Super detailed review of MUJI Hotel Ginza: restaurants and meals
When I stayed at MUJI Hotel Ginza, I chose a plan with breakfast, which is served at “WA” restaurant next the lobby (the plan was changed to deal with pandemic protocols. Please check MUJI Hotel’s website for plans moving forward.)
“WA” in Japanese means “Japanese” or “domestic,” as opposed to Western-style or foreign-style. When Japanese use “WA,” it often means traditional, authentic Japanese. If you are expecting tonkatsu and ramen at this restaurant, unfortunately you won’t find them.
I observed that “WA” at MUJI Hotel offers modern meals with traditional authenticity, which may taste “bland” if your taste buds are too used to strong flavors and are not good at detecting subtle flavors. But if you are interested in re-calibrating your taste buds so that you can start enjoying more flavors than salty, sweet or spicy, “WA” is highly recommended. I personally really enjoyed the breakfast. Nothing was fancy, but each item was prepared with care, was “just right.”
WA restaurant was right by the lobby. It was featuring food from Shimane Prefecture.
I see “shijimi” on the banner, a clam species that live in brackish water.
It’s full of nutrients, and one of the ingredients eaten a lot in Japan
but not much in non-Asian countries.
The breakfast was buffet style. It was meant to offer “a little bit of everything” traditional Japanese breakfast can offer, plus pastries and curry served with drinks and sweets.
You may not find anything typical “Japanese food” that are popular outside Japan, such as teriyaki, tempura, tonkatsu etc. What you find is more authentic food starring sea food and vegetables. What I chose is katsuo tataki (sheared bonit sashimi usually served with green onions and ginger), some kind of fish piece (maybe saikyo yaki), kinpira gobo (burdock), shirasu (whitebait) and nimono along with rice and miso soup.
You don’t see them at your local Japanese restaurants. But they are the real authentic Japanese food. But don’t get disappointed! They are flavorful and yummy, you need to be a bit patient. You need to cleanse your taste buds first, then re-calibrate them. Then you will know what I am talking about. To me. the bomb was nimono. It’s simply simmered vegetables usually seasoned with dashi broth, soy sauce, little bit of sake and mirin. Here you see super traditional Japanese vegetables such as renkon, satoimo, gobo along with carrots. There’s also konnyaku (made from konnyaku potato). Each vegetable has distinct texture and flavors that may feel weird if you are not used to it. But they were looked just right – the doneness, the amount of seasoning and the choice of ingredients. Nimono is almost never a star dish, but MUJI nailed it. It was good.
There was another star in this breakfast: tamagoyaki.
It was not part of the buffet menu. A server came to our table and asked: “Would you like some tamagoyaki?” We said sure, not knowing what to expect. Tamagoyaki is rather a home cooking, although it takes some skills to make – you pour a small amount of beaten eggs into a skillet (a rectangular-shaped skillet used primarily for tamagoyaki) at a time, roll it, and pour beaten eggs and keep repeating the process until you have a croissant or mill-feuille like layered omelet.
It wasn’t cleat to me why it had to be a “special order” item. But then, I almost screamed when I ate it. It was the best tamagoyaki I have ever eaten: fluffy, smooth, juicy and flavorful. We asked for seconds. It was simply an art of cooking eggs.
The building that houses MUJI shop and MUJI Hotel has another restaurant: MUJI Diner. Just like “WA” restaurant, MUJI Diner also seems to focus on leveraging natural flavors of authentic ingredients. Here’s karaage lunch plate and Yoshi dofu lunch plate. Notice the portion. They serve just the amount you would need. (Indeed, you are asked the size of rice: S, M or L?)
