I’m a basic bitch who loves food.
I don’t usually seek out name brand chefs, highly raved about restaurants or eateries for food. I simply go where my mood, nose and tummy takes me, if we get lucky, we will end up with great great food, but if we don’t then too bad.
Likewise for Sky Restaurant 634 (Musashi), I was led to the restaurant by Google while looking out for stuff to do on my very first trip to Tokyo. I had eventually realized it was quite unnecessary because I had so many things to do during the day, I didn’t have to worry about being restless at night! I was essentially curious about what it’ll be like fine dining in a sky high restaurant helmed by Michelin-starred master chef Naoya Makimura, so I decided to go ahead with it, and convinced my traveling buddy to do it too. I mean it’s my 31st birthday yo! I deserved to pamper myself a wee bit right?? And for all I know, this is the only time I’ll ever get to taste like a Michelin-starred chef’s food yo!
I had read somewhere online that the restaurant was highly sought after and is usually full house, so making a reservation was a necessity, and was damn glad I did because we were informed onsite by the concierge that the restaurant was full that evening! We had made reservations for advance entrance tickets to Tokyo Skytree’s Tempo Deck through the restaurant as well so we managed to escape the long snaking queue for entrance outside. We were sent up to the Tempo Deck by the Skytree staff and greeted at the entrance by Musashi’s staff, who led us to a table for 2 flank by giant ceiling to floor windows – damn impressive la!
This was the view we got from our table.
TELL ME HOW NOT TO BE IMPRESSED??!
As mentioned above, I’m a basic bitch who has never gone fine dining before, so obviously I tried to be on my best behaviour possible, but obviously the servers who have seen it all were not bought by my lacklustre performance and saw right through it. And because they saw right through it, they made every effort to make sure we were super comfortable and less intimidated by our surroundings, and that really made the dining experience an extremely enjoyable one because I could now fully concentrate on enjoying my food rather than worry about which utensil I had to start with and how to eat properly..GAWD….I just wanted to eat…! Anyway, we settled in, ordered a bottle of Riestling, which was damn yummy…but I didn’t get a picture of it because I got too distracted by pretty lights outside.. My short attention span be damned!
So yes! We pre-ordered the Iki Menu when we were placing our reservations and had requested for the restaurant to serve 1 set without pork or lard. Upon arrival at the restaurant, the server had taken the extra step and checked with the buddy if gelatine was alright, or should it be avoided as well. The answer was that gelatine should be avoided too because certain gelatine are made with extracts that contain pork essences, and I forgot about it! Thank god for the attentive servers, and damn useless friends like me…but yeah! The restaurant had taken extra steps to ensure that the food that was served contained no pork, lard or gelatine items while not compromising on the overall taste experience of the menu as far as possible.
Okie! Now to the main purpose of this article – the food.
I picked the Iki Menu because the other menu served foie gras. I don’t care what you say, but I cannot take foie gras, I cannot take the taste..just cannot..*gags*
Anyway, the Iki menu consists of 7 items including the coffee or tea that rounds up the meal, and the first item on the menu was Amuse. I’m guessing its kinda like an introduction to the rest of the menu items? The server did explain it to us but as usual, I got too distracted by the food and sights, so i kinda only remembered half of it..
The first dish that was served to us from the Amuse item was a sort of savoury dish that reminded me of a cross between a savoury cake and quiche. I wasn’t impressed by it..because it didn’t come across as something I couldn’t get elsewhere…I kept reminding myself to keep those expectations in check in case the next few items came out mediocre because that always happens back home! *fingers crossed tight*
When the item was served, I had not thought much about it other than the fact that it looked really pretty. The server explained that the dish consists of diced smoked duck, wrapped in passion fruit jelly, 2 ingredients only and they both sound so innocent.
But was I wrong…the 2nd dish from the Amuse item was, in my opinion, the most beautiful dish on the menu. The ingredients sounded simple enough but the taste was so beautifully balanced, it made it an extremely unforgettable dish.
The duck had incredible texture and taste – tender with just the right amount of bite, it was lightly smoked with a savouriness that lingered ever so slightly without overwhelming the light refreshing taste of the passion fruit jelly wrapping it. The smoky savouriness was nicely tempered and refined by the light sweetness of the passion fruit jelly, creating this beautiful symphony of tastes when you pop the whole thing in your mouth. I had pushed a piece of the jelly against the roof of mouth while eating (yeah, i eat funny.. ) and it was seriously the best thing to have happened! The thin jelly melted with that light push and left this glorious film of flavours over the tongue..
Such…bliss….
For Entrée, we had sea urchin, squid, crab and cauliflower blanc-manger with fluffy Ponzu sauce.
Fluffy Ponzu sauce…!!
