Wasabi by Morimoto

In 2004, ‘Iron Chef’ Masaharu Morimoto came to India and introduced Indians to possibly the best Japanese fare in the country. Two decades later, Wasabi by Morimoto at the Taj Mahal Palace is still a top-ranked contemporary Japanese restaurant. 

Once in, red is everywhere: cherry blossom installations, a live sushi counter and a teppanyaki kitchen draw your eyes across the room. There’s a cosy eight-seater Tatami room, which features a miso-soup-bowl-lookalike round table with an oversized pendant dome light above. When closed, it almost looks like a giant ball in the middle of the room. Occasionally, you see the Arabian Sea and Gateway of India out the window. It’s quite the mix of visuals.

You’ll find Wasabi’s name on almost every pricey Indian restaurant list. That’s partially because produce, including wasabi root and seafood, is flown in from the Toyosu Fish Market inTokyo each week. We’re talking Bluefin tuna, hirame (white fish), unagi (freshwater eel), Chilean sea bass, ebi (sweet shrimp), uni (sea urchin), ika (squid), and more.

A meal here comes with a lot of table frills and drama: live wasabi grating for your sushi, sashimi and rolls; a matcha tea ceremony; a sake and cocktail trolley; live truffle shaving on select dishes, and more. Dishes like yellowtail jalapeño carpaccio, black cod miso, salmon robatayaki, truffle lilibud, vegetable beggar's purse, toro tartare, and more are the most ordered here. 

Chef Morimoto makes yearly visits to keep the team up-to-date on techniques and menu refreshes, so this isn’t the sort of place that opened with a bang and petered out on quality. Master Chef Takahiro Shiga, with his three-decade experience, has been overseeing regional specialities at Wasabi since 2025. He works with Chef Morimoto to blend tradition with modernism.