A note on the words: chawanmushi is a savory egg custard steamed in a lidded cup, and hamo is pike conger, an eel-like fish whose fine bones are scored with a knife before cooking. Chirizu is a citrus-and-soy dipping sauce, and myoga is a fragrant Japanese ginger bud, sliced thin as a garnish. Donabe rice is rice cooked and served in an earthenware pot, here with sea bream and sansho, the tingling Japanese pepper; tonjiru is a miso soup with pork and root vegetables, and sake lees are the pressed solids left over from brewing sake. Ezo is the old name for Hokkaido, so Ezo venison is deer from the north. Nomihodai, translated here as all-you-can-drink, is a fixed-price arrangement that includes unlimited drinks for a set stretch of time.
Japanese Cuisine Kajiyama on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. This time, off to “Kajiyama,” a Japanese restaurant in Roppongi — closer to the Itchome end, I would say. It is year-end party season and I had been looking around, and what do you know, they have a course with all-you-can-drink included. That sort of thing is so easy to use for a year-end party! It was my first time here and the food looked really good, so I was very much looking forward to it.
[Kajiyama Omakase Course (10 dishes)] 17,600 yen
[Recommended Course (9 dishes)] 12,100 yen
[Course with All-You-Can-Drink (8 dishes)] 15,000 yen
This time we picked the eight-dish course with all-you-can-drink!
The all-you-can-drink list here is quite something!
Beer and highballs; for barley shochu, Nakanaka; for sweet potato, Rokudaime Yuri; for rice, Kagin. The sake includes Ryusei, Hiroki and Nabeshima — names you hear often and all of them good! There are sours as well, plus plum wine, yuzu liqueur, white and red wine, and of course soft drinks are included too.
![[Course with All-You-Can-Drink (8 dishes)] (15,000 yen)](https://cimg.eat.hangover.work/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/17070814/th_DSC08091-scaled.jpg "Kajiyama, Roppongi: An Eight-Dish Course With Sake Included 8")
Nakanaka with soda!
A fine plate right from the start! The salmon roe pops pleasantly between the teeth. Roe that has not been steeped in soy sauce feels like something you rarely get hold of (I suppose you could break up a whole skein yourself, ha), so it is a treat you only find at a place like this. Delicious.
Salmon baked in pastry. Alongside it are vegetables dressed like a salad, and in front, a white sesame puree, I was told. Japanese and French cooking are properly fused here. ^^ The salmon inside the pastry is fluffy and hot and delicious!
Simmered hamo, I think, with plump green beans and winter melon alongside. Gently seasoned and delicious. Hamo really does have a texture all its own, does it not — the bones are scored so it is easy to eat, but it is not merely soft. Very nice.
Yellowtail sashimi. It comes with chirizu, which apparently means ponzu soy sauce. The bright acidity, with the carrot and myoga on top, goes beautifully with the rich, fatty yellowtail! Really delicious.
I feel like it has been a while since I last ate saury. Perhaps my first of the year?!
Eggplant wrapped in saury and grilled, by the look of it. Ginkgo nuts and grated daikon are served alongside. It looks quite black, as if it had been burned, but it is nothing of the sort. There is no bitterness at all; the saury flakes apart softly, and the melting eggplant inside is wonderful.
And then the venison. Tender, but with real spring to it, and the deep flavor of the lean meat is lovely. Venison tends to assert itself strongly, I find, but the carrot sauce matches it well and it is delicious. A lot of venison comes out tough, and this was properly tender and good.
And last, donabe rice and tonjiru. The rice was sea bream and sansho, they said.
This much is just the right amount. The tonjiru is white miso with, I think, a little sake lees in it? Faintly sweet and delicious.
Mont Blanc!
So — a private room, an unhurried all-you-can-drink and good food: thoroughly satisfying! I thought this was exactly the sort of place for a year-end party, or for any drinking evening where the talking is the point. A good restaurant I would happily use again whenever the occasion comes up. Recommended!
Japanese Cuisine Kajiyama (Japanese Cuisine / Roppongi-itchome Station, Roppongi Station, Akasaka 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?
