麹KŌJI 麹

Fermentation kitchen · 麹 · Est. 1972 tower

KŌJI

Eleven courses built on kōji, miso and shio, served at one concrete counter on the fourteenth floor of a Metabolist tower.

Reserve a seat
A single piece of miso-glazed nigiri on dark speckled stoneware

01 · 厨房 · The kitchen

Fermentation is the kitchen.

  1. Kōji

    The mould that makes Japanese food taste like itself. We grow our own on rice, every three days.

  2. Miso

    Seven misos ageing in cedar, the oldest started when the kitchen opened. Each course uses one.

  3. Shio

    Salt from the Noto coast, cured with kōji into shio-kōji. It seasons, softens and deepens.

The twelve-seat concrete counter, steam rising in a shaft of lightFermentation crocks lined up along a raw concrete cellar wall

02 · 献立 · Omakase

Eleven courses. One counter.

  1. Sakizuke: Sesame tofu, kōji-cured yolk, Ten small pickles of the season

    01 / 05 · 先付

    Sakizuke

    Sesame tofu, kōji-cured yolk / Ten small pickles of the season

  2. Mukōzuke: Shio-kōji sea bream, Aged bluefin, three-year soy

    02 / 05 · 向付

    Mukōzuke

    Shio-kōji sea bream / Aged bluefin, three-year soy

  3. Yakimono: Saikyō-miso black cod, Binchōtan duck, kōji glaze

    03 / 05 · 焼物

    Yakimono

    Saikyō-miso black cod / Binchōtan duck, kōji glaze

  4. Nimono: Daikon in dashi, white miso, Shiitake tempura, smoked shio, Cucumber, amazake vinegar

    04 / 05 · 煮物

    Nimono

    Daikon in dashi, white miso / Shiitake tempura, smoked shio / Cucumber, amazake vinegar

  5. Shokuji: Donabe kōji rice, miso soup, tsukemono, Amazake ice, sake lees

    05 / 05 · 食事

    Shokuji

    Donabe kōji rice, miso soup, tsukemono / Amazake ice, sake lees

麹

Autumn menu · ¥38,000 · served 18:00 and 20:45

  1. Sakizuke

    1. 01SakizukeSesame tofu, kōji-cured yolk
    2. 02HassunTen small pickles of the season

  2. Mukōzuke

    1. 03MukōzukeShio-kōji sea bream
    2. 04MukōzukeAged bluefin, three-year soy

  3. Yakimono

    1. 05YakimonoSaikyō-miso black cod
    2. 06YakimonoBinchōtan duck, kōji glaze

  4. Nimono

    1. 07NimonoDaikon in dashi, white miso
    2. 08AgemonoShiitake tempura, smoked shio
    3. 09SunomonoCucumber, amazake vinegar

  5. Shokuji

    1. 10ShokujiDonabe kōji rice, miso soup, tsukemono
    2. 11KanmiAmazake ice, sake lees
The 1972 Metabolist tower at dusk, capsules with round windows plugged into a concrete core

03 · 塔 · The building

A tower built to be rebuilt.

The Metabolists believed buildings should grow like living things: a permanent core, and capsules you could unplug and replace. The capsules were never replaced. We took three of them on the top floor and opened the walls between.

Completed
1972
Floors
B1–14F
Capsules
140, plugged into one core
Our floor
14F, three capsules joined
A stack of heavy ash-glazed stoneware bowls on a concrete ledge

04 · 料理長 · The chef

Ren Ishikawa.

“I don’t cook so much as wait. Kōji does the work. My job is to know the day it’s ready.”

Twelve years in Kanazawa miso houses, four at a kaiseki counter in Kyoto. He opened KŌJI on the fourteenth floor because the light comes in low across the counter at six.

The chef seen through a rectangular opening in a thick concrete wall, slicing fish

05 · 予約 · Reserve

Twelve seats. Two seatings.

Bookings open thirty days ahead, for parties of one to four. We hold seats for fifteen minutes past your time.