⚠️ Closed on 20th June 2023.
Kimura Don (ăăă丟)
⭐⭐⭐
Kaisendon / đ Shinjuku
đ Visits: 1
Kimura Don opened on 20th July 2021. If the name sounds familiar that's because it's the same Kimura of Sushi Kimura, one of the most respected sushi chefs in Japan. Kimura Don is not the first Kimura Don in the World (that's actually in Bangkok) but it's the first permanent secondary venture from Kimura-san in Japan. Kimura Don is nothing like Sushi Kimura (and not trying to be either). Kimura Don serves kaisen don and donburi and these are the only items on the menu. At lunch there are several choices of kaisendon priced at a hefty JPY 3,500 and a seasonal donburi currently priced at JPY 4,800. If you can't settle on one choice you can have two smaller bowls for JPY 3,800 (except for the current seasonal item). I chose the two-bowl set of katsuo and iwashi. English menus are available and pictured below.
I arrived just after midday on a weekday and there were plenty of tables free. The food came out after about 10 minutes.
There's more fish in the katsuo bowl than appears in the photo. I'd say there were 5 or 6 decent-sized pieces. Unlike at sushi Kimura the neta is not aged here. The katsuo had been smoked and was decent quality. There were lots of pieces of iwashi but cut quite small so they lost the unctuous quality from the fat and oil in a large piece. Rice was excellent. The accompanying chawanmushi was better than average for a cheap restaurant but essentially boring. One of the potato slices in the obanzai was hard. I did not like the pickles. Dessert was a white potato ice-cream monaka. There is no child in the World who would say potato ice-cream is their favourite.
The restaurant is located on the 14th floor of Takashimaya Shinjuku and has great views of the surrounding area through the floor to ceiling windows. Staff are very young but decently trained and super polite: it's keigo to the max. I did not test their English and I suppose that will depend on whomever is on shift but there's nothing complicated here and the English menu is a big help.
Dinner, served from 6pm, starts at a whopping 12,000 and again centres on kaisendon but with additional courses served. This is surely the highest minimum price for a meal in any department store in Japan.
This is expensive. If it didn't have a big name attached to it I'm not sure I would have looked at the menu twice. It wasn't particularly filling either: unless you only eat the smallest amount you'll be wanting something else quite soon after. If I found myself in Takashimaya again I might go again and try some of the other options but I don't think this is worth crossing town for - the rice was great but 3,500+ yen for rice?
It's a curious decision to open a new restaurant in a department store when department stores in Tokyo were subject to some of the most debilitating Coronavirus restrictions. But by trading off his name and at a high price, perhaps Kimura-san can make a success of this.
The best place for bara chirashi don in Tokyo is probably Sushi Shou, not far away, in Yotsuya. Served at lunch on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays only and priced at JPY 2,000, reservations (taken up to two weeks in advance) are generally required. They also do takeout.
Takumi Makoto also serves a good bara and is just outside Takashimaya. Served at lunch on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays only, reservations are recommended (same day is usually fine).
Seagen opened in September 2021 and is owned by the Yamayuki group who supply hon maguro to the top sushi restaurants in Tokyo. Expect long queues when word spreads.
Maguro to shari (review here) opened in October 2021 and is overseen by the chef from Hakkoku.
For a budget chirashi don go to Isomaru Suisan. A third or half the price of anything you can by in a depachika, bigger and good quality. Branches all over Tokyo.
đ https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1304/A130401/13261604/
❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.65
đą Booking: You won't need to book here
đ Location: 14F Takashimaya Shinjuku
đ Visit July 2021
Katsuo-don and iwashi-don
đ´ Damage: 3,800
⏱️ Time taken: 35m
Comments
Post a Comment