01 / ABOUT THE PLACE
About this place
Choosing a lunch course for the ayu confit is one way to enjoy MUTA CHIMERA. Diners have singled out the confit as a memorable dish; at another lunch, an appetiser pairing small ayu with tomato sauce was well received. A menu listing also describes young ayu, seared on the surface and confited in olive oil, served with cucumber-yoghurt sauce. The combinations that emerge over the course—from the fish itself to its sauces and vegetables—are part of the appeal.
Visitors’ accounts of the lunch courses offer a sense of how each plate is put together. One meal began with pumpkin brûlée layered with porcini sauce and coffee jelly, followed by tagliatelle with snow crab and tomato sauce. The scallop conchiglie came with perilla-seed pesto, lotus root and broccoli. One diner noted the sauce’s gentle bitterness and the scallops’ savoury flavour, as well as the contrast between the pasta and the lotus root. Menu examples also include chilled cappellini with red snow crab and Manganji peppers, and garganelli with pearl oyster and cardoncelli mushrooms—combinations that reflect the range of ingredients used in the pasta dishes.
For a course that continues through to the main, one reported example is roasted Kōtango highland pork. A visitor described tender meat with a red-wine-and-vinegar sauce, giving the dish a bright, acidic finish. At another lunch, a chestnut dessert wrapped in pastry left an impression for its texture and for the balance of sweet chestnut and the slight bitterness of its inner skin. The progression from appetiser to dessert gives the meal room to unfold.
Diners have written about asking for advice on a glass of wine to go with their meal, and about enjoying several wines as part of a course. The menu also lists a blood-orange Champagne cocktail and iced fruit tea scented with pear and lychee, alongside wines, so there are options to pair with a meal whether or not you drink alcohol. Reservations are recommended for both lunch and dinner; if you plan to take your time over a course, consider booking ahead.
