Kappo Muroi

The name is an homage to the chef’s father, who ran a kappo before him. As an apprentice, the chef studied venerable techniques in Kyoto before being in initiated into more advanced approaches at a restaurant in Tokyo. Rice served at the perfect moment of steaming and the soup-based dishes attests to the chef’s respect for the classics. Desiring freedom and novelty, he does not offer sashimi. New and old alternate on the menu, creating an expression that is Kappo Muroi’s own. Temperature and aroma are prized above all, and careful attention is paid to alternation between cold and hot. Fragrant oolong tea draws the meal to a close.

No sashimi, instead a progression built around soup, rice and seasonal dishes where temperature and aroma are treated as main ingredients. The counter is intimate, roughly eight seats, and the pacing deliberately alternates cold and hot. A signature moment is rice, served at the precise point of steaming, and the meal closes with oolong tea.

Fresh-shaved bonito flakes for dashi, premium kombu, rice served at exact steaming point, eel grilled over binchotan, soft-shell turtle in season, cod milt and mullet roe with al dente niebana-style rice.

Omakase-only kappo at a small counter in Nishi-Azabu. Dinner is typically priced around ¥55,500 per seat via concierge-style booking. The sequence alternates hot and cold dishes, finishing with fragrant oolong tea.