Mizai

Chef Hitoshi Ishihara trained from age fifteen at the legendary three-star Kitchō Arashiyama, eventually becoming its executive chef, before opening Mizai in 2004 in a discreet pavilion on the edge of Maruyama Park. The name comes from a Zen phrase meaning "not yet there" — perfection forever chased, never wholly arrived at — and it sets the tone for a kitchen in permanent pursuit of better. The cooking follows the form of chakaiseki, the tea-ceremony meal: it opens with a simple dish and freshly steamed rice, moves through lavish sashimi and seasonal stews in vessels chosen to announce the time of year, and closes with strong matcha. There's only one seating each evening, at 6pm sharp, and attendants meet you at the park's edge and walk you back out by lantern at the end. Three Michelin stars, and a reservation worth planning a year around.