Yakiuo Ishikawa Ginza Rinkaro serves up a very unique crossover of meat and seafood traditions.

At Japan’s yakiniku restaurants, customers dine on strips of grilled meat, which they grill themselves at a grill set within their table. The term makes a lot of linguistic sense, since yakiniku means “grilled meat,” but that’s also why we were confused when we were invited to a tasting at a Tokyo restaurant that says its concept is “Yakiniku without grilling meat.”

But a certain amount of confusion is a necessary in order to also be intrigued, and so we made our way to Yakiuo Ishikawa Ginza Rinkaro, which opened on the 12th floor of the Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza neighborhood late last month.

For the sake of simplicity, we’ll just be calling it “Ishikawa” for the rest of the article, but the Yakiuo part of its full name means “grilled fish,” and hints at what the restaurant’s culinary goal is: adapting the yakiniku style to slices of fish.

Unlike at yakiniku restaurants, at Ishikawa the chef handles the grilling. As this this tasting, they were serving us the Sanshokudon (“Three-color Bowl”) Course meal, and they wasted no time wowing us, starting off with an amazingly thick cut of tuna, succulently marbled and looking like a little wagyu steak after it had been kissed by the grill’s flames. It’s then placed atop a rice bowl along with ikura (salmon roe) and uni (sea urchin), making for a ludicrously luxurious combination.

Ishikawa is a sister chain to long-established Tokyo sushi restaurant Tsukiji Aozora Sandaime, and their eye for quality seafood meant that the uni was decadently rich, the ikura enticingly firm, and the tuna mouthwateringly melty, our taste-testing Japanese-language reporter Yayoi Saginomiya reports. The bowl is accompanied by a selection of condiments that you can add to taste, such as wasabi, citrus, and pickled garlic leaves.

This was still the opening act of the multi-course meal, however. Next, the chef brought out a platter of sliced fish, with each cut larger than what you’d find in a traditional sashimi spread.

The chef then proceeded to cook them on the yakiniku grill, timing each morsel’s duration on the fire perfectly.

The results not only tasted fantastic, they were fascinating to look at too, since they so closely resembled slices of meat.

▼ Fugu (blowfish), seasoned with garlic and salt

▼ Marinated tuna, which took on the texture of short rib

▼ Otoro (extra-fatty tuna), served with a raw egg to dip it in, in the style of sukiyaki beef

Not only did each and every type of fish taste great, the chef thoughtfully served them in an order that helped each individual bite flourish. Juicy, oilier kinds of fish were interspersed with lighter types with clean finishes, so that the taste buds never become saturated with any single sensation.

The side dishes were all excellent as well, and featured a salad of spinach, enoki mushrooms, and chrysanthemums, a pureed soup of okra and tofu, and even a dish of sashimi.

It was a special meal, and also one that comes at a special-occasion price of 15,000 yen (US$101). Still, it was a unique experience and one that left Yayoi thoroughly satisfied, and if you’re not quite so hungry or deep-pocketed, a la carte orders are an option too.

Restaurant information
Yakiuo Ishikawa Ginza Rinkaro / 焼うお いし川 銀座凛華楼
Address: Tokyo-to, Chuo-ku, Ginza 4-6-16, Ginza Mitsukoshi Shinkan 12th floor
東京都中央区銀座4-6-16 銀座三越 新館12階
Open 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 5 p.m.-10 p.m. (weekdays), 11 a.m.-10 p.m. (weekends, holidays)

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