3* Azabu Yukimura

Michelin Tokyo 2013 is out and once again the Japanese capital has kept its position as the most Michelin starred city in the world. Azabu Yukimura is one of the 3 Michelin stars restaurants I’ve been recently. Like so many other top restaurants in Japan, it’s a small, minimalistic and design-wise modest place impossible to find. The chef, Yukimura san, is Kyoto trained, but I wouldn’t say that his cooking is traditional kaiseki. The presentation of the dishes is quite a freestyle and some of them,  like spring roll with Azuki beans, could even be considered as fusion. For one thing, Yukimura san is very traditional. The knife he uses for shearing pike bones is made by the legendary  Aritsugu knife producer (who used to make swords for the Imperial House of Japan and samurais). The knife as well as the chef’s shearing skills were impressive!