高柳 恒一
Koichi Takayanagi · at the counter since 2016
The chef
握りは一度きり。
I trained for eleven years at a counter in Ginza, where I was allowed to press rice for guests only in the last two. What I took from there is simple: a piece is shaped once, handed over once, and eaten within a breath. Everything before that moment is preparation, and most of it happens in the morning.
I go to the market four mornings a week and decide the list after lunch. Some fish rest for a night in salt and vinegar, some for a week in the cold; bonito is seared over straw at the counter because the smoke is part of it. Rice is cooked twice an evening, once for each seating, and held at the warmth of skin.
There are eight seats because that is how many people I can watch at once. If you eat slowly, I will wait. If you would like something again, ask; if it is still good, I will make it.
高柳 恒一
Koichi Takayanagi
Where it comes from
朝の市場から夜の膳へ。
Fish
Toyosu market, Tokyo
Bought in person from the same two brokers, four mornings a week
Rice
Koshihikari from Sado Island, Niigata
Milled every ten days; blended with a year-old harvest for firmness
Vinegar
Red sake-lees vinegar, aged three years
From a family brewer in Aichi; no sugar in the rice
Sake
Six breweries, from Aomori to Mie
Chosen each season with a liquor shop in Ningyocho