It was a beautiful evening in October 2017 when I visited Kurosaki (1 Michelin Star) in Shibuya. It is located in what looked like a mostly residential district and if you do not look carefully, you could walk by it (since right across the street and adjacent are parking garage doors).
Coming here was not planned at all, but I was alerted of the restaurant’s cancellations 5 to 6 hours prior and immediately inquired for reservations and got in. It is wise to book in advance (1 to 2 months ahead, not sure of their policy). Out of the 6 or 7 places I went to (for sushi) this was one of the greats.
Chef owner Kazuki Kurosaki has experience from some not as well known sushi restaurants, but also worked at other non sushi restaurants before. One of his hobbies involves him enjoying eating around, and from doing that he gets new creative ideas. There is clearly a Sushi Sho style influence here with alternating otsumami/appetizers with nigiri sushi, amongst influences from other restaurants and preparations, but in the end this is a separate entity in itself.
He is in his 30s, so still considered very young and one of the new crop/current generation of chefs (he must be quite a hit with the ladies too), and he has so much potential given the quality bar he sets. He is super humble and a great guy to interact with, and he will tell you he has no master…that his “master” that he learns from are his customers. He also enjoys DJ’ing and apparently in his spare time he is also a rapper (in Japanese of course) and he is known to wear interesting dressed up outfits when he goes shopping for fish at Tsukiji Fish Market. Lucky for us, he chose the main path of the Dark Side, instead of rapping!
In short: please go!
@skramzlife next time! Definitely blows away Jiro Roppongi.
@CiaoBob in case you were still thinking about it
@Chowseeker1999 @Sgee @PorkyBelly @TheCookie @BradFord @J_L @Starchtrade - because I know you all love reading about this stuff too
Without further ado:
The entrance:
Starting off the course with matsutake and ginan in a delicious broth
Not pictured: the sake pairing started off with a bottle of Hakkaisan sparkling sake (in lieu of champagne for wine pairing)
Chef owner Kazuki Kurosaki
Next dish: Botain ebi, with a thickened dashi broth (ankake?) of shrimp head (miso) and roe
First sake: Kamonishiki (Niigata Prefecture) single pasteurized Junmai Daiginjo (apparently this is the one of the hottest/latest and greatest in the market)
Shirako with three year aged kanzuri (Niigata pepper paste that has citrus tones, it’s not yuzukosho)
Kawahagi with liver (it’s inserted between the rice and the fish)
Akasu zuke gari (red vinegar/sake lees vinegar marinated ginger slices) - so good
Fresh ikura
Hokkaido Hon Shishamo
Sake somm / “beverage director” Nao san with the next sake, a Junmai Ginjo brewed with Omachi rice from Yamagata prefecture called Retsu 洌
A nice sized piece of Kuroawabi (black abalone) from Chiba Prefecture being prepared
Kuro awabi slices with sauce made from its liver
A little shari seasoned with akasu to soak up the rest of the killer liver sauce
Jikon Tokubetsu Junmai (Mie Prefecture) - a legendary sake producer that brews in very small batches, thus not easy to find, and I believe this is single pasteurized too, designed for seafood
Kohada
Wild Kurumaebi - about a week or two before I arrived in Tokyo, there was a fairly severe typhoon that resulted in a shortage of seafood at Tsukiji Fish Market. Kurosaki san probably spent a lot more than he normally does to secure whatever prawns he could, and probably at a loss, just so he could serve them.
Kurumaebi
Konnoko (sea cucumber eggs) chawanmushi
Ankimo paste mixed in with Japanese persimmons (in season during the fall)
Wild line caught Aomori prefecture Oma bluefin tuna, from a famous wholesaler “Yamayuki”, aged one week
Otoro
One of my favorites: Hitakami (Miyagi Prefecture) “Yasuke” Houjun Karakuchi Junmai Ginjo. The president of Hitakami is known in his field as “The Sushi Prince” since he loves sushi so much…so much that he designed and created a sake built especially to pair with sushi (and sashimi).
Akami zuke
Chutoro
Bafun uni (Hokkaido of course)
Nodoguro and kegani mushi sushi with bafun uni on top, in dashi
Hokkigai
Sumi ika
Iwashi
Grilled kurumaebi head
Last sake for now: Dennaka Rokugo Junmai from Fukuoka Prefecture (also pretty popular these days)
Wild unagi
Handroll time
Shellfish broth made with shijimi (Corbicula japonica, or Japanese brackishwater clams), asari (similar to Manila clams) and hokkigai (parts he couldn’t serve as sushi)
Buri (aged five days)
Saba
Sanma with kimi shoyu (a sauce made with the liver of pike mackeral)
Buri zuke
Ending with tamagoyaki (made with madai)