of the case. They were giving out free samples. Though Bryan has had the nerve to try puffer fish once in the US, I've been hesitant. Nevertheless, we tried a bit and it was fine. It sort of tasted like normal fish, actually.

I guess it's popular to grill this special type of fish, which is brimming full of eggs inside. I had tried something sort of similar at Sushi Mitani, shako filled with eggs.

Here's a pic of the finished product.

The Japanese love their fried fish cake products, and this guy is selling all sorts of shapes and sizes.

And then there were these peculiar yellow-orange citrus fruits.

They're like oranges but with a very different colored skin.

And my favorite? These guys were hand pounding rice in this huge wooden bowl to make mochi.

So fun! Here are the fruits of their labor - all different types of freshly pounded mochi.

Hope you enjoyed this light and casual post! We only have a few more posts left in the Tasting Tour of Tokyo: a gorgeous 1-star Michelin teppanyaki place where Bryan tasted "the best steak I've ever had in my life", a fun "pop-up" coffee shop inside a traditional Japanese house, and the highly anticipated Sukiyabashi Jiro.

Stay tuned!