Foodle

Located just a 5-minute walk from Tsukiji Station, Sakuragi is situated on the second floor of the Dai-go Ginza West Tsukiji Building, which also houses Sushi-dokoro Yamato on the first floor. This restaurant has earned the Tabelog Bronze Award, showcasing its culinary prowess. The owner, Mr. Sakuragi, honed his skills under Chef Kenichiro Oe at the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku.With a well-organized kitchen and efficient movements, the restaurant takes ample time to prepare ingredients, enhancing their flavors with herbs and sauces. The dishes, crafted with meticulous preparation and attention to detail, are simply outstanding!The menu features a delightful mix of seasonal ingredients, including juicy summer vegetables like jun-sai, sweet Gold Rush corn, asparagus, eggplant, and okra, alongside abalone, white sea bream, early bonito, and surf clams—showcasing the transition of the seasons, which is a hallmark of Japanese cuisine.The dashi is made from bonito flakes and kombu kelp. The rice, a premium variety called "Shin'nosuke" from Niigata, is cooked in a Shigaraki clay pot. The standout dish is the TKG (Tamago Kake Gohan), topped generously with eel and bonito flakes, perfectly complementing the large, sweet grains of rice.Delicious! It was a great meal d(￣ ￣)Today's menu: JPY 28,000 Seasonal dishes: JPY 27,500 Chiba: Abalone and Jun-sai Hairy crab, snap peas, Gold Rush corn, jelly Grilled white sea bream from Hagi, with green beans and kombu-bonito dashi soup Sashimi of a la carte fish and squid Early bonito, grilled with straw and served with Japanese mustard Beef tongue, asparagus, and Japanese pepper Fried young sweetfish from Lake Biwa, served with sweetfish fish sauce Eggplant in a light batter with okra and myoga Shabu-shabu of surf clams Rice: Niigata Shin'nosuke Eel rice bowl, pickles, and miso soup with yuba Mask melon and milk ice cream Other drinks available. Less

I made a reservation for lunch on a holiday. I think it's still relatively easy to get a reservation. The interior has a bright atmosphere, and every dish was beautifully presented and delicious, including the desserts.I especially enjoyed the dish featuring rich shiitake mushroom broth with the whole shiitake mushrooms, and the main dish of tender chicken paired perfectly with the grape pepper and miso sauce.The ambiance of the restaurant was lovely, and the service from the staff was precise and courteous. Even with drinks, the price for lunch was just a little over JPY 20,000 per person, making it a well-balanced and accessible French dining experience. Less

Uliassi is one of Italy’s great contemporary restaurants, but its origins are remarkably modest. Mauro Uliassi and his sister Catia opened it in 1990 as little more than a seaside shack between Senigallia’s canal harbour and the beach. More than 35 years later it is a three-Michelin-star restaurant, yet it still feels strongly connected to that original place and family. Mauro’s cooking is rooted in the Adriatic, particularly the meeting of sea and land, but combines this with constant experimentation and an almost playful search for new flavours and textures.

For our dinner we chose The Lab 2026, the menu on which Uliassi presents the results of its annual period of research and experimentation. It is an ambitious menu, but what impressed us most was how completely resolved it felt. Excellent food throughout, technically perfect execution and, importantly, a very well-composed progression. Creativity never seemed to be there merely to demonstrate technique.

The menu began with the duck liver wafer with hazelnuts and a Kir Royal shot, followed by red prawns with green curry, pepper and kaffir lime. Then came razor clam with its own sauce, peach blossoms, celery and Siltimur oil, and one of the more unusual combinations, spaghetti with butter, anchovies, hops and blueberries. The sequence continued with sole with green pepper, followed by the wonderfully indulgent “porchetta-style” bombolini with potatoes and lard.

The later part of the menu moved from citrus and cinnamon to mezzamaniche “cacio e pepe” with pear, then wood pigeon with figs and apricots, before finishing with caramelized apple cake, ice cream and Calvados foam. The combinations sometimes sound almost improbable on paper, but the execution was so precise that they made complete sense on the plate.

Hospitality was equally impressive. In addition to the Lab menu, the kitchen generously sent us three extra dishes: shrimp; sea snails with lardo and roasted potatoes; and lamb. The lamb in particular was extraordinary — one of the best lamb dishes I have ever had. That is quite a statement, but this one deserved it.

Nicolò, the sommelier, looked after us extremely well: knowledgeable without making a performance of it, very friendly, and choosing excellent wines that worked beautifully with the progression of the menu.

What I particularly liked about Uliassi is that despite the technical sophistication and three-star precision, the restaurant never loses its sense of pleasure. Mauro describes his objective as creating moments of happiness and having guests leave thinking that the experience was worth it.

On this evening, that philosophy was very easy to understand. Outstanding cooking, perfect execution, a beautifully composed menu and exceptionally generous hospitality. And that lamb will stay in my memory for a very long time. Less

This was my second visit, and the French course truly showcases the chef's commitment to using locally sourced ingredients from Setouchi, with a focus on presentation that makes it enjoyable to see and taste. The dish featuring sea snail elevated the ingredients to a level that was hard to describe, even if you called it abalone. It paired perfectly with the selected wines. Less