Ginza Shinohara (, Tabelog Gold 4.55) Tokyo Feb 2025

Last fine dining meal in Japan before heading home, luckily managed to snag a solo spot at one of the highest rated restaurants in Japan, Ginza Shinohara. It currently has 2 michelin stars and highly touted on Tabelog scoring top 3 kaiseki spots in Tokyo as well as a Tabelog Gold award. Before sitting down at Shinohara I had read some reviews and experiences and saw that the Shinohara probably wasn’t going to be the best meal I’ve ever had but still delicious with a unique artistic flair to presentation and excellent hospitality.

Shinohara san before venturing off on his own restaurants had trained in Kyoto. He then at a young age opened his first restaurant in Shiga which became a big success but decided to move to Tokyo and open his current location in 2016. His menu incorporates regional elements from Shiga combined with the techniques he learned in Kyoto.

I managed to reserve a spot on Omakase, I saw a spot that fitted my schedule but it was only for 2 people. I still went ahead with the reservation online and called the restaurant and they said its fine to solo dine but I would need to contact Omakase support to get it changed online. After my meal I had asked if I could book directly and they said it would be fine next time.

To reach the restaurant you have to take an elevator to one floor below ground, I was the first to arrive a bit before lunch and was allowed in quickly afterwards. The restaurant’s L counter seats 13, of course it was a full session. I recall roughly 5 of us being solo diners and only 2 of us foreigners. The decor is your typical kaiseki counter with a clean and polished feel. After everyone sat down it got pretty lively with Shinohara san being quite the chatter. I was seated next to a regular close to Shinohara san so got to talk to him a bit. They have staff that can speak a bit of English, enough to communicate basic stuff at least. I had saw a familiar face during the lunch service, chef Kitagawa (head chef of Ginza Shinohara’s sister restaurant, Ginza Kitagawa) was there helping and learning.

The lunch menu is ¥35,000 but they have a few add on options. They had a small tin of caviar for ¥10,000 an awabi dish and a fugu dish. I can’t remember the price for awabi but I ordered the fugu karaage for an additional ¥5,000. They had quite a large drinks menu available as well. The aspect I enjoyed the most was the showmanship and the incorporation of the traditional beliefs of Japanese culture into the meal. I’ll go into a bit more detail below but I truly felt a different level of dedication to his craft from Shinohara than any other kaiseki meal I’ve had which is why this meal stands out to me. The service by the Shinohara and his team was excellent as well, they were very attentive to each diners and displayed great level of care.

Lunch course featured:
1. Konacha: mild flavour with a refreshing aftertaste

1. Hatsuuma – Inari, kyoto white miso, ebi imo (shrimp potato)
   the restaurants theatrical elements was strong from the start. This dish is dedicated to the hatsu uma festival (first day of the horse) which celebrates Inari a diety for agriculture. It is customary to eat Inari on this day, paired with white miso from kyoto was really delicious. By serving Inari and using the fox mask Shinohara is trying to wish the diner good fortune.

2. Kuruma ebi, hokigai, kazunoko (herring roe) nanohana, nikogori (jellied fish broth)

The ebi was stores inside a giant snow globe, they break through the ice to show the diners the ebi. Kind of like finding treasure after breaking through mountains of snow. The ebi was plump and very sweet, kazunoko salt and savoury flavour was good and mixed well with the nikogori for a refreshing dish. Kazunoko also symbolises prosperity.

1. Suppon hirousu soup: hirousu is a dish made of tofu, mushroom, ginkgo nut, carrots and other ingredients shaped into a meatball and deep fried. The outside is crispy and inside is soft and tender. Mild in taste with a bit of umami, very enjoyable.

2. Grilled fugu shirako, eaten with lemon and nori: the shirako melts in your mouth, very creamy and mild briny/sweet flavour was delicious

3. Echizen Snow crab, yodo daikon, kujo negi, yuzu peel. The crab is charcoal grilled, giving it a smoky aroma. The meat is very sweet and cooked just eight

4. Manako of foie gras and anpo kaki(semi dried persimmon) & whiskey jelly: great little 2 biter, the is very smooth and creamy, a weird combination I enjoyed. The rich and savoury foie gras with sweetness from other components was a nice counter balance, whiskey wasnt over powering other elements

5. Setsubun Hassun: kaarage fuugu (additional). Hiragi (holly plant), iwashi, yuzu soybeans, yuzu, kanpyo (dried gourd) and wasabi roll, wakasagi (smelt), kinko, shinoda maki(deep fried tofu) and egg dumpling, fried, namako (sea cucumber), ika fried mizuna (mustard green) and nuta dressing, aka hagi

I for sure forgot something but tried my best to record down everything. Shinohara dimmed the lights and gave a brief explanation for today’s hassun. Setsubun is the day before spring and traditionally you are supposed to carry out rituals/customs to get rid of previous years misfortunes and welcome good fortune for year to come. Hiragi, iwashi and maki rolls are traditionally eaten on this day. The display was jaw-droppingly gorgeous, seeing Shinohara work on each plate with his team and fixate on the small details was awesome. The fuugu kaarage was absolutely delicious, light seasoning and wasn’t very oily. Enjoyed every element but my favourite were the Iwashi and Mizuna. My favourite course of the meal

1. Hotpot Fugu with kashina hamaguri, kurumafu (roasted wheat gluten) and nezeri (celery root). More fugu, really nice clam broth flavour. Think its first time I’ve had kurumafu, it absorbed the broth flavour really well with a nice chew texture.

2. Charcoal grilled iwashi, daikon donabe, red miso soup, pickles. They deboned the Iwashi which was great, really fragrant and cooked nicely. They used Koka rice from Shiga, the daikon was subtly sweet and tender but would have preferred something with a bit more texture contrast. Still tasted great but left wanting more from rice component.

3. Zenzai

4. Matcha

Overall I had a wonderful lunch, while it wasn’t the best meal I’ve ever had I instead had the best kaiseki experience I’ve ever had due to the level of service, flair and atmosphere. The price performance was also really good in Tokyo, I definitely would love to come back again next trip. Before I had left Shinohara san gave me a bottle of their inhouse sparking sake, I was truly honoured by the gesture.

This concludes my Feb 2025 trip and have to say I had a blast visiting so many new cities and trying all the different restaurants for the first time.