How to book Sazenka

Sazenka is a Chinese restaurant in Minami-Azabu, Tokyo, run by executive chef Tomoya Kawada, who was born in Tochigi Prefecture in 1982 and opened it in February 2017¹. Kawada spent about a decade at the Sichuan restaurant Azabu Choko and then trained under Seiji Yamamoto at RyuGin⁸. The name joins the characters for tea, Zen and China⁵. It held two Michelin stars in the 2018 Tokyo guide and three in the 2021 guide, which the Michelin Guide called Japan's first three-star Chinese restaurant^1,6.

The restaurant occupies a renovated former diplomat's residence set behind bamboo, with 12 seats and two private rooms^6,7. Kawada's idea is Chinese cooking with a Japanese spirit: Chinese technique applied to seasonal ingredients gathered from across Japan^2,5. Dinner is a set tasting menu that follows the seasons, and from mid-October to mid-January the kitchen offers only Shanghai hairy crab courses^3,7. A pheasant soup with wontons, modelled on Hong Kong wonton soup, is one of its best-known dishes^6,8.

Tea gets as much attention as wine. Guests can pair the meal with wine, sake and Shaoxing wine, with Japanese and Chinese teas, or with a mix of the two^4,6. A 2019 Premium Japan profile described a tea station in view of the diners and cold teas slowly infused and served in wine glasses⁹.