Ubuka

Ubuka (うぶか)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

🦀 Crab / 📍 Araki-cho

📓 Visits: 1

Ubuka has long had a reputation as a chefs' favourite with its late opening hours and reasonable prices.  Prices have gone up steadily through the years.  Only one, omakase, course is available priced at JPY 16,500 + service on my visit, increasing to JPY 22,000 + service from April 1st 2024.  A variety of crabs are served in the course and the types of crabs available depends on season.  Matsuba crabs are available from 6th November till 20th March.  Fresh seiko kani is in its prime from 6th November till the end of the year.  Snow crab from Hokkaido is available at other times of the year.  The meal follows the pattern of kaiseki, though it's quite different from a "kani course" served in a kaiseki restaurant.

Apart from the dessert, sashimi and signature deep fried kuruma ebi every course contained crab.  The first course contained 'waka Matsuba' or 'young Matsuba', only available during January to February when the Matsuba molt.  Before dessert, the final part of the meal is always snow crab rice.  On my visit the snow crab was Matsuba from Oki.

All seating is at tables with just 4 tables seating up to 12.  The restaurant opened in 2012 and it doesn't seem as though it's had a refit during that time.  A printed menu to follow the course was placed on the table but was all in Japanese, the drinks menu was all in Japanese and all communication was in Japanese.  The chef came out to present the final rice dish and will see you off at the end.

Every dish is protein-rich so it's a fairly big meal.  Any rice you can't finish will be packed up for you to take home.  The price of crab has significantly increased in recent years in Japan due to lower yields and higher demand for Matsuba and higher prices for imported snow crab so I think 16K was reasonable value.  From April (when the price went up) and outside of Matsuba season 22K feels like less good value but if they can hold pricing for 2024/2025 Matsuba season then 22K for that would be fair.  The quality of the food on my visit was good and there were no errors in the cooking but there was nothing amazing.

I think your enjoyment of Ubuka is going to depend on how much you love crab and how much experience you have eating crab.  Although Ubuka specialises in crab it doesn't serve the very best crab you can find in Japan and you get a relatively modest amount of crab in total.  A 'kani course' served in a kaiseki restaurant or a meal in restaurant that only serves crab where live snow crabs are dispatched to order and you feast on all parts of the crab will cost multiples of a meal at Ubuka, maybe even 10 times it.  Before indulging in a meal like that I think you have to be really sure you love snow crab that much.  Many kaiseki restaurants stopped serving a 'kani course' in 2023/2024 due to the crazy price of crab.

If you've never really eaten Japanese crab and a crab course at a more expensive restaurant is over your budget then I'd recommend Ubuka.  If you want more of a live crab feast but are on a budget or are with children, I'd recommend Kani Doraku.  Whether you go to Ubuka or Doraku the crab is still likely to be better than anything you've had outside Japan.

The best way to think of Ubuka is not as a crab restaurant but as a 1-Star kaiseki restaurant where most dishes contain crab, so going once was enough for me.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1309/A130903/13139225/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ a generous 4.0

📱 Booking: 🟧 From 3pm on the first of each month for the second month ahead via Omakase.  All seats will be taken very quickly.  Reservations for lone diners are not available

📍 Location: 

2-14 Arakicho.  5 mins from Yotsuya-Sanchome station Exit 4 (Yotsuya/Ikebukuro direction) or Exit 3 (Shinjuku/Ogikubo direction).
Map data ©2024 Google

📅 Visit Winter 2023/2024

Waka Matsuba, kogomi, shin-tama negi surinagashi
Kuruma ebi, tai
Kegani, nanohana, ringo, hotaru ika, kinkan
Seiko kani gratin
Ibara-gani, endo, yuzu, Shogin Daikon
Kuruma-ebi miso fry, sansho tartar
Matsuba kani (Oki) gohan
Miso soup, pickles
Azuki, ichigo

💴 Damage: 22,560 incl. a shared bottle of wine and one other drink
⏱️ Time taken: 2h30m