Sushi Mutsuki: Refined Edomae sushi in Akasaka, where craftsmanship meets the season

Sushi Mutsuki sits in a quiet corner of Akasaka. It is a restaurant where you can enjoy sushi and specialty dishes that value the refined skill of its chefs and the flavors unique to each season.

Rice, vinegar, neta (the topping on a piece of sushi), and soy sauce — each is chosen with care, and every piece is shaped carefully while judging the character of the ingredient. Thought is given not only to the nigiri (hand-pressed sushi) but also to the à la carte dishes, so that the turning of the seasons can be felt in them as well. Accompanying the food is a carefully selected range of fine sake. Savoring sushi and sake at an unhurried pace, the restaurant suits time spent in conversation with someone important, and equally a quiet moment alone with the meal. From special occasions to ordinary days, it is a place to spend relaxed hours together with the refined flavors that a craftsman's skill creates.

At Sushi Mutsuki, the courses center on nigiri (hand-pressed sushi) finished right before you by the chef, woven together with specialty dishes selected from that day's ingredients.

The "Seasonal Nigiri Course" comprises 16 items, pairing nigiri that carefully draws out the natural appeal of each ingredient with dishes that convey the season. For those who wish to savor seasonal flavors and craftsmanship even more lavishly, there is also the 20-item "Seasonal Nigiri and Specialty Dishes Course," made up of nigiri at the peak of the season and thoughtfully conceived specialties, as well as the 21-item "Ultimate Luxury Course of Seasonal Nigiri and Specialty Dishes," which lets you fully enjoy select ingredients and delicate technique. Each piece and each plate shows a different expression, in a course whose very flow has been thought through.

At midday there is also an 11-item lunch course, so authentic sushi can be enjoyed during a leisurely daytime hour as well.

Another highlight of Sushi Mutsuki is the skill of the chefs, who face each ingredient one by one and draw out its appeal. Fine attention extends to the aroma of the rice and vinegar, the condition of the neta (the topping on a piece of sushi), and even the painstakingly prepared nikiri (a reduced soy sauce brushed over sushi), creating a beautiful harmony within a single piece.

Preparation and cooking are matched to each ingredient, and because a sense of season is reflected in the à la carte dishes as well as the nigiri (hand-pressed sushi), seasonal flavors can be enjoyed throughout the course. At the counter seats, the quiet movements and immediacy of sushi being finished before your eyes are themselves part of what colors the meal.

Watching the ingredients change into a piece of sushi in the chef's hands, you can take in the aromas and flavors slowly, with all five senses. The combination of carefully selected sake with the food is another pleasure unique to this restaurant.

About a three-minute walk from Akasaka Station on the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line. Sushi Mutsuki stands on a quiet street set slightly back from the center of Akasaka.

Step inside and a refined Japanese space opens up, warm with wood and scented with hinoki (Japanese cypress). At the counter seats, made from a single slab of hinoki, you are close to the chefs and can dine while watching the delicate work unfold before you.

There are also two tables seating four, easy to use for meals with family or friends, time with someone important, or business dining. A space arranged with care down to the lighting and the tableware creates calm hours in which to give the food and the conversation your unhurried attention.