When Sonoji arrived just over a year ago in the quiet, low-rise back streets of Ningyocho, it stirred up considerable interest. Primarily that was due to its obvious quality — but also because it stood out from the pack.
The restaurant's specialty is tempura, a food associated with Tokyo ever since the city was known to the world as Edo. However, owner-chef Toshiyuki Suzuki is from out of town: To site his restaurant in one of the city's most traditional neighborhoods was always going to cause a buzz.
Suzuki hails from Shimada in rural Shizuoka and ran the first incarnation of Sonoji there for 16 years before deciding to move to Tokyo. He still maintains strong ties to his home, sourcing just about every ingredient he uses from the fertile sea, farms and uplands of that bountiful prefecture.