Ginza Wakuta

After twenty years in operation, Ginza Wakuta remains as sharp as ever. When asked about the restaurant’s enduring success, owner and head chef Kameyama Masakazu give credit to his loyal suppliers and dedicated clientele rather than himself. The humility is telling but not surprising. Quietly located on the fifth floor of a multitenant building in Ginza, Kamemaya’s venue has him busy mapping out menus in the subtle evolution of kaiseki, centered around seafood and Japanese beef. The central philosophy of the restaurant is the holism in its offerings: much like the first character in its name (“wa”, or peace), every dish is prepared with harmony in mind. The ingredients, which are sourced from all over Japan, placed before the customer must have the perfect balance of taste, texture and aesthetics, coming together to form a dish that is greater than the sum of its parts. The course at Ginza Wakuta winds through seasonal influences, yet all paths ultimately converge on the clay pot rice, or donabe gohan. Cooked in an earthenware pot, it features ingredients that rotate according to the season: bamboo shoots and sakura shrimp in spring, pike conger and lotus root in summer, matsutake mushrooms and chestnuts in autumn, and puffer fish and oysters in winter. After its 2023 renovation, all seats are set in Japanese aesthetic-inspired private rooms, inviting diners to focus fully on what’s on the table and, perhaps more importantly, the company they are with.