[Tokyo] Mikawa Zezankyo みかわ是山居

Rating: ❤❤❤

Mikawa Zezankyo is a high-end tempura restaurant by tempura master Tetsuya Saotome with over 30 years of experience and one of the easier restaurants to book on our trip actually since you can make reservations online through OpenTable. We came here for lunch which has 2 seatings at 11:30am and 1pm, and initially we were able to secure counter seats but had to change our booking to a later time due to a schedule clash. The restaurant was able to accommodate us but we ended up sitting upstairs in one of the private rooms instead of the counter which meant we couldn't watch Saotome-san prepare the tempura in front of us. It wouldn't have been too bad as the food was good but the service we got was pretty poor by Japanese standards and for the prices we were paying as well (lunch starts from ¥11,340 to ¥18,360 per person). Instead of a real service professional, we were served by a Chinese staff who works in the back kitchen and had little knowledge on what she was serving us. We couldn't really communicate with her in Japanese, Chinese or English so it got pretty frustrating. I was really looking forward to this meal since I've heard great things but sadly our experience wasn't exactly ideal. The restaurant is also not that convenient to get to so if you do decide to visit, just make sure you are sitting at the counter and perhaps the service may be better. 

We were ushered to one of the waiting rooms upstairs while waiting for our seating which was nicely decorated with plenty of art pieces for us to admire. 

The private room we were in was actually really nice and spacious which could probably seat 6-8 people but we were the only ones in it on that day. 

We started with a plate of appetizers before starting our tempura lunch course.

Ebi (prawns)

Kabuto (prawn heads)

Kisu (Japanese whiting)

Aori Ika (squid)

Megochi (flathead fish) and Myoga (Japanese ginger)

Anago (conger eel)

Mushroom and asparagus 

As our tempura course came to an end, we had our choice of kakiage (fried small scallops) in one of 3 ways - 1) as a tempura with rice and miso soup, 2) as a chazuke with Japanese clear soup and 3) as a donburi with tempura sauce and miso soup. J went for the chazuke while I chose the donburi.

Lastly, we had two pieces of large sweetened red beans as dessert. 

Mikawa Zezankyo みかわ是山居

1-3-1 Fukuzumi Koto Tokyo 

東京都 江東区 福住 1-3-1

Tel: +81-3-3643-8383

http://mikawa-zezankyo.jimdo.com/english-information/




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