I’ve never had fluffy molecular food before but have always been fascinated with it. It sounds so sci-fi but delicious..! When I saw that fluffy Ponzu was on the next item on the menu, I got excited.
The first impression, was once again nothing but awe at how beautifully the dish was presented. Fluffy Ponzu topped the dish of lightly grilled squid and crab, laying on a base of cauliflower blanc-manger.
I picked up a half spoonful of the fluffy stuff and sent it straight for my mouth, and was so bloody surprised by the intensity of the flavour I was at a lost for words for a good 15 seconds, only gesturing to the travel buddy to taste it while my brain worked to process the flavour. I mean I watched enough coking shows to know that fluffy food is like the next wave in cooking because of the intense flavours it could hold, but I’ve never expected this level of intensity! That half a spoonful of fluff had the flavour intensity of like 100ml of quality Ponzu sauce?? Damn it was good..
Fluffy Ponzu. Damn good. No more words needed.
The other items in the dish were very well prepared – squid and crab all had that light smokiness that worked gorgeously with the light refreshing taste that the cauliflower blanc-manger offered. I find sea urchins a bit difficult to describe.. I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either. It had a very light unique flavour that I can’t quite put a word to and the texture was interesting, not something I’d be dying to try but am glad I did.
The 3rd item – Poisson, was Poeler of Flounder and Saffron Risotto, with Hollandaise sauce. If I wanted to pick a bone with the entire menu, this would be the bone picking item for me.
I thought the flounder was a tad too dry for my taste and the hollandaise sauce was good but nothing incredible that made me remember it as vividly as fluffy ponzu. The saffron risotto was delicately delicious though. I say delicately delicious because risotto had often brought to mind a certain robust and heartiness to it. It was one of those comfort food that I’d head for when I needed some loving. However with this saffron risotto, instead of robust heartiness, I got a light freshness that reminded me a little of the sea, but at the same time it had a mild musky, mushroomy taste to it. There was a very interesting delicateness there made me linger a little on the dish then I would have if it wasn’t there.
Fourth item on the menu – Viande, was a taste comparison dish between Japanese beef loin and French Limousin beef, both served with bordelaise sauce.
The meats on the left of the picture is French Limousin beef and the right Japanese beef loin. Both meats had a beautiful fresh sweetness to it that I love but the Japanese beef loin won me taste bud hands down but I suspect its all a matter of taste preferences.
I like my beef with some fats, because to me those fats help enhance the flavours of the meat, giving it an extra kick that lean meat just doesn’t have, and this Japanese beef loin had that almost perfect balance of fats to protein that I’m always on the look out for but don’t always find. Every piece I send into my mouth, has that same consistency of fats, protein and meat sweetness that I almost died for. The fats in this cut were like little ninja spies hiding in the corners and layers of the meat, waiting for you to chew on it before it attacks you with its flavour firearm. I meant it in a good way, not bad! It was a truly truly enjoyable dish that leaves you wanting just a little bit more when you look down and realize you’ve finished it already.
5th item on the menu was dessert!
I’m not the biggest fan of white chocolates or cherries…so when I saw these 2 ingredients in my dessert, I was slightly apprehensive.. I even told the buddy that I will taste a wee bit of it and if I hate it, she can have both of them. Sadly, the buddy didn’t have the good fortune of absorbing my dessert because I actually likes those things!
The white chocolate mousse was so light and delicately scented, I completely forgot I hated white chocolate! The strawberries added a very nice tart texture to the overall taste palate of the dessert, breaking up the sweetness of the white chocolate mousse and chocolate crumbles on the plate. The cherries, which I thought I would hate, also turned out quite beautiful when paired with the bitter chocolate sherbet, I actually enjoyed my cherries too! This is the first dessert I’ve ever had, that had 2 ingredients that I didn’t like, that I enjoyed!
The final 6th and 7th item of the menu rounded the entire menu very nicely I think. After the slightly heavy taste of the desserts, we were served tea and le petit four.
Our petit four consists of a a petit madeleine that was spongy and lightly sweetened, an almond cookie and a chocolate macaron. Again, the macaron was a worry for me because I simply didn’t like items that were too sweet, and I didn’t want the sweetness of the macaron to overwhelm the taste of my previous dessert because I actually liked it. Alas, my worries were for nought because again, the macaron was beautifully made and delicately sweetened. It was delicious. The almond cookie served as a good bridge linking and closing the collection.
The next day after our epic meal at Musashi, both the buddy and I realized that as much as the food we were having was good, it simply could not be compared to what we had at Musashi. That simple elegance and respect with which the chef handled the food was an experience we were happy to be part of.
I foresee myself making a reservation again when I head back to Tokyo next time.
Signing off,
Basic bitch foodie
Writings on the wall of a virtual space 