Do you remember Iron Chef?
[S] Did any of you watch Iron Chef? [M] I did.
When I watched as a kid, one of my dreams was to eat at an Iron Chef restaurant.
Well, Jun Kurogi is an Iron Chef.
I'm literally going to fulfill one of my life goals today
at eating at an Iron Chef's restaurant.
My name is Jun Kurogi. I own a Tokyo Kappo restaurant.
My family owned a restaurant.
It wasn't exactly a traditional Japanese restaurant,
but more like an izakaya.
So I grew up surrounded by all kinds of different foods.
Which is what inspired me to become a chef.
Kappo is its own unique style within Japanese cooking.
We then created our own style known as 'Tokyo Kappo'.
By bringing ingredients from all over Japan to serve our customers.
We handpick the best ingredients daily from all over Japan
and we base the menu on those daily ingredients.
So the menu is constantly changing.
The menu changes according to the seasons.
For example, we have Hamo (conger eel) in the summer.
In autumn we use Buri (yellowtail fish),
as well as Matsutake mushroom, so our menu is always changing.
The menu can be challenging as we don't store produce in advance.
We prepare and cook the food live in front of our customers.
So the meals can take some time to prepare.
[M] Choose one. [S] We're gonna pick one? Uh!
I think this is the prettiest sake cup I've ever used.
[S] It's so wide. [M] I think this matches my ring.
I think so, you're matching perfectly.
[S] I think this might be like, my favorite sake ever.
I think this might be my favorite day ever.
I'll tell ya- What about when we got married?
[S] Yeah, that was a good day too. [M] It's only number two.
Kurogi then wedding day, great.
[S] I literally don't know what this is. [M] No?
[M] Oh my god, look at how pretty this is.
[S] My hands are shaking I'm so excited.
Hmmm.
This is like gelatinized sea grapes in here I think.
I have never had anything like this before.
It's like lemon and lime flavors.
[S] They're gonna rub the wasabi root, I love watching this.
Oh yeah, that's wasabi.
This right here is the purest of wasabis.
[S] Sesame tofu.
This is so intense.
My heart is racing.
[M] This smells amazing, it's so nutty.
That is fantastic.
[S] It's so- Nutty. [M] Nutty?
It almost tastes like a warm loaf of bread.
The sesame is like really engulfing,
but then that wasabi right at the tip of your tongue.
This is worth the price of admission alone.
Come here, and we're done.
[S] So we have catfish, shrimp and mushroom. [M] And mushroom.
Any kind of tempura makes me happy.
Potatoes make me happy.
[S] What are you gonna go for first? [M] Ugh, that's what I was going to say.
[S] I'm going for the shrimp. [M] I'm gonna try the shrimp.
[M] Yeah, I don't want the shrimp to get cold. [S] Me neither.
[S] Ok, we gotta dip a little bit in salt.
[M] Look at that. [S] Here we go.
What is that creaminess?
Ok, that shrimp tastes like lobster.
That was like a Viva Puff of a shrimp filled with lobster.
[S] Filled with- [M] Magic.
World peace.
The batter on the outside is not like a heavy cakey batter.
It's almost like they just dipped it in magic liquid flour and fried it.
It's so light and fluffy and crunchy.
It's like the perfect french fry.
[S] They're putting flowers on the stuff right now.
This looks like an ice cream sundae except with savory food.
[S] This is- [M] Absolutely beautiful.
Now what's amazing about the eel here is that you can't eat bones.
It supposedly has 840 bones in it.
So the best you can do is just shred it, so you don't feel any of the bones in your mouth.
But it's actually in the fish.
[M, S] Let's see what it tastes like.
I don't taste any bones at all.
It's just beautifully soft and tender.
This is the skin.
Oh man.
[S] Wow. [M] This tastes like chicken skin.
[S] Except there's like a citrusy taste- [M] And it's creamy.
Like- That is amazing!
It's like gourmet pork rinds.
[S] This is something I'm super excited about.
This is wild caught eel.
Most eel is farm grown.
But this is wild caught, it's a lot more rare and a lot more delicious.
It smells amazing.
The Japanese pepper is like- It smells like lemongrass, it's what I thought it was.
That's so sweet.
You know what that tastes like? It tastes like Captain Crunch.
This tastes like Captain Crunch cereal.
[M] No, it does not. [S] Have you had Captain Crunch before?
This is like the fishy version of Captain Crunch.
This is the best piece of eel I've ever had in my life.
I'm so scared.
I've already had two pieces, there're only two left.
[M] Slow it down, big boy. [S] I know.
[M] Have a glass of water. [S] Ok.
I've never had this experience before.
[S] This little pepper right here. [M] This one.
That right there.
You put it on your tongue, my tongue is actually numb.
[S] It's not spice, it's not burning. [M] It's not a heat.
[S] It's not heat. [M] It feels tingly at first.
[M] And then suddenly it becomes- [S] I literally- I feel like I went to the dentist.
[S] And my mouth is numb. [M] It's incredible.
[M] Pretty excited about this soup because when we were waiting for this course to come out,
I saw one of the sous chefs come out with a little ladle full of soup.
And the head chef would try, and then he went back.
And then he came back again with another one.
So he's constantly tasting it to make sure that it's perfect.
The way that he slices it, it kind of like, peels out like a flower blooming.
But he doesn't peel deep enough to cut through the skin.
[S] The skin is still on so it keeps it all together. [M] Yeah, in one tiny piece.
The pickled plum that they have is kind of like sour and tart.
It's like when you put lime on a taco, like a fish taco.
And it has that bright flavor.
Great balance.
[S] Rice and peas.
[M] Very Jamaican. [S] This is a very Jamaican thing.
This is a really traditional kind of ending for a Kaiseki.
Usually they have like a miso soup and a rice and some side dishes.
And it's supposed to be like, if you aren't totally full from your meal,
you can finish this off.
I'm full right now but I will eat every single thing they put in front of me.
[S] I will not say no. [M] Every piece of chicken in this room.
[S] These are some delicious peas, I'm sorry. [M] I know.
I make miso soup every day for breakfast, you never want it.
But like, make it like this.
[M] Can you make their miso soup for breakfast. [S] Yeah, can you make their miso soup for breakfast?
[S] I love seeing how the chefs work together.
Like they cut up a piece, they put it in Kurogi's hand.
And he tastes it.
And he's thinking, you can see him thinking. He's like- What do we need to do to change this?
[S] This is so intense. [M] It's amazing.
[S] This is beautiful, I don't even know- [M] The dessert-
The dessert noodle tastes very very light.
And like chewy, almost like a gelatin, but not like hard gelatin.
And then there's like a really really sweet brown sugar syrup.
And then you pat it down to this bean powder that has sugar in it.
So it's almost like a powdered donut.
You know that outside light layer of a powdered donut?
Really soft on the inside and really sweet on the outside.
[M, S] That was so good.
[M] I want more. [S] So good.
[M] That was an absolute fantastic meal.
This was my first time experiencing Kaiseki food.
[S] And I'm just- I'm amazed, this is- [M] You're hooked.
I'm hooked, and this is a bucket list for me, to like eat from an Iron Chef.
I'm just- This is a spiritual experience for me right now.
The one thing I'll say is that all the food seemed extremely simple.
[M] It's not like covered in elaborate sauces, with words that you don't understand.
They're like- It's fresh water eel.
[S] They just- [M] Or like, just eat it as it is.
Like, everything is just like food at its highest quality,
prepared really delicately, nothing is over cooked.
I'm in my own happy place right now.
[M] Let's just say- [S] I'm in my own happy place right here.
Just hold my hand.