Shibamoto

Scoop up each dish’s sauce with baguette, then choose a glass of wine or sake to go with the next course. At Shibamoto in Nakano, the meal invites you to take your time. One small dish that diners have singled out from the omakase course is a black salt choux pastry made with Chiba-raised Sangen pork and bamboo charcoal. Lightly smoky, it can be enjoyed as a bite-sized appetiser filled with rillettes. One diner paired it with Grauburgunder, appreciating the wine’s rich texture alongside the creamy rillettes—a good example of the pleasure of choosing a drink to match the food.

The course may also include seared yellowtail with salted egg yolk and a truffle-scented sauce, as well as oil-based pasta with whitebait and fresh aonori seaweed. The pasta draws on the savoury flavour of shellfish stock. One diner chose sake rather than wine, enjoying the match with its seafood ingredients. Meat options listed for the course include duck breast and lamb rump. The duck, flavoured with honey and orange, comes with red wine sauce and Gorgonzola-shallot cream; the lamb is served with a lighter wholegrain mustard sauce featuring tomato, citrus and herbs. Choose the duck for its contrasting sauces or the lamb for a fresher finish. A diner who paired the lamb with Monastrell recalled how the wine’s spiciness complemented the herb-coated meat. Wine is joined by sake and craft beer, giving diners several ways to explore the pairings.

To finish, there is a bittersweet matcha and mascarpone tiramisu, served with strawberry sauce and a touch of salty white chocolate. Some diners note that the course changes with the seasons, so the menu may offer dishes particular to the time of year. The restaurant has counter seating. Its omakase course is one option for an evening spent lingering over the food-and-drink combinations.