Not Just Delicious! Honjamaka’s Hidehiko Ishizuka’s “What makes a great restaurant

Hello, everyone. This is Hidehiko Ishizuka, who can’t put on socks without holding his breath.

This time, I would like to write about what I consider to be the requirements for a “good restaurant.

In my opinion, restaurants where the food itself is delicious and where there is a long line of customers are wonderful in their own right, but that is not the only point of a “great restaurant. In recent years, restaurants with dishes that look good on Instagram and restaurants with super large portions tend to attract attention, but this is also somewhat different.

One of the conditions of a “good restaurant” in my opinion is that the interior of the restaurant is clean and polished, regardless of whether the restaurant is new or old.

What would you think if the table you are shown to is dirty or wet? What would you think of a restaurant where the restrooms are dirty and “they probably just sprinkle water on the floor when they clean it”?

A nice scene that gave them a “gold medal”.

I once visited a restaurant where I witnessed a wonderful scene. A young female waitress was carefully wiping down the tables with disinfectant after the customers had left, setting the salt and pepper in place, and finally checking for spills on the sofa and under the tables.

In my heart, I gave her a gold medal. Of course, a gold medal also goes to those who eat cleanly when dining as a guest.

Next, the food. Even if the food looks orthodox, I am attracted to dishes in which I can sense the chef’s attention to detail and hard work just by taking a bite. Performance is also important. I am happy just to see a hamburger on the griddle, but then the sauce is poured in front of me, and at the same time the hamburger makes a sizzling sound. Gold Rush, a restaurant in Shibuya, offers such a performance.

When I once visited a Japanese restaurant that had won a Michelin star on a TV program, I sensed at first glance the prestige of the restaurant and was greeted by the chef, who was taciturn to the point of being visibly reserved. However, strangely enough, the atmosphere was not unpleasant, and I was filled with a sense of excitement that I was about to have the best meal of my life.

From the very first dish, the colors and the way they were arranged were so beautiful that it was like an art form. I had never had such a dish before, so I asked the chef, “How is the correct way to serve it?” I asked the chef. With a smile that was hard to believe from someone who was so focused on his own work, he said, “Please take it as you like it.

In other words, he believes that it is his job to create the best food and that once it is placed on the table, it belongs to the customer from there. This was another “maiyuna” restaurant.

From my part-time experience…

As I have written before in this series, I worked part-time as a waiter at a restaurant in Yokohama for nine years. Rather than loving the restaurant, I fell in love with the manager’s personality and continued to work there for nine years because I wanted to see his smile. Because of this experience, I would watch the employees when I ate out.

When I was working part-time, I called out to a customer to take his plate down when I thought his plate looked like it was in the way, and when a fat customer came in, I repeatedly went to pour him water. When the sun was shining brightly in the west, I would ask the customer to lower the blinds quietly.

I may be a bit biased, but in my opinion, a “good restaurant” is one that spares no effort in its cooking, one that values the smiles of its customers, and one that has a manager who is loved by all employees.

Such “great restaurants” make me want to go back again.

From the June 6-13, 2025 issue of FRIDAY