Located in black-and-white colonial house Chateau Tcc is this new fine dining Japanese restaurant, right beside Italian sister establishment Buona Terra. In a word: understated. The two-story building holds a classically minimal sushi bar counter that sits 10, several private dining rooms as well as a sake lounge, all decked out in pale wood and gold leaf wallpaper. With only three omakase sets ($230, $280 or $330) on the menu, you’re looking to drop some serious coin on chef de cuisine Kazuhiro Hamamoto’s (ex-Waku Ghin) multi-course meals, but it’s worth it. The emphasis is on seasonal ingredients featured in an assortment of appetizers, sashimi, nigirizushi, a Hida Wagyu dish, miso soup and dessert; seafood’s usually flown in on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On our visit, everything from Hokkaido uni (sea urchin) with snow crab, shiso flowers and clam jelly to steamed ankimo (monk fish liver), and charcoal-grilled scallop with sesame butter sauce to fugu shirako (pufferfish milt) atop chawanmushi with white truffle made an appearance. Hamamoto-san also makes some mean nigirizushi, accentuated with hand-grated wasabi from Shizuoka. Sake fans (from $38/240ml, $248/bottle) are well-catered for thanks to a 50-strong collection of nihonshu with premium junmai daiginjos, which you can enjoy warm or chilled (our recommendation). There are also Japanese beers like Suntory Premium Malt ($17) and single malts including 12-year-old Yoichi ($20/glass, $380/bottle).
