Shane On The Go: Sankame

Monday, 4 March 2013

Sankame

Up until we got to Sankame the day had been pretty disappointing food wise. Part of the reason we're staying in the Ginza region of Tokyo is the shear number of Michelin starred restaurants. Which is great, if you can get into them. Last time we were here we might be knocked back if they were full and had no room. This time it appears the sticking point is Georgia. Back home we'd never be refused because of Georgia. Here it seems that little children aren't welcome. Often I'd walk in to a restaurant they'd be okay with us until they saw Georgia. A couple of places did say they'd welcome us back with Georgia for lunch or weekend which didn't help for getting a feed today.

Everybody was happy to pose for a snap at the end of the night.

We were looking for sushi or tempura so I think we walked past Sankame a couple of times before we decided we try for Japanese. We thought that maybe we have more of a chance at a Japanese restaurant because they often have tables and not only counter service. I opened the door and asked if they had a table and they said yes. Then I gestured to Georgia and Michelle and I got an even more emphatic yes. Our waitress, an older lady, seemed vaguely familiar. Then as I sat down I looked at Michelle and I think we both realised at the same time we'd been here before.

Everything was delicious right from the first dish

Soup

Last time I described our welcome and warm and our hosts lovely. It was like deja vu. Again we were greeted warmly and our host and hostesses were lovely. Sankame is a Kansai style Japanese restaurants and has been here since 1946. I bet they didn't have the automatic door back in '46 though. We asked for the set course and some rice for Georgia. They gave her a special bowl and cute spoon. We didn't just get rice for Georgia. She shared our food too. We just have to be satisfied with getting smaller portions of sashimi I guess. She loves the stuff.

A brief explanation

3 types of sashimi including o-toro tuna

Georgia's verdict, "Yummy"

Somewhere we hadn't been would have been nice but as our first Michelin starred restaurant in Tokyo for this trip it was very cool to come back to Sankame. Each course was fresh and delicious and oh so very good. They specialise in seasonal dishes so some of the dishes were similar to last time we were here and others were quite different. Nothing disappointed though. Georgia attracted quite a bit of attention from other diners and the staff. They all wave to her and make faces. Georgia just sits there with a slight frown or no expression. She is very very shy. I dialed up some photos of our last visit to this restaurant on my phone and showed our waitress to let her know that we'd been here before before Georgia was born. She was delighted and took my phone and showed just about everybody in the restaurant.

Georgia loves to share... ours.

Obviously because Michelle is pregnant she ate no raw fish...

I love how everyone in the restaurant seems to know the host and hostesses. It seems rather homely. Like a a neighbourhood restaurant where everybody knows everybody else. The owner, I guess he is the boss, sits behind the counter giving directions to the staff and preparing the hot sake. I think this place was one of our favourites last time we were here and I think I know why. We were made feel really welcome even though they spoke no English we no Japanese. A couple of the other customers spoke some English though and asked us, for example, where we were from. When we said Australia they told everybody else and there would be a chorus of "Aaaah" around the place. They also said how cute Georgia is and you can't hear that too often. :)

Our visit to Sankame told us that we can get into Michelin starred restaurants in Tokyo with Georgia so we left feeling a little bit more hopeful than we had earlier.