Tofuya Ukai, Japanese – Shiba Koen

Top 20 Best Restaurants in Tokyo 

Tofuya Ukai is situated next to Tokyo Tower and is famous for it’s beautiful Japanese garden. The garden is man-made with the owner bringing in century old trees from all over Japan to replicate a tranquil Japanese garden complete with ponds filled with Carp. The main building is a 200-year-old former sake brewery, transplanted from the countryside. There are many private rooms plus the upstairs of the main building, where you can dine while looking out over the gorgeous garden. All rooms are Tatami (straw) mat so shoes must be taken off before entering.

In the middle of the garden at the back, there is a small open kitchen/ bbq grill area which is used to make one of the house specialities home-made “Age Dengaku” (deep fried tofu, twice-fried) which is coated with sweet miso sauce. The Age Dengaku is one of their signature dishes, light and crisp with the beautiful sweet taste of miso served with chopped leek.  Tofuya Ukai is, of course, also famous for it’s tofu.  Tofu is served as a main course and for those hesitant to eat a whole bowl of tofu as a main dish, the tofu is truly light, creamy and delicious, with a few of my Western friends converted.

There are a choice of 3 course menus, with an optional fish and beef dish being the additional dishes. You can decide which course to order on the day depending on how hungry you are.  All courses start with a couple of small seasonal fish dishes and a selection of sashimi. The presentation is beautiful, with each dish carefully chosen to match the food, a feature of Kaiseki dining.  All the dishes are seasonal with many different Japanese ingredients in each dish i.e. yuzu, grated yam, fish dumpling or dried roe.

Next was the main course, Tofu made from soy beans grown in Hokkaido. The tofu arrives in a beautiful large clay hotpot at your table, seasoned with tofu milk.  Shio Konbu (salted seaweed strips) and shoyu (soy sauce) are served as condiments. The tofu is ladled into a bowl for you by your waiter (ladies in Kimono) while they explain the best way to taste the tofu; first plain, then with Konbu and finally with shoyu.  The second main was slices of charcoal-grilled beef with wasabi which reminded me of roast beef with horseradish sauce. This was followed by a small rice dish with sliced vegetables served in a wooden steamer. The meal was completed with fresh persimmon and a stick of crispy light-fried sweet potato, delicious.

Tofuya Ukai has the luxury of a perfect Japanese garden setting while holding one Michelin star, awarded in 2009, (no longer the case, it cannot be easy to maintain one Michelin star for a large number of diners in Kaiseki dining, but I would still recommend dining here). The restaurant is a great introduction to Kaiseki dining for newcomers to Japanese cuisine with fresh and varied food and beautiful presentation. They also have a good selection of sake which goes well with Japanese food.

Course menus are reasonably priced with courses ranging from JPY 8,400 to 12,600 for dinner.  Japanese and English menus available. Also popular with groups/ parties, we held our wedding party here in 2009.