DAIZO

Chef Daizo and wife Kazue welcome you in their restaurant as if it was their home. Their kindness is infectious and they have many stories to share with their guests. The cuisine is authentic and meaningful. The setting is peaceful. Do not hesitate a second to reach the back of a building on the m...ain avenue of Kamakura. You will want to come back!

Visited June 2023

DAIZO is the best restaurant I've discovered in Kamakura! Small and fairly new, the chef/owner of Daizo is Daizo Hashida. who returned to Japan recently from years of cooking in Paris. Daizo and his wife opened their small restaurant early in 2014 on the second floor of the Tanaka Building in the ...center of Kamakura, between Komachi-dori and the main avenue leading to Hachiman Shrine. I've been there three times this year --once for lunch and twice for dinner -- and can't wait to go back! Daizo is a wonderful new addition to life in Kamakura! Lunch at Daizo can be a fairly simple meal of 2 or 3 set courses, or a somewhat more elaborate bento with several more delicacies arranged in an elegant lacquered 2-tier boxed arrangement. All meals at Daizo are stunning to look at, and delicious to the palate. Young Mr. Hashida's fine artistic sensibility is evident in the beautiful presentation of every course, and his culinary finesse can be detected in the very first mouthful of a clear suimono broth or delicately miso-grilled filet of fish. Dinners are more elaborate, with set menus of 6 or 7 or 8 courses -- each served on perfectly selected plates, with cuisine and presentation impeccably harmonized with the season. Reservations are essential -- though the atmosphere at Daizo is quite casual this is definitely not a "drop in unannounced" place -- and the menu and meal-price should be determined when making a reservation. The restaurant seats no more than 10-12 people at one time, and can be reserved in advance for single parties. Daizo's wife, who helps him in serving and who also arranges seating, speaks fairly good English, so foreign guests should not be afraid to call for reservations. Meals at Daizo are priced fairly. Such superb cuisine, with freshest seasonal ingredients beautifully selected utensils, served with extraordinary personal attention to detail, cannot be inexpensive -- but meals at Daizo are well within the capacity of most gourmets. Lunch runs around Y1800-Y3000 (without beverage), and dinners Y5000-Y7,500 depending on the number of courses requested. Compared to less satisfying restaurants in Tokyo or Kyoto, Daizo is a real bargain -- and well worth the 1-hour train ride from central Tokyo to Kamakura.

Visited November 2014