Ginza Ibuki — Restaurant in Tokyo

We came under a reservation last Friday night at opening time (6 pm). Had a cold greeting from the server, then a friendlier reception by the staff behind the counter.

Later on as we were eating, one of the chefs and the server kept glaring at us then snickering to each other. (Fittingly enough, there’s another 1 star review mentioning being glared at: I imagine it’s the same guys). We don’t speak Japanese, so we first brought this up over translated text to our main chef, who told us they were just talking about the next day’s preparations. But the mood became increasingly sour as they continued the ritual of glaring at us then laughing indiscreetly.

I later learned my girlfriend went to the restroom to cry from their mocking. I confronted the offending chef over this, again with Google Translate, and at first he denied mocking us. The moment got pretty tense as I told him to stop staring at us. After that, I got a small apology. He and the server stopped staring and laughing, and they both finally acted politely.

Our main chef was actually great: friendly and informative. But that server and the other chef need to learn manners before they’re called out. We saw the chef at times glare at other customers, and when there’s already an existing review mentioning the same issue, I think it’s safe to say this wasn’t the first time this has happened. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve built this confidence over customers who were oblivious or unwilling to confront them.

Great food, great service from the rest of the staff. But this issue needs to...

It is a traditional Japanese restaurant in Ginza, only 5mins walk from the nearest metro station. I booked for a deluxe dinner keiseki via Klook and it is not hard to secure a seat for booking one month prior. There are two private rooms and counter seats. I am assigned to the counter seat and able to observe how the food are processed and cooked. BTW, no need to take off shoes when entering. Two warm towels are provided for cleaning before and after the food. And the whole process takes about two hours. The first course is sashimi tofu, crispy outside and a little sticky inside, very fluffy. The second one is soup with grilled fish and bamboo shot. The bamboo shot is sweet and fresh, very pleasant. I guess the fish is salmon cos I am too shy to ask the chef at the very beginning. Besides, master chef and almost all chef can speak English. The master chef also has a translator and open to look at your handphone then answer the question. The third course is a combo of five items. The chawanmushi is with sauce on top and I prefer to mix it because the sauce is a bit salty. I like the potato with seaweed sauce very much. It is simmered or steamed properly and the seaweed sauce is refreshing and full of umami. The tempura squid is cooked perfectly and goes well with 黑龍 sake. The other two normal. The fourth course is the straw grilled bonito and bonito sashimi. It is excellent, straw grilled carefully by hand and properly trimmed before serving. Wasabi and sliced garlic is served along with this course. The fifth course is grilled white fish with miso paste and Sakura leaf with grilled asparagus inside. Grilling with least seasoning is always the top way to bring out the flavour deeply rooted within the fresh ingredients or makes our tongue able to detect the flavours. For the grilled fish with miso paste, I removed half miso paste before eating cos afraid that it is too salty but actually the original amount is just right. The grilled asparagus is fresh and fragrant, a good refreshment for your mouth after some heavy seasoning. The sixth course is the fried white fish and curry leaf. The fish meat is milky and very soft, but a bit oily to me after the previous dish. The seventh course is the oyster and white fish. The container is extremely beautiful and the oyster os fresh and juicy. The eighth course is the pot cooked rice with pickles and salangidae. The rice is from Hokkaido and a bit tough for me. The uniformity of the rice is great and the texture is also good with clean taste and a sweet aftertaste. The salangidae is also good but the daikon pickle is too salty. Along with the rice combo, miso soup is also provided. It is with special and pleasant umami and I am really keen to know how the soup stock is made. Crispy rice with soya sauce is also served as crackers and snackers. Before two desserts, hot oolong tea is served. The first dessert is specially made ice cream with soramame on top. I love it. The second dessert is mochi with yellow bean flour and syrup, which reminds me of 驴打滚 in Beijing. I have it all even after a surgery. Overall, very satisfied with the quality of food, which are processed and cooked with patience, precision and care. It is definitely value for money given the price is 170SGD. The atmosphere and service is great. Recommended. 提前一个月预订座位并不难。 饭店有两个包间和吧台。吧台可以看到厨房，进门不需要脱鞋。 生鱼片豆腐，外脆内软，非常蓬松。烤鱼竹笋汤。 笋子甜甜的，清新爽口。 我猜这条鱼是鲑鱼，因为一开始我不好意思问厨师。主厨和几乎所有厨师都会说英语。 主厨还有翻译机，可以看手机回答问题。然后是五道小菜的组合。茶碗蒸上面有酱汁，因为酱汁有点咸，我更喜欢搅拌了再吃。我非常喜欢这个紫菜酱土豆。土豆文火炖或蒸得恰到好处，紫菜酱汁很清爽，鲜味十足。天妇罗鱿鱼炸得恰到好处，和黑龙清酒很相配。其他两个一般。第四道是稻草烤鲣鱼和鲣鱼刺身。厨师用稻草精心手工烤制，并在食用前适当修剪，很棒。这道菜还配了芥末和蒜片。接下来是味磳烤白鱼和樱花叶包烤芦笋。 以最少的调味料进行烤制能够最好的激发出新鲜食材深处的风味，使我们的舌头感受到平常吃不到的美味。在吃味噌烤鱼之前，我担心太咸去掉了一半味噌酱，最后又加回来了，其实用量刚刚好。 烤芦笋十分新鲜，带有香气，入口清爽。炸白鱼和咖喱叶：鱼肉呈乳白色，非常柔软，但因为和上一道菜靠太近，我觉得有点油腻。牡蛎和白鱼：容器非常漂亮，生蚝新鲜多汁。主食是咸菜鲵锅饭。 大米来自北海道，对我来说有点硬。米粒大小均匀度，质地也很好，口感干净，回味甘甜。 salangidae 也不错，但萝卜泡菜太咸了。 除了米饭组合，还一起提供味噌汤。 它带有特殊而令人愉悦的鲜味，我真的很想问主厨高汤是如何制作的。 酱油锅巴也很好吃，脆脆的。 在两道甜点前，先上热乌龙茶。第一个甜点是特制的冰淇淋，上面放着青蚕豆。我喜欢它。 第二道甜点是放了黄豆粉糖浆的麻糬，让我想起了北京的驴打滚。 即使在手术后我吃完了他。 总的来说，食物质量非常令人满意，加工和烹饪都是很耐心、用心和细心的。...

Fantastic experience! Found them from Tablelog and saw that they had a higher rating than some of the 2025 Michelin-starred Kaiseki so decided to give it a try. The multi-course meal was very good and each dish was well composed and ingredients were very fresh. I liked the overall development of the whole meal and each dish was nicely presented. Many dishes used different kinds of fish so if you like fish, this is the probably a good place for you. They had a very interesting rice dish where they would give you rice being cooked at four different stages - just started to cook, almost done cooking, perfectly cooked, crispy rice. Above all, the service by the chef do did all the grilling that night was fantastic. He was very friendly and made sure to explain each ingredient used and the way that it was cooked, using a translation device if necessary. I would certainly love to come back again to try their menu in different seasons if...