Ginza Kitagawa (1*, Tabelog 4.32)

Visited Ginza Kitagawa (GK), a sister restaurant of Ginza Shinohara (GS) in January 2024.

Based on single visits to both restaurants (spring 23 vs winter 24), I would say the food & cooking at GK was on-par and represented a commendable alternative to GS. Not an exact carbon copy but lots of similarities – for example: soft-shell turtle appeared in both restaurants albeit in different forms (karaage during my visit to GS vs grilled skewers at GK), the use hallowed yuzu fruit, the red-coloured tray, live grilling station etc.

The hassun at GK had less food compared to GS during my visit but that turned out fine because it simply meant more food to come. Other than aesthetic value, personally I dont really enjoy hassun dishes because generally they tend to be prepared in advance and cold

Highlights from the dinner were 1) smoked-kissed turtle skewers which included its meat, liver and intestines, 2) duck from Shiga prefecture cooked in a tamahagane, its rosy flesh worked well with the citrusy yuzu pepper paste, 3) hearty & comforting ozoni soup, 4) refreshing uni & fugu appetizer served in a bacarrat glass and 5) tamatendon which was akin to TKG on steroids.

At 35K vs 33K, perhaps GS just shaded it a bit due to the taisho presence and tabelog gold status. But in terms of cooking alone, I view GK to be on-par, evidenced by its stand-alone tabelog rating of 4.32 and rising.

Menu:

1. Turnip Extract Tsukidashi
2. Prawn, Spinach, Sea cucumber sauce* (* means part of hassun)
3. Black bean stew*
4. Smoked red shellfish, onion and nuta sauce*
5. Dried persimmon with namasu salad*
6. Tamagoyaki, Kelp & Herring roe*
7. Moroko fish from Lake Biwa with sweet potato
8. Sea Urchin and Fugu served with yuba (tofu skin)and vinegar jelly
9. Shirako (cod milt) & Nameko Mushroom in a hallowed yuzu fruit
10. Ise Lobster confit with jujube sauce
11. Sea Bream Tempura with miso mustard sauce
12. Ozoni in white miso soup (red & white mochi, mugwort mochi)
13. Fugu Karaage
14. Duck with yuzu pepper & Shimonita onion
15. Duck meatball & Yodo radish soup
16. Matsuba crab meatball with kani miso vinegar dipping sauce
17. Turtle skewer
18. Rice dish #1: rice from Omi served with shrimp, squid and crunchy Agedama batter
19. Rice dish #2: hoba miso and namero co.oked in magnolia leaf. Served with baby sardines, pickles and miso soup
20. Rice dish #3: tamatendon (egg tempura, choose from either rich red egg or healthy white egg)
21. Kohakukindan (dessert made from potato)
22. Tea