Tacubo タクボ @ Daikanyama, Tokyo (Feb 2019)

Instagram foodies and hardcore foodies alike would be familiar with this place. To say it's highly sought after is quite an understatement because it is indeed difficult to get a seat here. I suppose I got lucky (actually I consider this a blessing from God), it seems like the restaurant was experimenting with a new third party website and I happened to be using that third party website for the first time ever on that right day at the right time, I managed to secure lunch seats at the counter for me and my parents. However, a recent update to their reservation policy has now made it even more difficult to secure seats, and even more so if you're not a Japanese local. Will tell you all more about this later.

Anyway, having lunch here turned out to be one of the biggest hits of my Tokyo holiday and I consider myself extremely blessed by God to be given this opportunity to dine here, more so now that I have found out the changes to the reservation system. This lunch was eye opening as it showed just how good Japanese-Italian food can be. It's hard to describe so I'll let the pictures do the talking:

Haramasa はらまさ @ Yotsuya Sanchome, Tokyo (Feb 2019)

Haramasa is a 1 michelin starred modern kaiseki restaurant located in the basement of a building in the Yotsu Sanchome area in Tokyo, somewhat near Shinjuku. While many of  Japan's top restaurants pride themselves on their traditional dishes and the preservation of their culture through these dishes, there are always a small hand full of chefs who want to be different and are willing to explore the use of non-traditional ingredients in their food. Chef Shotaro Hara of Haramasa is one such chef who incorporates ingredients like black truffles and extensively uses high calorie items in his dishes. I believe he is someone who loves his food having a strong taste to it, in fact sometimes a tad bit on the overpowering side. I am not sure if I have described it correctly, but if you look at the pictures below, you'd sense there's something quite different about the food served in this kaiseki restaurant compared to the norm.

Shall we have a look at pictures of my meal: