One night earlier, I had a very nice dinner at The Dining, the only restaurant at Shiba Park Hotel, sister property to Park Hotel Tokyo. But whereas The Dining was open for various meals throughout the day, Park Hotel Tokyo’s Hanasanshou is only open for dinner, from 17:30 to 22:30.
Hanasanshou, which translates as “flower of the Japanese prickly ash (it has a tongue-numbing heat much like the Sichuan pepper)”, is a modern kaiseki establishment. Kaiseki, a multicourse meal that dates back centuries to Buddhist tea ceremonies, consequently takes time to both prepare and appreciate.
I ordered the chef’s recommended kaiseki, made with ingredients most commonly found during wintertime:
Before I ate anything, I snooped around the drink menu. What seemed seasonally appropriate, yet also more unique than other options?
This one:
Dessert first this time!
Absolutely outstanding. The mixologist took one of my favorite foods — the sweet potato — and blended it with Kyushu shochu (alcohol often distilled from sweet potatoes), and Advocaat, a creamy Dutch liqueur. In retrospect, I should have ordered another, but I wanted my taste buds to have a go at another drink.
Created in Nara prefecture by a mix of Mt. Miwa water and Yamadanishiki rice, this Dio Abita (“god resides,” in Italian) nihonshu was dessert #2. Smooth and delicate, and came with my choice of choko, or nihonshu glass:
Yoshino san, my kind waiter, gave some tips throughout the meal. For example, what difference does it make re: choice of choko?
I really like the flavor of sesame; Japan seems to know that. It could be white/black sesame ice cream, ground sesame served with tonkatsu or miso ramen, or in this case, sesame tofu.
Imagine a slightly sweet tahini drizzled over tofu, and then served with sesame powder. Fantastic.
Wait, what? Saying tofu is fantastic? It’s Japan…it could happen.
The clear soup was a worthy palate cleanser, even if the shrimp dumpling dirtied it up again.
Fall and winter got together for this whirlwind tour of excellence.
Special shoutout to kumquats and persimmons (both main types), which are both woefully underrepresented in the West. The former I could snack on all day, and the later lends itself nicely to sponge cakes and financier almond cakes.
Wagyu sukiyaki two days in a row? Count me in.
And this time, there was much more cow.
Much like with airplane types, I’ve got to improve my knowledge of sliced raw fish.
Besides salmon, I know that another piece of nigirizushi was called sayori, or Japanese halfbeak. How about that: the Latin name for sayori is Hyporhampus sajuri, hence the origin of “sayori.” The tamagoyaki, or rolled egg, was also a treat.
By this point, I was stuffed, and completely neglected to realize that a dessert course would have followed. Silly, perhaps, but by that point I was chuffed enough.
If you want to try somewhere not widely known in Tokyo, and with a neat city view to boot, I’d highly recommend Hanasanshou.
Disclaimer: I was invited to have dinner at Hanasanshou by Park Hotel Tokyo.
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