2 Michilen Stars

Japan has always been a favourite country of mine, I’ve had the fortune of being able to visit on a fairly regular basis in the last few years and it never fails to impress me. On this most recent visit we finally loosened our wallets and decided to splurge at Ryuugin, 2 starred Michelin restaurant. The restaurant offers modern Tokyo Style Kaiseki, which revolves very much around the importance of visual presentation and seasonal food.

Tucked away in a little street just a block away from Roppongi station, we made our way into the small restaurant, on our night there were 3 other tables with couples and one larger group of approximately 10. There are 2 set menus offered, and on this night we threw up our arms and immediately agreed on the more expansive Set B. Somewhat awed by the atmosphere I immediately made a fool of myself by not being able to open the front door. (Note, a hell of a lot of doors in Japan slide which always takes me off guard, silly I know).

We were seated by our waitress who spoke perfect English and was more than a little amused at my delight at the ample amount of lighting. The service remained just as attentive throughout the night with waiters more than happy to position dishes at optimal angles for photography.

For some reason this made me think of the texture shark fin soup (and did in fact taste very much like it).

For the Tempura Batter Soba wheat flour was used instead of normal flour. The seaweed retained the moisture of the sea urchin as well as keeping it in one shape. Interestingly enough it gave the urchin a subtle sweetness. The urchin itself was perfectly cooked, still soft & tasty with none of the slimy texture you get with sushi urchin. We’d had a sushi lunch the previous day, even with the top quality of the sashimi that day I couldn’t help but wince a little when our urchin portion came out, luckily no such problem with this particular version.

The ducks are fed wheat & figs to give the foie gras a subtle sweetness. Boy was our waiter right! This foie gras had an incredible light sweetness, so smooth it melts in your mouth without the horrible overwhelming fattiness. The combination worked extremely well with the ginger and sesame balancing the richness of the foie gras. This was the most incredible foie gras and without a doubt the highlight of my night. I’m still drooling just remembering this dish!

We were instructed to mix all the ingredients together before eating. The green vegetable topping from Okinawa was incredibly sticky holding everything together. The abalone was boiled 6 hours to make it soft and tender. Gelée had chrysanthemum flower petals in keeping with the Autumn theme. A small note, the dishes which everything was presented in were absolutely beautiful, this particular dish was almost translucent (almost like a sea shell) with a beautiful blue glaze coating the bottom.

The soup broth was made from the bones of the turtle with roasted shallots and was rich and  beautifully delicious. The minced balls were wrapped tightly in cabbage leaves. I’d call myself a fairly adventurous eater but the thought of eating Turtle had never really crossed my mind before and I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt as I chewed on the meat! Our waiter informed us that the bowl the soup was served in had been designed by the sous chef, the lid featured a gorgeous dragon’s tail with the head visible once the lid had been opened.

Ryugin style meant trying a piece of the sashimi with the accompanying rock salt or sauce and the other piece in the traditional style with wasabi and soy sauce. Even the soy sauce was Seiji Yamamoto specialy created with less salt and more sweetness. The vast difference in taste between the accompanying dressing and the traditional soy was incredible. The rock salt brought out the natural flavours of the fish… while I’m a traditionalist at heart and prefer my sashimi with soy sauce it was something else to try all the different salt variations.

From left to right:

1. Beluga Caviar from Caspian Sea and Scallop. Eaten with no flavour or soy.
2. Snapper. Lime and rock salt
3. Otoro from the strait between Hokkaido and Honshuu. Shio and seaweed sauce.
4. Lobster from France cured in lime juice. New Zealand rock salt.

There was just something amazing going on with the Ankimo, our waitress referred to it as the foie gras of the sea and it really brought out that something special with the Egg Tofu. The tofu was silkily sweet, its texture combining with the Ankimo to create something so amazingly awesome I’m running out of adjectives! On its own, the tofu would have been almost bland so the combination with the ankimo with its overly heavy texture and flavours created a winning dish. The entire dish was topped off with pretty flowery garnish (which didn’t really contribute anything to the flavour, I’ll admit I always feel weird eating flowers)

I like to refer to this dish as the Rice-Bubbles fish. As our plate so thoughtfully informed us, the fish was Blackthroat Seaperch and I couldn’t help but wonder why this particular serving plate was so… ugly? After countless dishes served on glass plates, shell bowls to be presented with a simple white plate with a photo of a pretty average looking fish was a let down. But then the twist was revealed!

