Koumoto

106-0047 

5-1-10 Minamiazabu,

Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan

(nearest Metro is Hirõ)

BY NEAL MARTIN |&nbsp;APRIL 08, 2024The
Food:

Kyoto
unpressed tofu with wasabi leaf, homemade tuna with Indian spinach and pickled
plum, boiled and seasoned Okinawan spinach, eel and cucumber salad and whelks

Ginjo
karasumi soba

Seasonal
sashimi

Charcoal
grilled sweet fish 

Grilled
fillet of Hida beef

Seasonal
vegetable with prawn tempura

Handmade
soba noodles

Cold
peach shiruko soup

The Wines:

<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td colspan="2">NV Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2008 Viña Errázuriz Don
 Maximiano</td>
 <td>90</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>2008 d’Armailhac</td>
 <td>91</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1989 Calera Pinot Noir Jensen
 Vineyard</td>
 <td>93</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1975 Batailley</td>
 <td>90</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>1976 Clos du Val Cabernet
 Sauvignon Estate&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
 <td>96</td>
 </tr></tbody></table>Everyone’s
career begins somewhere, a sliding door moment when an opportunity presents
itself. Grab it, or else life will switch to another track. The door slid open
for this writer in June 1996 when interviewed for an administrative position at
Japan Airlines. I would be responsible for wine and paper cups, so who knows, I
might have become king of the paper cup industry in an alternate universe. It
doesn’t quite have the same ring as “wine writer”. Anyway, having feigned
expertise in fermented grape juice at the interview, I stumbled into a wine
career as its most unqualified entrant. That didn’t prevent me from being bitten
by the wine bug. You know the rest of the story.

I have
never forgotten the opportunity that my first job presented, not least, my
Japanese colleagues. Robert Parker quite correctly insisted I quit the role to
avoid conflicts of interest, though I could stay in touch. A lot of water has
passed under the bridge during the 18 years since. All but one in the wine
department has retired or gone on to new pastures. Nevertheless, on my second
night in Tokyo last summer, I arranged to meet my former JAL colleague, Hiro. I
predictably found myself aimlessly wandering Minamiazabu in the vain hope of locating
our rendezvous. Koumoto is so hidden away that even Google Maps admits defeat
and begins suggesting findable alternatives. Pre-empting this situation, I spot
Hiro, who guessed I would be lost and guides me down a secluded passage. If Koumoto
was staring me directly in the face, I still would have no chance of finding it.
Its façade is anonymous, just showing small signage in Japanese script. Only upon
entering do you realize that you are entering an epicurean wonderland, something
that happens constantly in Japan.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1712597166856-koumoto+starters_copy.jpg">Kyoto unpressed tofu with wasabi leaf, homemade tuna with Indian spinach and pickled plum, boiled and seasoned Okinawan spinach, eel and cucumber salad and whelks The
interior is divided into different-sized private rooms, catering for two to
about twenty persons, each spartanly furnished in a traditional style. Thankfully
guests sit on chairs rather than cross-legged on the floor. Dishes are brought
in one by one. As a reintroduction to the unmatchable heights of Japanese
cuisine after a five-year absence, Koumoto is perfect. The restaurant is famed
for its soba, although every dish exudes subtle seasonal flavors, impeccable
sourcing of ingredients and serves as a guided tour through traditional
Japanese cuisine. &nbsp; 

The
five-way starter sets the tone: unpressed tofu from Kyoto with wasabi leaf,
homemade tuna with Indian spinach and pickled plum, boiled and seasoned
Okinawan spinach, eel and cucumber salad and whelks, each served in unique
lacquerware. The eel is magnificent. Just one mouthful popped into the mouth
delivers a satisfying depth of flavor. The tuna is also exceptional, a stunning
marriage of flavors lent zest by the pickled plum. These starters are paradoxically
subtle yet intense, readying the senses for the delights that follow. <img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1712597193000-koumoto+ginjo+soba_copy.jpg">Ginjo karasumi soba The
Ginjo karasumi soba is a blend of 90% buckwheat and 10% wheat flour and is delicately
curled into a ball. Karasumi is a bit like bottarga, essentially dried mullet
roe that is dried in sunlight, a delicacy one sees often in Taiwan. These soba are
slightly richer in flavor. The rose imparts salinity and a slight bitterness.
It is a perfect foil to the Chilean wine (see below).<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1712597218844-koumoto+sashimi_copy.jpg">Seasonal sashimi 

Next comes
a divine plate of seasonal sashimi that is so beautifully presented it feels sacrilegious
to dismantle it with my chopsticks. The tuna is iridescent and fresh, while the
sea bream and mackerel are as pure and saline as you will find. Heavenly. &nbsp;<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1712597265796-koumoto+sweetfish_copy.jpg">Charcoal grilled sweet fish 

