Experimental Service (in Restaurants)

Experimental Service might bring to mind the image of a small robot whizzing around with an insurmountable number of plates or the waitstaff abuse you and you pay for it (see Dick's Last Resort), depending on the size and breadth of your imagination. However, both of these are quite far from the restaurant I have in mind.

The establishment is a tiny gem hidden away in the back streets of Tokyo called Aronia de Takazawa. It contains only two tables and has no michelin stars, but don't let that fool for a second into thinking it is anything less than on of the most magnificent culinary experiences you would ever have.


The restaurant, managed by Akiko Takazawa with food prepared by Yoshiaki Takazawa, is the picture of the Japanese minimalist aesthetic. The whole restaurant, which could see around twenty people is instead limited to under ten. The reason for this is that the food 'experience' is modeled after the tea ceremony, in which form, presentation, and procedure are sacrosanct and the host plays a critical role. A meal at the Aronia de Takazawa features between ten and eleven courses, all hand crafted my Takazawa and can be as simple as plate of vegetables grown by the chef's uncle and grandfather or a complex as a vegetable terrine made out of tiny cubes of vegetable, each marinated in its own unique sauce and assembled into a rectangle the size of a zippo light and takes Takazawa an entire day to make.
(If you are interested in a review of an entire meal, check out this article where I got most of my information)


This kind of service does not come cheap though, and will cost upwards of $260 per person in addition to a reservation a few weeks in advance and don't expect to get a table all for your lonesome. However, you can try to simulate the experience for much cheaper via this video found on the restaurant's website. Also, look on the bright side this is much easier than getting a table on similarly priced Michelin restaurants such as The French Laundry, which you have to reserve more than a year in advance)