Kappo Matsuya claims to be the only restaurant in Japan specialising in watarigani, or Japanese blue crab. The restaurant keeps its crabs in tanks and prepares them fresh to order.
If price is no object, go for the Miyabi Course (¥37,950), which includes a bonanza of crab-based treats prepared in a myriad of ways – from salt-grilled and salt-and-sake steamed to sashimi, in a salad, and incorporated into a rice dish. The colourful hogushimi salad is made with 25 kinds of vegetables, crab meat flakes, tomato mousse and tosazu vinegar jelly. Your culinary experience will be topped off with a cup of the restaurant’s own ‘crab sake’, which apparently took four years to develop.
Reservations are essential, so make sure to call prior to your visit.