Masia

⭐⭐⭐

🇪🇸 Spanish / 📍 Ginza

📓 Visits: 1

I chose the lunch-only option of 6 courses for JPY 5,500.  Other options are JPY 12,100 for 8 courses, or JPY 17,600 for 10 courses at dinner only.  Prices exclude 10% service.

First an amuse of Manchego and sobrasada croquette and an olive "brownie" with a mussel injected with vegetable soup.  Temperatures were a bit off.  The croquette should be piping hot.  The brownie couldn't decide if it was hot or cold.  7.5/10.  Next smoked mackerel, ajo blanco, kaki and cherry tomato.  8/10.  Bread was served after I'd finished this dish and was only 7.5/10.  The carbohydrate dish of fideuá was served next, which I would have expected as the last savoury dish.  Made with squid ink and dotted with a saffron emulsion it was a bit one-note.  8/10.  Fish was a tiny piece of kinmedai with pepitoria sauce, Jerusalem artichoke and Inca Awakening puree.  Delicious but too small.  8.5/10.  The best dish was what followed: "crema catalana" or custard ice-cream sandwiched between a sugar cookie.  9/10.  The main dessert was a take on a Basque cheesecake but lighter.  The raspberry and vermouth sorbet was excellent.  I've had much better cheesecake.  8/10.  Coffee or tea is not included and mignardises are not included in the cheap lunch menu but I was still given a petit four of Cacao bread, chocolate, extra virgin.  Cacao bread is not to my taste so 7.5/8 for this.

Service was fine.  The only waiter in the restaurant could speak a few words of English but I was sat at the counter so the head chef introduced all dishes for me in English.  A menu was printed in Catalan and Japanese.  What prompted my interest in this restaurant was the mention of the fact the chef is ex-Hajime.  Hajime is one of Japan's World-famous restaurants holding 3 Michelin Stars since 2010, ever since a Guide has been published covering Osaka.  And indeed it's true, and also true of the sous chef who worked there for four years.  But it seems like the head chef only did a relatively short stint and quite a while ago.  His most recent gig was Maspi in Osaka, which not many will have heard of.

This was a long way from a 3-Star experience.  Portions are very small and there were no expensive ingredients but for 5k in Ginza that's not unexpected.  So if you want to be completely full you'll need to order one of the longer courses.  For sure this is not as an exciting debut as Gracia and the food is missing some stardust right now but I think this is a place to watch and come back to again in a couple of years when, all being well, the food will have evolved and the kitchen will no longer be held back by having to produce a cheap course menu.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1301/A130101/13276770/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.8

📱 Booking: 🟩  Easy.  One business day in advance via Tabelog or TableCheck.  Same day reservations by phone and walk-ins may be possible.  Some English spoken.

📍 Location: 

8F Velvia Ginza, 2-4-6 Ginza.  8F multi-tenant building. Same building as Loft Ginza.
Map data ©2023 Google

📶 Free WiFi? ✅ Yes

📅 Visit February 2023

Manchego, sobrasada croquette; Olive brownie, mussel, vegetable soup
Smoked mackerel, ajo blanco, kaki, cherry tomato
Squid ink fideuá
Kinmedai, pepitoria sauce, Jerusalem artichoke, Inca Awakening puree
"Crema catalana"
Catalan cheesecake, raspberry and vermouth sorbet
(Cacao bread)

💴 Damage: 7,130 (5,000 + 1 drink @ 900 + 10% + 10%)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h