Yakumo Saryō — Restaurant in Tokyo

Frankly, you do not want to come here for its food. This place is more suitable for having a traditional tea ceremony at best or whatnot given their house property is indeed great.

First, I did not quite understand why those staffs are dressed in western clothes provided that their website states it serves an authentic Japanese kaiseki. Not that I really care about such a superficial thing but after having their food, everything gets irritating.

Second, as soon as I, a Japanese, entered the door, their front staff looked at my shoes immediately as if they were indicative of whether “high-class” customers. I know this type of person judges Asians or Japanese by how they dress but has a double standard for foreigners who consisted of 80% of the entire tables. I wore sneakers so did other foreigners. I do not particularly care about what people think of me by my outfits but their food was so bad to the extent that I become malicious in writing this kind of stuff. I wasn’t mistreated or anything but giving any customers such wrong impression should never occur at a restaurant charging like their price, which never happened elsewhere. They do not look at your outfit or shoes, but customers’ faces; that is what Japanese hospitality is really about.

Third, tasting highly-well prepared food is like enjoying fine arts which require a training and education. You can never appreciate the efforts of the chief without having understood what is behind. Or is it really? Often times, these do not matter much to feel amazed by food, except your tongue is very underdeveloped or stupid. When you have ambrosia, it hits you. You get so touched. Impressed. And immediately it makes you smile. Their food never did it for me. I would have to stress that what they served was so unsophisticated compared to what I have had way other kaiseki restaurants. Their food was poorly prepared. For example, the main dish was a wagu, Japanese local beef, soup kinda thing with mushrooms, some were salty while others were less flavored; this kind of inconsistency in taste is unforgivable when the charge is at that level (120US each + tax + service fee). I did not particularly feel the sashimi, the raw fish slice, was fresh and well marinated in advance which is a very consequential process for “maturing” fish’s to its richest flavor. The wagashi( Japanese desert) probably was not made of wasanbon, a particular sugar produced in Tokushima prefecture which makes the touch much smoother; I had a real wagashi in Kyoto which was very impressive nothing alike what they served here.

Lastly, the main food serving staff was very unsolicitedly friendly and awkwardly talkative becoming annoying. When you go to a high class restaurant, generally the staffs are highly trained. Especially when they try to speak a foreign language, they can speak grammatically correct sentences. He does not. He said “you speak Germany”. Again this type of thing does not negatively affect me but for the food was bad, I get stressed by every little thing they have done wrong. anyways, I find his knowledge about food and the plates were shallow ; he thinks he knows what he is talking about but in fact he does not.

To conclude, this restaurant merely rips off foreigners who do not a thing about Japanese kaiseki who can easily be pleased by their beautiful property and cozy atmosphere. As other reviewers, both Japanese and foreigners who really know a quality food, do have a similar experience with mine. They are being generous not mentioning what I have shared here. I will never come back here again.

P.S. their dinner only takes referrals of previous customers. And I would say no thank you. P.P.S. I had a diarrhea right after I left the restaurant. Is my stomach being too sensitive? I do...

Absolutely stunning restaurant. Food is both goregous and tasty and the selection of paired teas is to die for. The design asthetic of the place made me wish I could live there! Thoroughly suggest a visit if your in Tokyo but make sure to book far in advance and have your hotel confirm the booking ( they won't accept a single booking from foreigners and require it to be followed up multiple times by japanese people).

The only negative note for the owners is they need to tone down the xenophobic attitudes or just not take bookings from gaijin (sadly all too common). To be sitting next to multiple Japanese couples happily snapping away (with the shutter sounds at full volume) but on pulling your phone out to take a quick snap be told that photos are not allowed in a condescending tone ( while totally ignoring the multiple sounds eminating from the Japanese persons in the room) smacks of bigotry.

I'd still visit again as the food and atmosphere is wonderful despite the above and that really speaks to the quality of...

Never had tea like this tea. A beautiful compound, mid century but classic, felt timeless. We sat alone at a kind of bar for lunch (for most of the time we had the room to ourselves). The first green tea — gyokuro — was pure umami. Served through four steeepings. First two in a thimbleful. Intense, but not in the usual way one would think of intense tea - light but almost electric on the tongue with a very long finish. Third time a cherry leaf was added, last time iced, stirred, like a cocktail, neat. Food also great, moist morsel of saury, rice balls with sea bream, some very nice sake, the wagashi, but this tea, the matcha and hojicha that followed, were the stars.

Extremely attentive service, as one might expect (some English but not much, which was sort of reassuring). Beautiful serving pieces and decor - see especially the antique...