Restaurant Mio Kojima’s artful cuisine tells a story about the ingredients and where they came from. The seasonal omakase menu is made up of 7-8 courses using produce sourced only within Japan. Guests also get glimpses of their eco-friendly practices throughout the meal.

The evening begins with a cup of hot fragrant water that seeps through your empty stomach. The water is infused with dried vegetable peels, bringing together layers of subtle aromas. The next appetizer combines the hairy crab meat with smooth turnip cream and consommé, topped with dill, marinated turnips and chrysanthemum petals.

The amuse is made up with bites of tuna, lemon puree, cacao and a dried sardine rillette tart, dusted with powder made from fermented broccoli and fish innards. The tuna used for this dish is chi-ai tuna, a dark-colored part with many veins that would otherwise be thrown away. “My goal is to use every part of the fish from head to tail,” Kojima says.

The kohada, or gizzard shad, is an homage to sushi, he explains when asked about the signature dish. The slice of shiny silver fish is served with a sauce made from fermented rice, pickled cucumber and kiwi. While the fermentation gives the rice a moderate sourness like sushi rice, the use of spices adds French elements to the dish.

Frit of wild tiger blowfish, spinach roots, taranome buds and Siberian onion are served on top of fermented cabbage. The butter sauce, made from fish bones, brings out the flavors of the ingredients.

Grilled shirakawa, or white tilefish, is served with a red wine sauce, grilled lotus root, brussels sprouts, bamboo shoots and broccoli sticks. The loaf of pain de campagne is baked just in time for the guests’ arrival.

Venison is roasted to perfection with the meat moist and pink on the inside. The loin is flavored using soybean dashi and diced wasabi, served with roasted pecoros onions and nanohana, or rapeseed tops.

The elegant dessert is too beautiful to eat. Rose ice cream, fermented strawberries and crumble is served with a sheet of leaf-shaped cookie on top.

INGREDIENTA
Kojima is committed to source all ingredients domestically within Japan. Thanks to his long-time relationships with wholesalers at Toyosu Market, he is able to procure high quality and rare produce. For example, the white tilefish known as shirakawa has a very limited distribution. He is also a fermentation specialist who makes his own vinegar, soy sauce, miso and sesame oil. He conducts all kinds of food production inside the restaurant’s kitchen, so much so that he even owns a distiller. His love for experimentation brings about his innovative cuisine.