Kanda

Lovely restaurant and hard to find. Tucked away and discreet. It’s on the ground floor of a building and you’ve got to walk into a side nook. No signs indicating the door leads to a restaurant. Once in, the warm welcome and food made up for it. On the pricier side but each dish was well balanced an...d flavourful. What surprised me was the rice. Cooked in an earthen wear pot, it was fluffy pristine and white as snow. This must be the sweetest rice I’ve ever eaten, and that’s saying a lot since rice is my cultural staple diet. Found out they even imported the water from Kagoshima prefecture to cook the rice. Had a duck meat dish as it is unusual to find duck in a Japanese restaurant; done to tender perfection. Their dumpling soup was also very good. Flavourful and light with no hint of oil anywhere. All dishes were delightful but I didn’t quite enjoy the fried roe spring rolls. Found it dry but then again, I never enjoy fish roe.

Visited November 2024

Any 3-star restaurant should provide excellent service, genuine hospitality, and excellent food. While the food here is generally good to very good, there were many service failures: 1. No host to greet us when we arrived. We had to wait a long time awkwardly before we were seated and we were perfec...tly on time. 2. Chef was being monopolized by an obnoxious, show-off guest from the Lion City. Instead of engaging with all of his customers, Chef spent time engaging (though he did not seem particularly happy with being engaged by) with Mr. Obnoxious Lion, who repeatedly asked “do you like Romanee Conti? Next time I bring Romanee Conti. So next time I bring Romanee Conti. Confirmed, ah? Next time I bring the DRC.” Ok, we get it, but this is Japan and being a little bit humble and deferential goes a long way. 3. Waiters/waitresses were inattentive, did not proactively refill waters, did not proactively offer more drinks or to take more drink orders. There was one moment when Chef even reprimanded a waiter for being slow on pouring a red wine. 4. Chef sneaked out before the guests left! Chef did not say goodbye or good night or thank you to the guests. Ok, we get it, you have three stars, but that’s just so rude in Japan not to see your guests off in a counter setting or at least say you “have to leave and you’re in good hands with my staff, thank you.” 5. Restaurant staff were in a hurry to leave. Meal was frantic throughout instead of a gracefully served dinner worthy of Michelin stars. We have dined at Michelin starred restaurants at all levels within Japan and around the world. Trust us when we say that your money is far better spent and will be better appreciated elsewhere.

Visited November 2023

This is a 3 star Michelin Japanese restaurant in Toranomon. It’s very good food, but two issues prevented me to give 5 stars. 1. Rushed There are only two seatings, 5:30 and 8:00 for this fixed coursed meal. Too early and too rushed for the early seating (you have to leave before 8:00), and too lat...e for the second. For the price you pay, having to eat and “run” is not good. 2. Price It is good food. However, it is not worth the price, especially given the fixed time schedule. There are many other great Japanese restaurants in the city that are a fraction of the costs and where you can enjoy a nice long evening.

Visited November 2022

Just had a most wonderful meal served by very cheerful & friendly staff. Chef Kanda himself was there to too to dish out very generous servings of truffle on delectable sushi. We had monkfish liver & another fish liver plus cod milt in egg custard - all the dishes were well executed. We even had tur...tle soup. Overall, a very enjoyable evening with excellent service. What a contrast to our experience with Ryugin few nights earlier where we had most abhorrent & disgraceful behaviour ever of a restaurant manager! How on earth he expects to represent a 3 star Michelin with such draconian stance on lingering perfume smell which he apparently could still smell is beyond me. Anyway, Kanda has redeemed reputation of 3 star Michelin without pretentious long list of rules - after all, Japan has a Long list of excellent food & service culture & it is to our own interest as customers to frequent places which will provide both. Kudos to Kanda & his team as I was already so well feted to the best in Takayama & Kanazawa that I thought it would be tough for any restaurant to impress me further. Well done!

Visited December 2019

I booked Kanda as I wanted to experience a Michelin 3-star restaurant with dear friends in Japan. The whole experience was extremely disappointing for a so-called Michelin 3-star restaurant. Indeed, a clothes rack thrones in the private room, which is surprising for a Michelin 3-star restaurant. As... for the cuisine, the pictures speak for themselves: crab salad without seasoning, fish roe too dried due to a bad frying, omelette on rice (the white truffle cannot hide the lack of cuisine), a flat taste dessert made from pear, etc.. Only the tuna sushi with white truffle was good. My friends including a renowned French chef (Julien Duboué) and I were surprised to pay 400 euros per person for such a mediocre dinner. This experience shows the inaccuracy of Michelin's judgments in Asia once again.

Visited November 2019