Tokyo

Akiyama

和食あき山

Exquisite seafood-focused cuisine in a comfortable atmosphere: Akiyama is the approachable Japanese eatery you have been searching for. The chef entertains guests with masterfully selected ingredients prepared with meticulous culinary skills and served on some of the finest antique tableware. The most delightful part is the lack of pomp and pretense, creating a relaxed ambiance where guests can choose a drink and settle in for a delicious meal.

Akiyama opened in February 2018 in a quiet pocket of Minato ward on Shirokane-Kitasato Street. Not especially convenient to any train station, the neighborhood feels right to Akiyama, who used to live nearby, and it is a restaurant that is worth the extra effort and steps. An orange-colored shop curtain draws you to an entrance where a maple tree, camelia, bamboo and ferns thrive —gifts from a close associate in Nagano. Instead of the single start time increasingly common at restaurants, at Akiyama, guests are free to choose their reservation time and enjoy the meal at their own pace.

Every seat at the L-shaped concrete counter has a view of the chef at work. He stands in front of a stylish copper plate wall, looking out to an indigo-dyed washi paper wall behind the guests. Around, you will find artworks the chef changes according to the season or his mood, from a drawing of a nodoguro fish to the calligraphy of a poem.

The sake pairings come from an array of brands and types to suit the season. Many are full-bodied, but it is a balanced selection to please all, which fits with Akiyama’s restaurant concept of being not a sushi restaurant, not kaiseki, nor a kappo counter restaurant or tapas small plates bar. The Japanese word that fits the image is nomiya. It is a watering hole that also happens to have incredible food. No doubt, many a potential guest will like the sound of that.

Exquisite seafood-focused cuisine

The chef’s tasting course featuring Chef Akiyama's signature seafood creations changes seasonally based on ingredient availability. However, it typically begins with a seasonal amuse, then a small rice dish to warm the belly and ready it for the meal. Next, are a lidded bowl dish, a duo of sashimi, a fried dish, grilled creations prepared over charcoals inside the counter, simmered vegetables or a vegetable hot pot, rice, soba, and sweets. Spring means wild vegetables and bamboo shoots, is all about wild mushrooms, and winter is a chance to delight in the rich flavor of crab.

The amuse may be sword tip squid dressed in golden garlic chives and nemagaritake bamboo, with a generous topping of akauni sea urchin served in a 17th-century French glass dish. The belly-warming rice bite perhaps pressed horse mackerel sushi or hand-rolled sushi. The sashimi duo always features Akiyama’s favorite Akashi amadai tilefish, flown in daily. When the lidded bowl dish arrives, remove the lid to reveal the rich aroma of pure, refined dashi. It is the perfect match for the luxurious abalone atop an Aomori Prefecture turnip. To prepare his essential seasoning of dashi, Akiyama prefers a quick method in which he roughly doubles the volume of kombu kelp steeped for 30 to 40 minutes, before finishing it with bonito flakes.

Awaji deep-sea daggertooth pike conger is meant to be enjoyed simply with the salt sprinkled on it as you marvel at the 12th-century Heian-era yamajawan pottery bowl it comes in. Charcoal grilled Kyoto nodoguro blackthroat seaperch is served with grilled ginkgo nuts and sudachi citrus on a 17th-century blue and white ceramic plate. Kagoshima beef fillet is accompanied only by salt, lemon and asparagus.

As the meal nears the end, the chef serves either plain steamed rice or rice cooked with seasonal fillings like bamboo shoots, matsutake mushrooms or chestnuts. Then, 100% buckwheat soba noodles. After being boiled in the interior kitchen, the noodles are brought to the counter in a large rattan colander and gently arranged for guests alongside a tasty dipping sauce for a truly refreshing finish. They punctuate a meal of simple, unornamented cuisine with deeply nourishing flavors. Everything is simply delicious. INGREDIENTS Daily visits to the market are the source of some ingredients, while others are shipped directly from producers. A Kyoto fishmonger sends the freshest seafood by air every day, including amadai tilefish year-round and deep-sea catches like hamo daggertooth pike conger and large, meaty torigai egg cockles from May to October. The sea urchin guests savor at Akiyama is pure and fresh, caught by fishermen who set sail from Yura Port in Hyogo Prefecture.

The meat is supplied by Kinryuzan, a yakiniku specialist nearby that is notoriously hard to book. The owner-chef is the same age as Akiyama. The soba is made by Shokuninkan, a famous restaurant in Saku, Nagano, for which people travel from near and far. Akiyama uses noodles made from a blend of two buckwheat flour types: one course and one fine. The rice is a blend of high-end varietal Rynunohitomi and Hokkaido’s Yui. Akiyama uses eggs from Silkie chickens, which are known equally for their nutritional value and high price.

CHEF

Hideto Akiyama

Hideto Akiyama was born in 1983 and hails from Hiroshima. He moved to Tokyo at age 25 and developed a love and fascination for seafood after working at a seafood-centric izakaya in Nishiogikubo in Tokyo’s western suburbs. He began his seafood training in earnest with employment at Nishi-Azabu’s Sushi Shin, where he worked for five years. Wanting to supplement that training with a deeper understanding of Japanese cuisine, he joined the highly acclaimed restaurant Higuchi, found in Jingumae, learning techniques from the master there over four years.

The discovery of a hidden gem in Nishi-Azabu inspired Akiyama to create his own restaurant. He was enamored with the Japanese eatery Isshokuta for its delicious food and relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. He realized his goal in 2018 with the opening of Akiyama in Shirokane and has already received many accolades. In 2022, he opened Aochochin (meaning “blue lantern”), a casual sake bar serving oden foods stewed in soy-flavored dashi. Located in Ebisu Garden Place, it is relatively close to Akiyama, which supplies some of the dishes, allowing the chef to work at Aochochin once service has finished at the main restaurant. Old-fashioned records spin on a turntable, creating the perfect ambiance to continue an evening of fine food and drinks.

VISION
Looking to the future, the chef’s only thoughts are to continue making Akiyama successful for as long as possible. One aspect critical to achieving that vision is the meticulous training of apprentices.

TABLEWARE

Antiques abound in the tableware collection Akiyama uses to entertain his guests. His favorites are white porcelain pieces from the 17th and 18th centuries. He simply loves the appearance of white rice presented in a white porcelain chawan rice bowl. His obsession with antiques was sparked while training at Sushi Shin, which had a breathtaking collection of antique dishes. Akiyama searches for new pieces at antique stores and through other collectors.