Located on the 28th floor of the Tokyo Park Hotel, Hanasanshou offers quite a view to go along with its Michelin-rated cuisine. Its a classy place with a great view, plenty of privacy for diners, attentive staff, and inventive dishes. This was our splurge for Tokyo, and for the most part it was worth the price.
The primary reason we decided on Hanasanshou was the availability of vegetarian dishes a la carte for Laura (surprisingly hard to find at upscale restaurants in Japan) along with their specialty, a full traditional 10-course Japanese Kaiseki dinner.
To get the party started, I had a dry Japanese beer while Mary and Laura each ordered a different type of sake. This was served by first asking them to choose their sake cup (out of a whole array of them--I immediately thought of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. "You have chosen. . . wisely"). They were then given a small handmade earthenware decanter (basically bowl with a spout) with roughly 4 or 5 pours of sake. The variety Mary had was light and sweet, while Laura's was dry and much heavier.
Laura had vegetable tempura and grilled eggplant as an appetizer, which included a large fried flower of some kind. It looked interesting, and according to her it was slightly bitter. While she was working on that, the parade of Kaiseki courses began.
Course #1: Dressed prawn, yam potato, broad bean and shell with soft roe.
This was served cold in a small glass placed in a small bowl. At first I thought roe was some sort of undercooked rue--creamy white, grainy, and bit salty. The vegetables were very crunchy. Overall I found it sort of bland.
Course #2: A smorgasbord of appetizers! Gizzard shad sushi, caramelized sweet fish, dressed stem of taro with pickled plum paste, boiled bamboo shoot, and dressed cowpea with sesame dressing.
All of this food was arranged in a extremely artful fashion around a wooden platform on a plate. The sweetfish was served whole and looked like it was trying to swim off the plate--the chefs even spent time posing it as part of the presentation. The sushi was wrapped and tied in some sort of giant leaf which the waitress was careful to warn us not to eat--"there are six species for you to eat."
There were so many things to try here that its impossible to describe this course as one dish. I don't think it was intended to blend at all, but instead present a bunch of different tastes to the diner.
Course #3: Clear soup. Clam, bamboo shoot and mugwort (herb)
dumpling.
The soup was served in a simple bowl. The broth had some sort of small, slimy roots in it. The dumpling was a large gray glutinous mass in the bowl with pieces of clam mixed throughout. It was also slippery, as I learned the hard way--"Houston, we have splashdown!"
Overall a very interesting soup dish.
Course #4: Sashimi, with flatfish, fatty tuna, and giant clam.
The components of this course were all served together in a little bowl with some herbs. I thought the giant clam was by far the most memorable--sweet and a bit tangy, with an interesting texture. The flatfish, however, was chewy to the point of absurdity. I wasn't a fan, although I'm not super familiar with sashimi as a whole and may have had wrong expectations.
Course #5: Grilled dish. Eggplant with sweet miso.
Here we received half an eggplant slice, grilled, with some sort of reduction on top (tomato?) that reminded us slightly of barbeque sauce. The miso paste was on the side and was extremely flavorful. Overall the dish with the most distinctive taste so far. Laura ordered this as her entree.
Course #6: Simmered dish. Eggplant and octopus.
The course next came in another small bowl with bamboo shoots. On the bottom of the bowl was grilled eggplant, with octopus and shoots on top. The octopus was chewy but flavorful (Mary was not a fan), and the eggplant was, well, eggplant.
Course #7: Side dish. Sushi shell and bonito.
I am not sure what "sushi shell" is, but I am guessing it meant shellfish. Two pieces of sushi with plain presentation on a white plate, one with fish and the other with what appeared to be clam. Both were excellent, although I preferred the shellfish sushi over the bonito--more flavor. The standard wasabi and soy sauce were provided on the side.
Course #8: Steamed dish. Burdock root, bamboo shoot, mushroom, in mugwort skin.
Veggie dish--Laura enjoyed this too. The course essentially appeared to be a giant green frog egg on the bottom of a wide bowl. The mugwort skin was very glutinous, and held inside a filling of roots, shoots, and mushrooms. It tasted very earthy overall, and it was very difficult to eat with just chopsticks due to the slimy texture of the skin.
Course #9: Marinated Dish. Fat Cod.
This dish was served cold. The fish was fried, and on top was shredded cabbage and a radish slice--a play on coleslaw. There was no sauce. The fish was moist and delicious, although eating it cold was a bit strange. It was not crisp at all. The cabbage and turnip were fresh. Overall an interesting dish.
Course #10: Last dish. Thin wheat noodles.
Here we received a bowl of clear broth with a chunk of fish floating among a large sunken mass of thin noodles--for some reason looking into the soup made me think of hair. The noodles were a bit on the glutinous side and went to mush quickly in the mouth. The fish had no taste at all that I could discern. In fact the entire soup was bland, although the jasmine tea served with the course was nice.
Course #11: Dessert. Seasonal fruits
Three cherries and a peeled apricot (we thought) sliced in half. Served cold with green tea. A nice way to finish the meal.
Overall this meal was an interesting experience. While Kaiseki meals are served everywhere, I thought that some of the dishes we had were memorable. Unfortunately, all of the courses were tiny, and when consumed over several hours the net result was that I walked away hungry.
Would I go here again? Perhaps, but I doubt it. Am I glad to splurged to try Hanasanshou? Absolutely. This was a dining experience that I will not forget soon.
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