If you are you visiting Tokyo and don’t have time to get to the countryside, or if you are looking for a special setting for a Japanese dinner and are not restricted by a budget, you might consider Tofuya-Ukai in Tokyo.
Situated at the foot of Tokyo Tower, one of Tokyo’s most famous landmarks, Tofuya-Ukai is located in an Edo style building and set in a beautiful Japanese garden. The service is excellent (though that of course does not distinguish a restaurant in this country of excellent service!) and the food is delicious and creative and the setting is so tranquil it is really hard to believe you are only a taxi ride from any of the city’s major commercial buildings.
From the sculpted old pine tree at the restaurant entrance to the grand lobby decorated with traditional Japanese furnishings, stepping into Tofuya-Ukai is like stepping back in time. The restaurant staff are very welcoming and their traditional outfits mean they blend seamlessly into the surroundings adding to the overall sense of having just stepped out of modern day Tokyo.
The restaurant has several large tatami floor rooms that can seat large groups or a series of small private rooms that cater for more intimate parties. The rooms are all simple yet tastefully furnished and all arranged to allow guests to enjoy views of the Japanese garden.
The restaurant offers a number of menus throughout the day. As with anywhere in Japan, the lunchtime menus are a better deal coming in at JPY5,500 to JPY6,500 whereas the evening menus start at JPY8,400 with the most expensive course is available for JPY12,600. We were treated to one of the most expensive menus, Yuki, and while it was not inexpensive it was really a menu to remember.
The first course was so beautiful it was almost hard to eat; sillago (apparently related to the whiting) and edible chrysanthemum dressed with walnut sauce accompanied by a sliver of mackerel sushi.
This was swiftly followed by deep fried tofu with sweet miso sauce, which melted in the mouth. The hot soup of pike conger and matsutake mushroom was a refreshing interlude before a serving of fresh sashimi.
The food was accompanied by a crisp dry sake from Fukui Prefecture that was served in a piece of fresh bamboo that lent an extra flavour to the drink.
As we moved onto the main dishes, we were first served a wonderful combination of fried scallops coated with rice cracker and taro - a remarkable taste and texture, and voted one of the most delicious dishes of the evening.
Tofu is a house special and one of the main dishes of the evening was a warm tofu dish served in a giant bowl of soy milk (or kelp soup, the choice is yours). The dish is cooked and served at your table and while tofu is not for everyone, this tofu was really delicious and warming and really worth a try however much you think you may not enjoy tofu.
The restaurant caters for meat lovers too and the slices of charcoal-grilled Japanese beef served with a hint of wasabi were incredibly tender and delicious. Like all Japanese meals, the savoury menu finished with a rice dish, this one peppered with succulent pieces of conger eel.
The final dish? A small and beautifully presented grape in milk jelly. It might sound odd but it was bursting with flavour and a cleansing end to the meal.
The delightful staff guided us back from our room through the beautiful winding corridors. We settled up and it was with a jolt that we were soon driving through the 21st century city with all of the noise, concrete, neon and metal that makes Tokyo so great. But if you want to step away from all of that for a moment and time rather than money is driving your decision for a venue, you would not go wrong to consider an evening at Tofuya-Ukai.
