The New Otani Japanese gardens were created 400 years ago by Kiyomasa Kato, a samurai lord from Higo (now Kumamoto) during the Tokugawa shogunate are a hidden gem of Hotel New Otani. This restaurant that bears his namesake is also a hidden gem as I recently discovered.
Authentic Japanese cuisine prepared “kaiseki” style, Koto’s cuisine is presented in an affordable and accessible Washoku format.
I opted for a very affordable “two-small bowl” lunch special that allowed you to have two selections of mains, each at half-size. For the mains I chose Wagyu Yakiniku-don and their signature Edo-style cold soba noodles with dipping sauce. All sets came with a starter Wafu salad, three appetisers, miso soup and dessert. All for ¥3,500 excl. taxes. Coffee and tea not included, that’s another ¥800. Yeap, the food’s reasonable priced given the quality, but the coffee wasn’t.
The place was very packed for a weekday afternoon with rich “tai-tai” type Japanese ladies having their lunches. I guessed this was their “sneak away” time to enjoy a great meal and catch up with the gossips before rushing home for the kids and husbands.
Kato’s Edo Gozen is a highly recommended and most popular course with seasonal ingredients such as eel and sweet fish in early summer, matsutake mushrooms in autumn and globefish in winter. Just ¥5,800 for both lunch and dinner, the course provides the opportunity to experience the quintessence of Japanese cuisine. A variety of Japanese sweets are available at teatime, as well as more than 300 alcoholic beverages in the evenings.
Kato’s Dinning & Bar
4-1 Kioicho | Hotel New Otani, Chiyoda 102-0094, Tokyo Prefecture
Tel : 03-3221-2857
http://www.newotani.co.jp/tokyo/restaurant/kato/
Date visited : Jan 2019
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