A note on the words: tarabagani is red king crab, served here as grilled shoulder meat alongside risotto, and awabi is abalone, roasted and served with a sauce the author reckoned had the liver in it. A royale is a delicate savory custard akin to chawanmushi, perfumed here with truffle. Cat’s Eye is the name given to the raw oysters, plated with a tomato-and-wasabi condiment, and Canadian lobster (homard) is served shelled in a creamy emulsion. Kanpachi is greater amberjack and buri is yellowtail.
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KAZAN on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Lately a craving for seafood had been building up—“I haven’t eaten seafood in a while”—so I decided to immerse myself in seafood at the Ginza seafood specialist KAZAN. It is located just a short walk from Exit A9 of Ginza Station. Seafood restaurants are definitely far fewer in number compared to meat spots. I was glad to discover a place in Ginza where you can really feast on seafood. The entrance has a very chic feel with a luxurious ambiance.
Outside it was unfortunately raining, but the blue sign really stands out in the rain, ha.
Nine-course dinner featuring red king crab and abalone — 9,680 yen
Chef’s special dinner course featuring premium red king crab — 12,980 yen
KAZAN dinner course — 7,150 yen
Given the season there was also something like a Christmas dinner course, but this time I chose the nine-course dinner featuring red king crab and abalone! There was no meat dish tucked into the mains or anything; it was genuinely all seafood from start to finish, so I was really looking forward to it!
For starters, we ordered an affordable bottle of white wine…
By the way, for an extra 800 yen you could switch to a fresh sea urchin jelly, but since the rest of the meal was going to be all seafood anyway, I figured why bother, and went without the add-on. I stayed with the chilled consomme jelly cocktail. They told us to mix it well before eating, so I broke up the jelly and stirred it around. Taking one bite, the delicate aroma of shrimp came gliding through. This was delicious!
Oysters certainly have quite a bit of individual variation. The red sauce was tomato and wasabi, I think they said. Trying it with that, it pairs surprisingly well. Delicious. Well, raw oysters are shellfish after all, so in a way it makes sense that wasabi works. The oyster itself was delicious, though it was a slight pity that it had a sharp little tingle to it.
A cold pasta with shrimp and peach. The shrimp was plump, and combined with the sweetness of the fruit, it was delicious.
Something like a carpaccio of kanpachi or buri with red cabbage. The acidity and the nicely textured raw fish brought out great flavor. Paired well with the wine too.
An elegant lobster! The meat had already been removed from the shell, so the shell was just for garnish. The plump meat and creamy sauce were delicious.
Homard, lobster, crayfish and the rest of that family are just so good. Irresistible!
Around this point we added another bottle of white wine.
Toward the bottom was something like tofu? Or egg? Apparently it seems to be something like a Western-style chawanmushi (savory egg custard). The mousse on top was richly fragrant with the aroma of truffle, and delicious. With plenty of savory broth coming through, it was very good!
Abalone! You eat it mixed with a sauce that surely must have the liver in it, and it is wonderful. Moderately tender and superb. Abalone really is delicious. Dipping into the sauce underneath changes the flavor slightly and tastes great, so you end up eating it right up, but you have to remind yourself to pace yourself. Right around here I began to get rather full.
Grilled king crab shoulder meat with risotto.
The risotto was deeply infused with flavor and so delicious! Having just a faint firmness at the core of the rice was great! Because the shoulder meat was not heavily grilled, the flesh was perhaps a little tricky to remove. Without worrying about appearances, using chopsticks and hands to pry it loose worked best. It felt like quite a while since I last had crab. Very satisfied!
A cassis (blackcurrant) ice cream, they said.
For the final coffee, since I was completely full, I asked for an espresso with its smaller volume, ha, and the cassis went wonderfully with the bitter coffee!
And so, a true seafood feast! It was superb. The restaurant had a very upscale, serene ambiance, so we could thoroughly enjoy our conversation alongside the delicious dishes. It made me feel like dropping in here once in a while. There was talk that they have sister locations in Omotesando and elsewhere, so I thought I might pay those a visit next time.
KAZAN (Seafood / Ginza Station, Ginza-itchome Station, Yurakucho Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.6
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
