Our recent overseas visitors requested a visit to a theme restaurant and we decided on Ninja Akasaka, a ninja-themed restaurant located in Akasaka, Tokyo.

Unlike all the other theme restaurants I visited previously, Ninja Akasaka was a fine dining establishment, and this is reflected in both the quality of food as well as… price. Haha.

We made reservations in advance (highly recommended) and headed there with anticipation on a Monday evening.

As the website describes it, “A bold hideaway in the middle of a giant city”

As we entered the dark fortress and announced our presence to the ninja receptionist, she told us to wait as she summoned our ninja server for the day.

Our ninja soundlessly slipped out from behind a wall materialized before us, and with a lamp in hand, guided us through the darkness. She guided us as we moved stealthily through dark, narrow passages and over a secret bridge to arrive at a hidden entrance. All in English, no less!

We entered the main restaurant proper and took in the extremely detailed interior.

Doesn’t it look like a real ninja hideout?!

We were brought to our table, and were told to remember the name of our table in case we lose our way in the maze-like restaurant. Our table was called 飛竜 Hiryu. (can I just say I love the name? It’s so magical! A flying dragon!)

After settling down, we were handed this:

For some reason, we were told we could only order from the course menu, and not the ala carte menu. Not sure why. Easier for them in terms of logistics?

Fu and I ordered one each of the following to share (his aunt and cousin also ordered the same two courses):

Oh man, I’m itching to correct those errors… #occupationalhazzard

I was very tickled by the names of the drinks. In the cocktail list, there was a drink called “Ninja Sha” and another drink called “Ninja Rin”. Fu’s aunt ordered Sha while Fu order Rin.

Put them together and you get…

**MY NAME IN JAPANESE!!!** Hahahaha
(yes, I borrowed her drink for the photo)

The drinks were pretty good. My own drink (the other drink on the table in the photo above) was really unique. It came in this bowl-like cup and had an accompanying spoon! I really like the feel and weight of the bowl-cup (whatever you wanna call it). Of course, it was tasty too!

With the shuriken star blades grissini centrepiece

Our server ninja, Ran (that’s pronounced run, and not the past tense of run despite how it’s spelled! confused yet?) brought out a place with turban shells aka escargot and demonstrated her ninja skills by…

… setting the plate ablaze! NINJA MAGIC!

The escargot was drenched in a deliciously rich garlic butter sauce, but I think it must have been so rich that the escargot dissolved in it or something because I could barely find any escargot… o_O

Chicken fritters buried in breadcrumbs cosplaying as ninjas

Here’s Ran, preparing our soup:

She stuffed the veggies and raw pieces of pork into a mini tub of soy milk and dropped a hot stone in. Basically, the soup will be cooked by ~~the heat from the stone~~ NINJA MAGIC.

The soup! We all loved this and emptied our little tubs!

Haha, omg talking about Ran, there’s an interesting story… She was very nice and polite at first, but at some point, Fu was like “Is it just me? I feel like she’s quite distant now. Does she hate me?”

Here’s what happened: while asking which main we wanted, one option was fish (cod) while the other one was “cow”. We asked what kind of “cow” and she replied, “Biru”.

Fu was like “Huh? BIRU???” Then she tried repeating it a few more times but to no avail at Fu understanding it. Then she said “Baby cow” and we were like “Ahh, VEAL!”

So Fu thinks she dislikes him cause she might have thought he was deliberately making fun of her English LOL. But it was a genuine misunderstanding, so hopefully she didn’t take it too badly!

Flavorful froth that tastes like mushrooms on top of cold veggies

Mystery dish. A NINJA BOMB?! (it’s just croquette)

And what do we have here? A ninja cream puff? Except… it’s a savory version of the cream puff, with salmon tartare instead of custard filling:

Main of the Yamato Spirit course: Cod fish
So tender and moist!

Main of the Tasting course: Grilled salmon

Sushi of the season (Yamato Spirit course)

HAHA did you see that they put bread as topping for one of the sushi pieces? Making it bread on top, rice below. Double carbo combo! Not particularly delicious, but interesting for sure!

I wasn’t particularly wowed by the sushi, probably because I was super stuffed (sushi was last dish to be served, just before dessert), plus we just went to Tsukiji Market for the most awesomestbombjiggity sushi the day before.

Finally, the desserts:

Yamato Spirit course dessert: Cheesecake!

Ran brought fresh parmesan cheese and grated it over this little froggie so that it looks like it’s snowing. Tell me this isn’t cute?!

The cheesecake was very rich and creamy. Love it!

I loved this dessert too! And the perfect ball of red contrasted against the pitch black plate makes it look extremely ninja-fied! Or is it just me?

I also made a trip to the washroom and it looks so nice! It has hand towels. REAL hand towels. You know it’s not simply an average establishment when they have real hand towels.

I deliberately approached a ninja standing along the corridor (possibly positioned there for the sole purpose of guiding lost people back to their tables lol) and asked him where Hiryu was heh. He guided me all the way to my table!

A Ninja master also came by our table to perform ninja magic for us! We weren’t allowed to photograph or video it, so nothing to show for here. But it was extremely entertaining! And he was extremely good. There is more than one ninja master going around and Fu was spying the other table’s and he told me “We very lucky! The other table’s tricks not as good as ours!” #likethatalsowannacompare lol

We overstayed by about 15 mins (each reservation has a 2-hour limit) but thankfully, they didn’t kick us out once the time was up lol. They didn’t even mention it! :D

As we headed out and left the ninja fortress, suddenly Ran ran (lol) after us and shouted “Thank you!”, while brandishing a scroll over her head that read “Please come again!”

Haha that was unexpected and a nice way to end the visit!

Overall, I think Ninja Akasaka Restaurant is definitely worth a visit! The food was great, the service was great (if you don’t make fun of their English lol) and the ambiance was AWESOME. Everything was perfectly in theme, from the interior to the food, and even the staff! Full marks for their attention to details!

Bonus: I love many pieces of their crockery; so many unique shapes and textures! Almost wanted to kidnap a few home :3

Our total came up to about 30,000 yen ($300) for 4, or about $150 per couple. It’s not cheap, but not prohibitively expensive either. Definitely an experience to be had at least once!

If you’re unable to make it here yourself, then check out their pretty detailed video: