Unlike my Japan trip in 2018 which my sushi planning was based on recommendation from a Japanese foodie instagrammer, my February 2019 trip was planned to my foodie friends’ recommendations. In particular @zachdevours‘. Whom I also nick ‘InstaGram Bottomless Pit’ on my blog. My gosh. It has been a long while since I mentioned IGBP here. Keke.

And like me, IGBP travels to Japan annually. Well okie… Minus 2020 cause of COVID-19. However, while I preferred checking out different places, IGBP and his family would religiously return to their regular sushi-hunts. So I was keen to check out IGBP’s recommendations (Nishiazabu Taku and Sukiyabashi Jiro Roppongi) and understand the ‘pull factor’.

My hotel concierge assisted to make the reservation at Nishiazabu Taku. Got them to specifically request for head chef Kenji Ishizaka as I read that customers at Nishiazabu Taku would be served by either head chef or sous chef. And it would have been nice too if I managed to match my appointment date with IGBP’s, but somehow our meal schedules just couldn’t align. Boohoo.

The L-shaped counter could sit up to 8 people. And at 6pm, I was the first to arrive at the restaurant. I guessed I must be the only one eating early that evening because once I settled down, head chef Ishizaka san immediately commenced my ¥21,600 omakase dinner with:-

1) Dish #1 (above) – Broad bean. And I was unsure how exactly to eat these when head chef Ishizaka san placed the dish in front me. Seeing my puzzled look, I was told to pick it up with my hands and squeeze the bean out from the skin. Ahhh…

2) Dish #2 (above) – Sea cucumber with jelly.

3) Dish #3 (above) – Flounder.

4) Dish #4 (above) – Grilled flounder fin.

5) Dish #5 (above) – イボダイ. Am able to share the fish’s Japanese name (and in Japanese character) because head chef Ishizaka san made reference to a book while trying to explain the fish that was served. And yup! It’s a small butter fish.

6) Dish #6 (above) – Clam, lightly grilled. And was told to enjoy it with salt.

7) Dish #7 (above) – Baby snapper. And to give me a gauge of how ‘big’ the baby snapper was, head chef Ishizaka san said he could only get 2 such pieces from it.

8) Dish #8 (above) – Ice fish with fresh sea weed.

9) Dish #9 (above) – Needlefish.

10) Dish #10 (above) – Cod milt.

11) Dish #11 (above) – King salmon from Hokkaido.

12) Dish #12 (above) – Short spine sea urchin.

13) Dish #13 (above) – Purple sea urchin.

14) Dish #14 (above) – Shiitake mushroom with ponzu sauce.

15) Dish #15 (above) – King squid, aged for 5 days.

16) Dish #16 (above) – Squid legs, served with a little salt.

17) Dish #17 (above) – Steamed egg (chawanmushi) with clam stock.

18) Dish #18 (above) – Spanish mackerel belly.

19) Dish #19 (above) – Smoked Spanish mackerel. And for this, I was told it’s a cut from the back.

20) Dish #20 (above) – Rock fish. And interestingly, I was told to eat the fish & vegetables separately.

21) Dish #21 (above) – Sandwich of daikon, shiso leaf and Japanese plum (ume).

22) Dish #22 (above) – Baby tuna (meiji maguro).

23) Dish #23 (above) – Swordfish. And instead of serving a (solid) slice of swordfish, he made the topping with swordfish scrape.

24) Dish #24 (above) – Premium fatty tuna (otoro).

25) Dish #25 (above) – Gizzard shad.

26) Dish #26 (above) – Japanese spotted prawn (botan ebi) with wasabi & soya.

27) Dish #27 (above) – And from the same Japanese spotted prawn (from the earlier dish), the remaining portion was grilled and served as a nigiri sushi.

28) Dish #28 (above) – Mackerel and turnip.

And by this point, I couldn’t resist but tell head chef Ishizaka san that I was full. His sushi was like size L, by the way. Very big mouthful! And he replied me by saying “Last one.” Last one? Okie!

29) Dish #29 (above) – Sea eel. And I could tell head chef Ishizaka san used lesser sushi rice for my last piece of my sushi. Keke.

30) Dish #30 (above) – Egg omlette (tamago). And it’s interesting that there’s 2 different textures within the 1 piece; The top half was smooth while the bottom half was like custard cake. Nice!

31) Dish #31 (above) – Miso soup.

32) Dish #32 (above) – Just when I thought I had come to the end of my meal, head chef Ishizaka san asked if I wanted ice cream. Oh my god. But not being able to resist even though I was full, he went on to mention there’s 5 flavours. Unable to choose 1 (since I would want 1 of each), I asked him for his recommendation. To which he said “3?” HAHA! And he must have noticed my eyes widening because he continued by saying “small ones!” Too cute.. And I went with his recommendation of kinako, shouyu and houjicha.

So on the night of my dinner, head chef Ishizaka san attended to 5 (including me) while the other 2 seated at the counter were attended by the sous chef. There was also another group in the private room. And while head chef Ishizaka san didn’t speak much, one could tell he takes a lot of pride in the dishes he put in front of us. He would often gently gaze at me to check my reaction and to make sure I was enjoying myself. He’s pretty chilled (or open-minded?) too because he didn’t mind the pair of (Japanese & non-Japanese) customers conversing loudly. And I noticed he alternate cooked dishes (otsumami) with the sushi-s. A pretty ingenious idea actually to prevent sushi ‘saturation’ especially since his sushi was pretty big.

IGBP who always had head chef Ishizaka san for their previous meals at Nishiazabu Taku suddenly had the sous chef for their 2019 meal. And he shared with me that there’s definitely a difference. So I would say it’s necessary to request for head chef Ishizaka san if one decides to dine at Nishiazabu Taku.

And a little more about head chef Ishizaka san… He didn’t start off being the head chef at Nishiazabu Taku. Kenji Ishizaka san was training at Ginza Kyubey when he crossed path with Takuya Sato san. On the fifth year of opening Nishiazabu Taku (2010), Sato san got Ishizaka san to come onboard as the second chef. And it was in 2016 when Sato san decided to relocate to Hawaii to help a friend (master chef Keiji Nakazawa of Sushi Sho-Tokyo) to open a sushi restaurant (Sushi Sho Honolulu) that Ishizaka san stepped up to become head chef of Nishiazabu Taku.

So do I recommend 1 Michelin starred Nishiazabu Taku? Yes, but it wouldn’t be a restaurant that comes immediately to mind if one asked me for sushi-ya recommendation in Tokyo. How should I better put it… It was a good meal but the dining experience didn’t leave a deep impression. But that’s because rather than trying to impress by taking out slabs of fishes, etc, head chef Ishizaka san allowed his dishes to speak for themselves. And that also meant he had minimal interaction with customers. It was as though he didn’t want to disturb us unnecessarily. So yes, if one is in a big group and would like a place where one could converse freely yet still be able to enjoy safe and good sushi, Nishiazabu Taku is definitely the place to go to.

And the lack of attention on social media meant if one left planning to the very last minute or have extra meal slots for filling, one should be able to get a seat at Nishiazabu Taku pretty easily. But having said that, don’t take the risk by booking a few days ahead only. At least 1.5 weeks notice please!

My meal came up to ¥21,600, including tax and service charge.