Toriryori Soregashi

A steep flight of stairs leads up from an undistinguished row of shops to this hidden flight of fancy. Soregashi (‘someone’) is dedicated to chicken, but is unlike any other roast chicken, yakitori or fast food chicken shop you’ll find. Instead you discover a sophisticated sake bar with a long bar counter and a cool jazz soundtrack. The large sake bottles on the countertop are labelled with an x-y axis, graphically depicting the sake’s style: light or heavy, cold or hot. Pick your preference, then choose one of the three set meal options.

You know you’re in for a treat when the sukiyaki chicken set kicks off with steamed sushi (yep – hot rice) topped with gently poached chicken breast, followed by a contrasting trio of nibbles prettily arranged in little saucers: one with a washoku dressing, another of dried persimmon with cream cheese, plus a cocktail sausage of pork mince wrapped in chicken skin.

The desserts are a treat too. Soregashi uses green tea and purée of kabocha squash to good effect in the Japanese-style purin (puddings). Celery is used to flavour sorbet; sake to flavour ice cream, sandwiched in tiny wafers. The kitchen combines Western desserts with Eastern flavours successfully, but it also creates new Japanese classics such as warabimochi made from bracken powder, the texture of beached jellyfish; the wobbly blobs are covered in a sand of kinako, dried soy bean powder. These delightful desserts are the finale of the ¥4,800 set meal, so you can’t just pop in for the puddings.

Leave via the elevator and the staff might race down the stairs to see you off down the dimly lit street back towards Gotanda Station.