Ninja Restaurants, However, are Cooler Than Ninja Drawings

In Tokyo, the Akasaka district to be exact, there is a restaurant named Ninja Akasaka. It is probably the most expensive restaurant I've ever been to, but it is also the most awesome. I went there last summer when I had relatives come to visit, and if you ever have some free time in Tokyo and lots of money to burn, I can't recommend it enough. If the restaurant is good enough for Steven Spielberg (that's his signature on a wall in the restaurant pictured above), then it's good enough for you.

Ninja Akasaka is a theme restaurant, in that it's all built around the premise of diners eating inside an old ninja fortress. From the outside it's very plain; the building is nothing more than a brownish color warehouse, with a man in a suit standing outside the entryway with a checklist. Upon approaching him, he will ask if you have a reservation, as that is the only way to get into the restaurant. Answering in the affirmative and your name being on 'the list' gets you a bow and a smile as the man moves out of your way, and you enter the realm of the ninja!... Actually, not quite yet. You enter into a little waiting area, where a hostess is waiting to greet you. After double-checking your name and what sort of table you wanted, she summons your server by knocking on the wall, after which your waiter or waitress opens up a hidden panel door in the wall and literally somersaults out to land in front of you. The night just gets more awesome from there.

Your server leads you to your table through an underground tunnel area, complete with a small river and waterfall and working draw-bridge, before finally arriving safely at your table. The menu, all written on a magic ninja scroll, is unfurled in front of you with flair. All the food has ninja-themed puns, and many dishes have some sort of magic/special presentation show to go with them. Things are lit on fire, spun around, thrown into the air and juggled, all for your viewing pleasure. The dessert menu is written on flash paper and immediately set on fire once read, so as to prevent it from falling into enemy hands, and a special ninja comes to your table during dinner to do a magic show while you eat.

All these gimmicks, as awesome as they are, wouldn't make up for poor quality food, so it's fortunate that the food is delicious. To be fair, though, poor quality food is a very rare exception in Japanese restaurants; even little hole-in-the-wall ramen shacks on the side of the road are usually incredibly tasty and safe. My favorite dish of the night was actually not my main course (although my cubed steak with slices of garlic and vegetables literally melted in my mouth), but a little appetizer I got, pictured above. It's small pieces of seared mahi tuna with rice-stuffed scallions over a kind of tare sauce, it cost $12 a plate, and it was worth every freaking cent. I ordered two of them actually, just because I needed another one as soon as I finished the first one. The desert, a chocolate lava cake with real vanilla bean ice cream, was also to die for. Going to this place again before I leave is already on my Japan bucket list, and again, if you ever have the chance, I cannot recommend it enough. Go enter the realm of the ninja!