Ebisu Afusoya

As Ebisu’s vibrant locales surge forward, Ebisu Afusoya leans into the past. The traditional restaurant finds home in a quaint, 75-year-old kominka house constructed in the Showa era. It’s sandwiched in a sleepy, narrow alley by Ebisu Station. The entryway is marked by an illuminated garden; its interiors are basked with retro romance through the steadfast use of fusuma doors and shoji screens. Unhurried — that’s how this restaurant rolls. It’s true of the pace at which the dishes are allowed to unfold naturally. The menu brims with healthy, delicately flavored items, which, true to kaiseki tradition, are minimally tweaked. In autumn, wheat gluten (“fu”) is shaped into maple leaves, chestnuts and mushrooms are folded into takikomi gohan, and matsutake mushrooms are kneaded into fishcakes that sink into the soup — a seasonal homage to nature’s beauty. This storytelling of Japan’s four seasons comes courtesy of Head Chef Hasegawa Tadaaki, a Tochigi native whose illustrious career includes tenures at Kioicho Fukudaya, Tsukiji Kawasohsuen and Nagatacho Kurosawa. His ingredients are procured fresh each day. His plates often surprise, but they are always a visual and culinary feast. It’s seen from tilefish rolled and steamed with fine strips and silver-an sauce to giant prawns grilled with egg yolk cream. The menu is continually refined with input from in-house advisor Miura-san, a fellow Fukudaya trainee. With just five private rooms spread across two stories, Ebisu Afusoya is a classic of the micro-restaurant genre. It deftly mixes intimate, homespun hospitality with precise cooking and peaceful energy. A memorable, nostalgic place, for moments shared with special ones.