Takaya Resurrects its Casual Japanese Kaiseki Cuisine in Dongzhimen
You might feel China World Mall has attracted too much attention, with the whole building filling up with newly opened restaurants. But don’t worry, Dongzhimen is finally getting back in on the action, with a new Japanese spot quite different from its humble sister in the hutongs. Don’t get us wrong, we liked Takaya's old Nanluogu Xiang-adjacent venue, a cozy restaurant that caught our attention with its inexpensive, family-style Japanese dishes. However, the recent Great Brickening forced that location to demolish its charming storefront and owner Taka Wang to move her business elsewhere.
Located on Dongzhimenwai, near the Liangma River, the new Takaya is tucked away in the small alley opposite Haiyou Mansion, with a small entrance framed in wood and adorned with a humble white cloth sign. There’s a small garden at the entrance with a small swing, a wooden table, and a tea set sitting among the plants.
Upon entering, there’s an open dining room with two tables of four, a sushi bar with five seats, and a private room that can seat eight people. Unlike the hutong location, this place provides Kaiseki cuisine, meaning that you choose by price point (RMB 398, 598 or 980), and then just sit back to enjoy the dishes that come out. We recommend the RMB 398 or RMB 598 menu, depending on how hungry you are. The menu is changed weekly, and what you are offered may be slightly different from what we received during our visit.
Our menu included a platter of appetizers, such as raw conch with wasabi, jellyfish, vinegar-flavored black moss (decorated with gold foil), and celtuce. These were followed by shrimp ball soup, seasoned with lime peel, and bluefin tuna, salmon, prawn, shellfish sashimi. Then came grilled shrimp, poached fish with daikon and okra, tempura of red snapper, sushi, miso soup, and finally a mango pudding.
The restaurant also offers an a-la-carte menu, much larger than that of the first location. There are sushi rolls (RMB 18-70), or selected sushi platters (RMB 320), sashimi of over 15 varieties of fish (RMB 75-480) – including bluefin tuna, salmon, sea bream, mackerel, red snapper, prawn, scallops, and Hokkaido sea urchin – as well as a daily sashimi platter (RMB 480-580), tempura (RMB 40-120), and grilled fish or beef (RMB 45-650). Main dishes are quite luxurious, with udon noodles, Wagyu beef with rice, and sea urchin row with rice (RMB 58-360).
For drinks, most the sake is available in 150ml (RMB 65-288), 720ml (RMB350-1680) or 1800ml (RMB 480-4380). There are also cocktails (RMB 28-40), plum wines (RMB 45-66/60ml), and beers, including the cheap and ubiquitous Asahi (RMB 28) and Kirin (RMB 25).
Their daily deal, for RMB 68, combines all-you-can-drink draught beers and a half-order of the daily special dish. The set menu has good value, and can be very filling – we were stuffed even before the sushi was served. With kaiseki cuisine, the atmosphere is very casual and welcoming, regardless of your Japanese etiquette awareness.
We leave you with one final tip: be prepared with an empty belly and abundant time, because the meal might take over three hours from start to finish on a busy night. Make a reservation before going.
Takaya
Tue-Sun, 5pm-12am. Bldg 1, 10 Dongzhimenwai Xiaojie, Dongcheng District (8454 3511/133 3151 0212)
东城区东直门外小街10号院1号楼
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Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
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Photos: Tracy Wang, Courtesy of Takaya
