Inakaya

On Monday, my wife and I had something to celebrate, so on the advice of a friend of mine we went to Inakaya, a small restaurant in the heart of Roppongi. He strongly dislikes the area, so for him to recommend a place there it had to be pretty special.

The restaurant itself has only one table, around which on three sides sit all 25 or so guests. On the fourth side of the table sit two chefs in front of a grill and some other traditional cooking equipment. Fresh meat, seafood, tofu, vegetables and other foodstuffs are laid out in baskets over the table, which basically serves as the menu.

Each order you make is shouted out by the waiters and repeated in unison by the two chefs and all the other waiters present. A chef then grabs the required ingredients from the area in the middle and proceeds to prepare the order. When it is done, the dish is presented to you by the chef from where he's sitting using a long oar, while shouting the name of the dish. Bottles of beer and sake are also "handed" to you by these chefs, but certain dishes (sauces) and drinks are brought to you by the waiters.

Among other things, we tried dried stingray (which has a strong taste) and crispy bite-size crabs, which are eaten whole - and are delicious.
During the meal there was some additional entertainment in the form of a short ritual when the chefs are replaced, and when some rice cake was prepared, for which some younger guests were asked to help pound the rice.

The only downside to this restaurant is perhaps its price tag. While not immensely expensive for West European or American standards, it is so for Japanese. Most of the clientele is indeed foreign, so the waiters also speak English. The portions are of a good size and beautifully presented, and of course you pay for the service and atmosphere. All in all recommended if your wallet allows it.

Map and restaurant information can be found here at the Tokyo Food Page.