Shizen

⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎁🇯🇵 Innovative ✖️ Japanese / 📍 Shibuya

📓 Visits: 2

Opening in January 2023, the 3rd restaurant from Hideaki Sakai with ex-Maruta chef Yu Kunisue at the helm.  All the background is in the Japan Times article.  Dinner at JPY 30,800 or lunch at JPY 22,000 both including a drinks pairing with the dinner menu including one extra course.  Early Tabelog reviews weren't glowing and the Japan Times review couldn't be trusted.  Why?  (1) It doesn't say whether or not the food is any good; (2) the author is a fan of Hideaki Sakai and has reviewed his other two restaurants and (3) Japan Times almost never says anything critical about restaurants.  Pricing seemed over-ambitious and I'm hostile to mandatory pairings.  In addition, I visited Maruta in 2019 and it was poor.  For all those reasons I wasn't planning to visit Shizen.  Since July 2023 they dropped lunch and introduced a dinner course without the pairing priced at JPY 19,800 and a short dinner course priced at JPY 11,000.  At 11k it became worth a punt.

The short course comprises sakizuke, otsukuri, sakana, hassun, niku and shokuji.  If you look at those headings you might be thinking 'oh, another kaiseki restaurant'. If you've already familiarised yourself with the food on offer here you'll know this isn't simply kaiseki.  If you haven't this isn't simply kaiseki as (don't yawn) Shizen specialises in wood-fired cooking and fermentation.

The first dish I ever ate at Shizen was nagaimo somen, junsai and awabi.  The somen was perfect, the junsai large and the awabi flavourful.  Instead of ponzu to season like you'd get in a traditional kaiseki restaurant, fermented water from hakusai and nozawana.  With that my skepticism about Shizen was dashed and the best was yet to come.  I haven't scored a dish here below an 8 and some I've scored 10.  On visit #1 the otsukuri was hata kobujime not served with shoyu but with gooseberry irizake kombucha.  This was easily 9.5, maybe even 10.  On visit #2 the first dish of fermented oyster mushroom with oyster and chawanmushi was perfect.  Large, the smoke from the wood fire adding another dimension of flavour you won't get in a traditional restaurant.  10/10.  The fish course of wood fired kamasu, fermented yurine puree and togarashi was also stunning.  The only way it could be improved is with a larger portion but on flavour, it was 10/10.  The hassun is a highlight: every element is seasoned with what could be sweet notes or spicy notes or sour notes.  It might not look as grand as a hassun you see in a top kaiseki restaurant but it might top it on flavour: it's a modern hassun.  Before the hassun the meat course: inoshishi on visit #1 and duck on visit #2, all cooked over the wood fire with no timers.  The inoshishi tasted like smoked bacon.  The final dish in the short course doesn't disappoint.  High quality rice is served with a rich akadashi and a selection of Kunisue-san's own pickles and other tidbits which might include salted fish or shika heshiko or smoked chicken.

At this price you can't expect an abundance of trophy ingredients but meal #1 included awabi, meal #2 included unagi and the quality of ingredients is very good.  A Tabelog review taken in the month prior to my December visit shows what looks like a longer version of the short course I had, adding three dishes: owan (shirako), yasai (carrot, nama ham) and dessert.  But while the short course is still available this is what I'll keep going back for.  Portions are definitely tasting size but you can have refills of rice and request rice with other toppings if you're still hungry.  Dessert may be available for an extra charge and I'd recommend you ask if it hasn't been offered to you.  Often so anti-climactic in Japanese restaurants, I've added dessert on both my visits and both times they've been original and excellent.

The space matches the food.  A counter like any other kaiseki restaurant but then like no other, modern with an island 'kitchen', zero clutter and moody lighting and yet prehistoric with the clay walls, the wood fire, the storage room of ferments and the counter made from stone, not wood.

Kunisue-san doesn't speak English but sommelier Mikiko Kido (ex Shokai Sakai) speaks fluent English and will explain all the dishes to you.  Service could be a bit more enthusiastic but if you can speak some Japanese Kunisue-san will open up as the meal goes on.  You'll be given a bilingual printed menu at the end of the course.

Shizen should be doing a lot better.  If they'd opened with the 11k menu they could have established themselves for over-delivery.  Instead, at 30k, they underwhelmed the conservative Japan dining scene who were probably expecting a bonfire of umami, an orgy of luxury ingredients and less of a tang of the fermented.  But the short course is a bargain.  If you're tired of paying 20/30/40k for kaiseki and leaving discontented take a punt here and see how you feel.  Yu Kunisue is only 27 and is already a master of his craft: he's brought kaiseki into the 21st century.  Shizen is in my top two new openings of 2023.  The menu changes approximately every six weeks and I'll definitely keep going back.  Shibuya finally has an outstanding restaurant.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130301/13280892/ 

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.4

📱 Booking: 🟩 Easy.  Up to 3pm on the day via Omakase or apparently via TableCheck (login required).

📍 Location: 

3F Ogitsu Bldg, 3-6-18 Shibuya.  Above Shokai Sakai.  3F multi-tenant building, no lift.  1 min from Exit 31 of Shibuya Station.
Map data ©2023 Google

📅 Visit December 2023

Short Course 10,000

薪焼きタマゴタケ 牡蠣の茶碗蒸し 牡蠣醤
Amanita caesarea, Oyster, Oyster sauce

アオリイカ すじあおのり醤
Big fin reef squid, Suji-Aonori shoyu

薪焼きカマス 発酵里芋
Barracuda, Fermented taro

季節の一皿
Seasonal plate

薪焼き鴨 なめこ 発酵椎茸の餡
Duck, Nameko mushroom, Shiitake

白米 小吸物 お漬物
Rice, Soup, Pickles

+Dessert 1800 (Kuri, soba gyunyu ice, kuromoji)

Drink 1200

Service 10%

💴 Damage: 14,300
⏱️ Time taken: 1h40m

📅 Visit August 2023

Short Course 10,000

尊菜と餡の長芋素麺 発酵ウォーター
Watershield, Abalone, Yam, Fermented Veggies water

赤はた昆布〆 スグリの煎り酒
Red grouper Kobujime, Gooseberry Roasted sake

鰻ざく カリカリ梅 赤紫蘇コンプチャ
Ell, Crunchy pickled plum, Red shiso kombucha

季節の一皿
Seasonal plate

眠り〆小猪 檜胡椒
Wild boar, Japanese cypress,chili

白米 小吸物 お漬物
Rice, Soup, Pickles

+Dessert 1000 (Sugi ice-cream)

Drink 1200

Service 10%

💴 Damage: 13,240
⏱️ Time taken: 1h25m