Kozue 梢 @ Tokyo

Lunches in Tokyo are never boring, even though it is usually over in an hour and it consists of something of a set lunch. Today I came back to a familiar place for an unfamiliar lunch.

I used to work in these Shinjuku Park Towers, but it was the first time I had lunch at the top floor. You go up from the Park Hyatt lift lobby to the 41st floor, and then walk down one floor through the myriad of corridors and stairs to Kozue on the 40th.

Kozue serves set lunches in the afternoon, while in the evening they serve Kaiseki fine dining. I came for a working lunch with business partners. Unfortunately today’s weather wasn’t the best, and it was cloudy. Or else, you would be able to see Mt Fuji from the tall windows.

石臼粗挽き蕎麦 Coarsely milled soba noodles had lots of bite to the noodles, and it came with two dips instead of the usual one. I still prefer the traditional dashi and soy sauce dip instead the sesame dip.

かき揚げ Kakiage is a popular Japanese tempura dish that consists of thinly cut vegetables and seafood. All ingredients are coated with some tempura batter and then deep fried. 

小鉢 Side dish included was a piece of simmered cod cooked in dashi with mashed radish and spinach.

If you wish without extra cost, you can add a small bowl of いくらご飯 salmon roe rice together with the soba set. This was to be a filler for the small portion of soba noodles. The ikura was house marinated so it was not as salty as the commercially available ones. Delicious with the local Japanese steamed white rice – the Japanese has a way in cooking rice perfectly.

Sobayu is a traditional way for soba shops in Japan to reuse the water they use to boil their soba. At the end of your meal of zaru soba (cold soba), they usually bring out a container of the hot water, which you pour into the soup base for a warm, post-meal drink.

デザート Dessert for the day was an Earl Grey ice cream and custard with a wafer made with salted caramel and sesame. Simple yet complex in flavours and texture, a good dessert to round off a wonderful lunch.

And finally a really weak coffee served in a traditional Japanese cup.

Afterthougts

In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (侘寂) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of appreciating beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete” in nature.  So you are not served a cracked porcelain, just appreciate the imperfection that has developed over time.

Just like this meal, I wished I had more of the wonderful soba, but the unsatisfied appetite made me want to come back for more. Excellent service with high level of English comprehension, nothing less for a Park Hyatt restaurant.

Kozue 梢
3-7-1-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, Park Hyatt Tokyo 40F, Shinjuku, Tokyo
東京都 新宿区 西新宿 3-7-1-2 パークハイアット東京 40F
Tel : 03-5323-3460 (+81-3-5323-3460)

Visited Nov 2022