Tucked away on a backstreet in Ginza, with its deluxe designer brands and modish department stores, is the sleek yet intimate kitchen of Mark’s Table. Even if it’s your first visit, being seated here will feel familiar, like being welcomed to the home of an old friend, but the dinner that follows has as much finesse as its upscale neighbours.
Mark Sekita quit finance to follow his father’s footsteps in the food industry and promptly signed up for culinary school. He opened this restaurant two years ago after spending a number of years working under chef Michael Anthony at New York’s Gramercy Tavern, and serves up a monthly changing five-course menu of classic American dishes with a Japanese twist. Passionate about reinventing dishes closest to his heart, Mark often incorporates traditional family recipes in his menu to share the flavours of his childhood.
While dishes like the macaroni may look familiar, the tastes are a revelation that will challenge everything you thought you knew about flavour combinations. A dash of shoyu to cranberry sauce prevents it from being too sweet, and adding dashi to butternut squash soup makes for a moreish broth that you don’t get tired of. Dinner at Mark’s Table is the kind of occasion that wouldn’t be complete without a glass of wine as you watch the chef work his magic behind the counter, so ask for the recommended glass of red or white, all of which is sourced from California, an homage to Mark’s San Franciscan roots.