あきとん(・・)
**2025 Michelin Selected Restaurant Review**
November 2024
"I want food lovers to try this." By Akiton
French Cuisine "Nebuka" - A restaurant focusing on vegetables and game. At first glance, it may seem like a typical game-focused restaurant, but... there’s a surprise coming. The restaurant opened in February 2024 and is located on the second floor of a building just a 5-minute walk from Roppongi Station on the Tokyo Metro. It’s one of those recently popular "hard-to-find" places, with a beautiful interior space. How does the food taste? (*´∇`)ノ
**Omakase Course: 15,000 yen (tax included, service charge not included)**
- **Cauliflower (Kyoto Prefecture)**: Roasted cauliflower, cauliflower sauce, and sautéed squid. The taste is... wow! The roasted cauliflower has a wonderful aroma, paired with the rare-cooked squid. The cauliflower sauce complements it perfectly. A great combination!
- **Enoki Mushroom & Pheasant (Hokkaido)**: Sautéed enoki mushrooms and pheasant, topped with fried enoki. Honestly, enoki can be a challenging ingredient to stand out. However, it's simply delicious.
- **Red Bell Pepper & Skipjack Tuna (Tōno Farm, Gifu Prefecture)**: The skipjack tuna from Kochi is lightly seared on the skin. It comes with roasted and charred red bell pepper. This is also a well-executed dish. The tuna is fresh, and the umami from the pepper enhances the quality of the ingredients. It's tasty! ✨✨
- **Wild Boar (Fukuoka Prefecture)**: Prepared like a sukiyaki, with wild boar and scallions. This dish has an interesting twist with a black soy sauce reminiscent of Chinese cuisine. I like it! ✨✨
- **Water Eggplant (Osaka Prefecture, Urawa Farm)**: Served with a unique sauce made from Chinese tea! The combination of tea and oil brings out the sweetness of the water eggplant in a distinctive manner. It's an unexpected flavor, but it’s well balanced.
- **Zucchini (Kyoto Prefecture)**: A signature dish of the restaurant. The zucchini is juicy and releases its natural juices upon biting. The combination with a sauce of grilled nori and butter pairs excellently.
- **Ezo Deer (Hokkaido, Katagiri Takayoshi)**: The Ezo deer from the Shiretoko Peninsula is served fresh, without aging, and is very tender, particularly the loin. Although the taste doesn't drastically change, it's quite satisfying.
- **Matsutake Mushroom & Jasmine Rice (Yamagata Prefecture, Ito Daisuke)**: The matsutake from Nagano is cooked with grilled flying fish and kelp dashi over jasmine rice. This is wonderful! It’s different from traditional Japanese cuisine but undeniably delicious! An optimal finale to the meal.
- **Buckwheat Tea Ice Cream with Sun-Dried Salt (Kochi Prefecture, Tanoya Shiran)**: The buckwheat tea ice cream topped with sun-dried salt is also very well done and delicious.
**Drinks:**
- **Sapporo Black Label (small bottle)**: 1,100 yen
**Service:**
The young staff provided friendly and commendable service.
**Cost:**
It might seem expensive at first, but considering everything, it's understandable. The total for the omakase and two small beer bottles came to 19,100 yen. It was a rare moment where I felt a little excited! (*´ェ`*)
Although it’s a restaurant focusing on "vegetables and game," it has its own unique flair, offering new and innovative flavors without missing the mark on taste. It’s rare to find such a place; while some indescribable restaurants receive Michelin stars, it is establishments like this that truly deserve recognition. I highly recommend it to those who love gourmet food.
Thank you for the meal. m(_ _)m
**Rating:** As of November 2024, Tabelog rating is 3.54, with 24 reviews.
**Chef:**
Chiharu Kobayashi, born in 1996 in Shizuoka Prefecture. From middle school, he aimed to be a chef, graduating from a culinary school in Shizuoka. At 20, he gained experience primarily in French cuisine at popular bistro "Bistro SARU." After working as an opening staff member at the Japanese restaurant "Emotion" and honing his skills at the wine bar "End of the Season," frequented by chefs from hard-to-book restaurants, he opened "Nebuka," a hidden bistro in Roppongi, in February 2024. Here, he introduces carefully sourced vegetables and game from dedicated producers.