Plateful of Japan

Fine-dining Japanese restaurants can now be found in India

It is indeed a Megu (“blessing” in Japanese) for lovers of Japanese cuisine in India. They have never had it so good with Japanese food, exquisite cutlery, finest sakes and wines backed by great service.

Sakura, India’s first authentic Japanese restaurant serving Kaiseki cuisine, started in 2000 at The Metropolitan Hotel in New Delhi. Sakura was instrumental in introducing Indians to the pleasures of Japanese cuisine. The new Sakura restaurant has moved floors but retains the minimalistic look and feel, and offers great choice — from miso soup and bento box to chawanmushi and sashimi. Also on offer is fugu, which can kill people if not carved by an expert.

The father of Japanese cuisine in India is Master Chef Nariyoshi Nakamura who has moved from Sakura to Pan Asian at ITC WelcomHotel Sheraton, Saket. Sakura chef Tetsu Akahira currently keeps the flag flying with dozens of loyal Japanese and Indian guests often making a beeline for reservations particularly on weekends. Nakamura, on the other hand, has graduated to cooking Japanese food with strict calorie count after having grown up with the fine food traditions of Tokyo. Also, Nakamura can balance Japanese tastes with exquisite French presentation style.

Sashimi Santen Mori, which is a trio of tuna, yellowtail and cuttlefish sashimi making a combination of red and white, as in the Japanese flag, is considered auspicious by the Japanese. Chawanmushi (Japanese egg custard) and wasabi gelato with seasonal cut fruits, are showcased at Pan Asian.

Megu has created a sensation since its opening at Leela Palace in New Delhi. On offer is modern Japanese cuisine — sushi and Sumibi Aburiyaki, prepared using a grilling technique with Bincho-Tan, a special charcoal found only near Kyoto and higly regarded for its purifying properties. Bincho-Tan is made from a unique variety of oak; it is virtually smokeless and costs over Rs 6,000 per kilogram in India.

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Fortune voted Megu as the “Rolex of Restaurants” in 2006. Megu’s menu and design concept are a blend of traditional and modern Japanese cultures. Salt, soya sauce and varieties of miso are specially selected for the Megu cuisine “where the ingredients are the stars”, states Yutaka Saito, head chef. The signature dishes at Megu are original crispy asapargus, kansuri shrimp, salmon tartare and Wagyu carpaccio.

The wine list has nearly 500 labels which include 60 varieties of sake. Delicate but complex, sake is steadily becoming a favourite with Japanese food connoisseurs. Sparkling sake, another unique offering (available by carafe or bottle), is a complete sell out.

The decor at Megu, featuring a signature crystal Buddha elevated over a pool of water with a 400 kg Japanese Bonsho bell suspended from the ceiling, creates a unique setting. Antique silk kimono fabric adorns the walls of the private dining room. Megu has a indoor seating capacity of 72; another 72 can be accommodated for alfresco dining.

The indigenous horseradish, wasabi, is harvested over three to four years but loses flavour and pungency within 15 minutes of being cooked. Wasabi at Megu is flown in from Izu, Shizuoka, and is served fresh, grated over a specially designed “Same-Gawa” or shark-skin grater.

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Wasabi by Morimoto at The Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai and Delhi are other much sought-after Japanese restaurants. There are only three other Morimoto restaurants around the globe. Chef Morimoto was recruited to open New York’s Nobu restaurant by Chef Nobu Matsuhisu. “Going to a restaurant is like going to a theatre,” says Morimoto. Black cod miso and rock shrimp tempura are the signature dishes at Wasabi By Morimoto.

Indian chefs like Vikramjit Roy at the Taj and Achal Aggarwal at Megu are increasingly becoming masters at Japanese cuisine.

Another new trend, is to include Japanese in muti-cuisine restaurants. Chef Keisuke Uno, who previously worked at the Japanese restaurant Ai and is now at The Claridges in Surajkund, creates exquisite Japanese cuisine.

At the Crowne Plaza in Okhla, 21 per cent of guests in residence are Japanese; the Japan Airlines crew too stays at the hotel. The hotel even has a Japanese guest relations executive to take care of its Japanese guests. “Japanese food is a new craze on the Indian food horizon. Indians are preferring minimally cooked food which are not masked by cooking styles,” says Barun Jolly, general manager of the Crown Plaza Okhla.

The trend has spread to Bangalore as well with the opening of Edo, a Japanese restaurant at the ITC Gardenia. Edo is structured around three main areas — a Robata counter, a sushi counter with a stone waterfall in the background, and a semi-private dining space.