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QUOTE
On a discreet street in the Akasaka business district of Toyko lies one of the best kept secrets here: a tiny restaurant with two tables, no signs and food that would likely warrant notice if the Michelin guide were to ever find it.
If Aronia de Takazawa has its way, Michelin won't. Regulars diners must swear friends to secrecy when bringing them in, and the wait for a reservation can run more than two months. A tiny etching of the restaurant's name on the silver door handle of the ground-floor entrance is the only sign; Aronia de Takazawa has an aversion to advertising.
The secrecy is all for the inventive craft of a little-known chef named Yoshiaki Takazawa, who whips up Japanese-French dinners and lunches in Aronia's dramatically lit stainless-steel kitchen, just feet away from the restaurant's lone two tables. An 11-course dinner costs 24,000 yen (about $220), and dishes include creations like the "Cigar," stuffed squid and sea urchin inside a tube of smoke-flavored gelatin, and the "Candleholder," a mango-chili papaya salad served in an aluminum tea light holder with foie gras crème brulee.
If Aronia de Takazawa has its way, Michelin won't. Regulars diners must swear friends to secrecy when bringing them in, and the wait for a reservation can run more than two months. A tiny etching of the restaurant's name on the silver door handle of the ground-floor entrance is the only sign; Aronia de Takazawa has an aversion to advertising.
The secrecy is all for the inventive craft of a little-known chef named Yoshiaki Takazawa, who whips up Japanese-French dinners and lunches in Aronia's dramatically lit stainless-steel kitchen, just feet away from the restaurant's lone two tables. An 11-course dinner costs 24,000 yen (about $220), and dishes include creations like the "Cigar," stuffed squid and sea urchin inside a tube of smoke-flavored gelatin, and the "Candleholder," a mango-chili papaya salad served in an aluminum tea light holder with foie gras crème brulee.