One of
my favorites arrives: charcoal-grilled sweet fish that came from the Tenryu
River in central Honshu, Japan’s main island. This is slightly too big to eat
whole, head ‘n all, as is custom, but after a couple of mouthfuls, it is gone.
This is one of the best examples that I have encountered in Japan. Again, it is
intense and pure in flavor, with almost arresting salinity and slightly bitter.
Perhaps this was the one dish calling out for a white wine, maybe a slightly
oxidized Jura or Vouvray?<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1712597295994-koumoto+gifu+beef_copy.jpg">Grilled fillet of Hida beefThe sublime meat dish comprises a grilled fillet of Hida beef. These black-haired calves are bred in the Gifu prefecture on the foothills of the Japanese Northern Alps, one of Japan’s most revered breeds renowned for its marbling that must be graded A or B by Hida Beef Brand Promotion Conference. Though the breed has inhabited Japan for centuries, it only became famous in 1981 when a cattle breeder found that a bull named Yasafuku had the perfect genetic composition to create the highest quality marbling throughout all cuts of the animal. Since then, 39,000 offspring have come from this one bull,&nbsp; now as coveted as the finest Kobe beef. It is fabulous. Just one mouthful is so subtle, juicy and melting in the mouth. It needed minimal accoutrements: Japanese salt, tomato and grilled mange tout. Such is the flavor of the meat, I opt not to season it.<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1712598167885-koumoto+tempura_copy.jpg">Seasonal vegetable with prawn tempura 

Next comes
the tempura, prawn and aubergine. The batter is light and delicate, not too
oily. The prawn is succulent and sweet. <img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1712597356369-koumota+soba+noodle_copy.jpg">Handmade soba noodles 

The
bowl of handmade soba noodles with ribbons of daikon (mooli) and seaweed is one
of the finest I have eaten, noisily sucked into the mouth with utmost pleasure,
the broth delicately seasoned and not too strong or salty.

We
finish with a cold peach Shiruko, a traditional Japanese dessert made from
azuki beans.&nbsp;My
former colleague chose the wines. They are served to me blind because he loves
to put me on the spot. We begin with a NV Brut Rosé from Billecart-Salmon,
though I am too busy catching up with my friends to compose a note. All of the
wines are reds on this occasion. 

The 2008
Don Maximiano from Viña Errázuriz is a blend of 84% Cabernet
Sauvignon, the rest a blend of Carmenère, Petit Verdot and Syrah. Smoky red
fruit appears on the nose, quite warm and inviting yet not overly rich, perhaps
melted by time in bottle. It offers scents of brown spices, earthenware and
curry leaf with further aeration. The palate has a sumptuous texture, rounded
and full in the mouth. Bottle age softens the tannins with brown spice and
subtle meat juice notes towards the finish. It is delightful, although I would
drink bottles sooner rather than later. The 2008 d’Armailhac is one of
my favorite wines from this period. The nose bursts with freshly picked
blackberry, rolled tobacco and just a touch of brine, all well-defined and
unashamedly classic in style, perhaps too austere for some. The palate is
elegant and poised, with plenty of black fruit in the context of the growing
season. This is a Pauillac that is à point.&nbsp;<img alt="" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.vinous.com/uploads%2F1712597391000-koumoto+bottles.jpg">The 1989
Pinot Noir Jensen Vineyard from Calera is a real surprise. I am inexperienced
with respect to mature Californian Pinot Noir, and Josh Jensen’s wine was a
revelation. Candied red fruit commingles with blood orange and Kirsch,
unmistakably not from Burgundy because it is too rich, but it is certainly not
over-ripe. The palate is overly sweet and Californian on the entry. Still,
there is structure behind this Pinot extant after more than three decades, with
quite plush raspberry fruit on the quintessentially Californian finish. It's
just a lovely wine that is, once again, perfect to drink now. The 1975
Batailley is a vintage poured at a vertical at the Pauillac estate with
Frédéric Castèja a few months earlier, but perversely, this bottle shows better.
There’s a strong marine influence on the nose, and kelp and crustacea
intertwine with slightly rustic but attractive black fruit, austere, compared
to recent vintages, albeit typical of that period for Batailley. The palate is
gentle, perhaps a little angular, though this bottle exhibited a touch more
black fruit on the finish to counterbalance its obdurate tannins, a trope of
the 1975 Left Banks. The aforementioned vertical will appear this year. 

The 1976
Cabernet Sauvignon Estate from Clos du Val is the most interesting
of all the wines. The estate was founded by John and Henrietta Goelet in the
early Seventies when the couple challenged recently graduated winemaker Bernard
Portet to create a Bordeaux-inspired estate in Napa. Clos du Val attained
global recognition when its inaugural 1972 Cabernet Sauvignon was one of the
wines poured blind by Steven Spurrier at the epochal The Judgement of Paris,
so this bottle of 1976 was one of their earliest bottlings that, incidentally,
came directly from Clos de Val’s apparently meager reserves. It is very elegant
and perfumed on the nose, typical old school, classic Napa Cabernet in all its
unfettered glory, beautifully defined with wilted rose petals and a light fish
scale element. Supple, very pliant tannins define the palate. There remains
ample freshness and poise, a fine silver thread of acidity and a clove-tinged,
rounded, exquisitely balanced finish that would surpass practically every other
Bordeaux from this vintage. Outstanding.

Koumoto
is fantastic from start to finish. It is not too pretentious. The staff are friendly
and attentive. If you want a masterclass in traditional Japanese cuisine based on
fastidiously sourced ingredients, your tastebuds will be eternally grateful.
Yes, it is difficult to find, though not impossible, so do as much research as
possible beforehand to get your bearings.

I bid
adieu to my former colleague. We’ve both come a long way since we first met
many years ago. From the youngest member of the wine department, he’s now
running the show, and my own career isn’t going too badly. Domo arigato Hiro
San. &nbsp;<div></div><div><div>© 2024, Vinous. No portion of this article may be copied, shared or re-distributed without prior consent from Vinous. Doing so is not only a violation of our copyright, but also threatens the survival of independent wine criticism.</div></div>

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