Last visit Dec 2025 · 2 visits

Nishiazabu Otake: pared-back Japanese cooking near Roppongi

Japanese · ¥¥¥ · Nishi-Azabu, Tokyo · 4 min read

Nishiazabu Otake (西麻布大竹) sits on a quiet street in Nishi-Azabu, about ten minutes’ walk from Nogizaka and an easy reach from Roppongi. It’s small — eleven seats, a seven-seat counter and a couple of private rooms — with the calm, unshowy feel of a serious Japanese kitchen. Tabelog regulars rate it among the country’s 100 Best Japanese Cuisine restaurants. It is also one of the one-star michelin restaurants in Tokyo.

The food

This is orthodox Japanese cuisine (nihon-ryōri), not sushi — a seasonal course built on a philosophy of hikizan, “subtraction.” The idea is to take things away rather than pile them on: to let a good ingredient taste of itself, with as little as possible between it and you. It’s refined without being austere, and it has a sense of humour. The food at Otake is rather simple and never overpolished to show off the how premium the ingredients are. For example the seasonal cream croquette — a plush, nostalgic yōshoku touch that regulars come back for, which is also my favorite.

Sashimi of marbled honmaguro tuna and white squid on a leaf-shaped plate with sudachi, wasabi and salt — Sashimi to open — honmaguro and squid (*ika*), with sudachi, wasabi, and salt.

A roasted fish topped with karasumi on a blue-and-white kutani plate with a citrus wedge — A roasted fish finished with *karasumi*, cured mullet roe.

A golden-fried cream croquette on a dark stone plate — The seasonal cream croquette — Otake's signature dish.

Slices of rare roast duck breast stacked on a colourful kutani plate — Roast duck, served rare — the meat course.

A clay pot of rice with crab meat, crab miso and greens, held at the counter — Crab *kamameshi* — rice cooked in a clay pot with crab meat and its miso, brought to the counter.

A bowl of cold milky pudding beside a piece of candied persimmon on a black plate — To close — a cold, milky pudding with candied persimmon.

Worth the trip

Dinner runs roughly ¥20,000 for the course; on weekends there’s a shorter lunch around ¥8,000–10,000 (two people minimum). For that you get a calm counter, a chef cooking with restraint and confidence, and a room that feels like a secret — a quietly excellent alternative to Nishi-Azabu’s flashier addresses.

Tips before visiting

Chef Otake followed the same master as the chef of Seizan, both are originally from Gifu. If you are not able to book Seizan, I highly recommend you to try here instead. Otake is very easy to book, you can simply book at Tabelog one or two days before your visit. The volume of the meal is big, keep your stomach empty before you go.

Location

Core Nishi-Azabu 1F, 1-4-23 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo

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