The image of the fish had actually been drawn with edible miso paste which we wiped off with the squishy tofu. I couldn’t help but feel like one of those children in a family restaurant who has just been given a handful of crayons with a paper tablecloth to write on. Much merriment was had cleaning my plate of its inventive but sadly rather tasteless sauce. Our fish was topped with roasted rice, similar to the crackling you would find on pork and served with a side of lotus filled with egg, curry and mustard. While I could appreciate the presentation of the entire dish, it wasn’t a highlight dish for me.

Our grilled meat of the day was baby pigeon, fed milk from mother and reared north of Narita. The meat was extremely tender and soft with a slightly game-y taste without that red meat flavour. I hadn’t eaten game done so rare before and had been expecting it to react like a rare steak, but found myself surprised at the flavour and texture.

What I had initially thought to be wasabi was in fact a soy product which left over from making soy milk. The clean flavour cut through the meat and was topped with white truffles from Alba in northern Italy, it was also joined by a mini daikon (japanese raddish) and onion.

I think… this miso soup has gone and spoiled all future miso soup for me. How to explain?! The clarity and sheer flavour of the soup, amazing flavour then combined with a simple combination of chargrilled saury and rice (one of my co-diners commented that the fish was a little too chargrilled for his taste, and it was indeed strong just stepping over that line into bitter). The ever present side of pickles, presented in sushi format made this dish a perfect example of the simplicity of Japanese cooking. As an added bonus, our waitress offered seconds to the boys in the group who were more than eager to take her up on the offer. Instead of simply serving the same dish again, an entirely different rice bowl dish was served up!

Our final main course was served with Houji Tea from the Fukuoka region, this tea cup saucer combination was my favourite ceramic piece of the night with the base of the teacup made to fit perfectly into its saucer.

Seiji Yamamoto made the ginger ale the same way French champagne bubbles are made – by putting it under pressure. The ginger ale gelée had extremely tiny bubbles that burst on your tongue, like soda bubbles except a hundred times more subtler. Almost tingly on the tongue because of the ginger. Alas, not being a fan of carbonate or bubbly things in general I surrendered my dessert to a co-diner who consumed it with glee.

This is Seiji’s best dessert. The Wasanbon sugar is a sugar native to Japan, so production is incredibly small and the majority is used for Japanese confectionaries. Seiji who used to work as a Japanese patisserie managed to secure a supply of Wasanbon sugar. The sugar is has a lesser sweet/sugar content with a more subtle flavour.

The milk-curd is Japan’s own version of native cheese. It was slightly milky but with more of a nutty flavour. As each ingredient wasn’t overly powering in themselves, the combination worked extremely well to create a wonderful flavour of subtle sweet savouriness.

The Yuzu and orange are in a container Japanese confectionery cakes used with bean paste, Yuzu is a native Japanese citrus that tastes different to the lemon, more fruity in flavour. On their own these little cakes seemed like a nice sedate way to end the night but the accompanying ginger tea brought this dessert to life!

As we lingered after dinner just chatting in general our waitress brought out tea after tea, peach, muscat and grape (which reminded me disturbingly of the lolly Zappos). Our particular favourite, the peach tea. This is what peach tea is suppose to smell like, fragrant ripened peaches. The smell puts those other faux flavoured teas to utter shame. By itself, you can faintly taste peach. But it’s like the light suddenly burst through the clouds the moment you add honey.

Slowly the restaurant emptied itself around us and we gradually made our way outside only to be graced with a final appearance by the man himself, Seiji Yamamoto who was more than happy to take a group photo with us. The restaurant itself is situated in a quiet street leading off the main Roppongi roads and we left for the subway with a final glance back revealing our waitress and Seiji Yamamoto standing by the restaurant doors seeing over over our departure.

Ryugin
日本料理 龍吟
港区六本木7-17-24 サイド六本木ビル　１Ｆ
03-3423-8006

Side Roppongi Building 1F, 7-17-24 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan

http://www.nihonryori-ryugin.com/