A sublime new dining experience awaits at the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo. Sushi Sora joins an already impressive restaurant portfolio. (Michelin-starred eats on the premises include Signature, serving contemporary French cuisine; Sense, combining dramatic design and gourmet Chinese food; and the Tapas Molecular Bar, where chefs create 20 bite-sized delicacies for just eight guests over a two-hour period.)
Upon your arrival at Sora-- perched on the 38th floor-- you’ll think that the view is the showstopper. Indeed, the restaurant’s name means “Sky” in Japanese, and the floor-to-ceiling windows enhance the sense of floating above Tokyo’s central Nihonbashi district, an area often regarded as the birthplace of sushi.
But wait until you taste the grub. Chef Imaizumi is a master of Tokyo’s authentic Edo-mae sushi cuisine, a connoisseur (and scholar) of fish who troves the Tsukiji fish market for the finest quality products. His work space is an eight-seat counter made from a 350 year-old Japanese cypress: a stage, really, for lucky diners who can watch him in action. This new restaurant-- embracing serene Japanese aesthetics in its simple and stylish design-- is destined to become one of the best sushi spots in town.