Experiences — Dining
The table that was not available.
Tables at full restaurants, chef's counters and private dining rooms — in the cities where it is hardest.
What we arrange
Tables at fully booked restaurants
Chef's counter and kitchen table seatings
Private dining rooms and chefs at your residence
The table that is never listed
How this works
The hardest tables in the world are small. A counter seating eight, booked months ahead, releases its seats on a schedule rather than on request — and in Tokyo a number of them do not accept first-time guests at all without an introduction.
The rest is timing and relationship: the table held back each service, the kitchen that will cook off-menu for someone it knows, and the private room that is never listed. None of it is bought.
Before you ask
Counters
Eight to twelve seats, booked months ahead, released on a fixed schedule.
Introduction
Some rooms take no first-time guest without one. Tokyo especially.
Held back
Most serious kitchens keep a table. It goes to people they know.
Off-menu
Arranged with the chef in advance, never requested at the table.
Can you get a table anywhere?
No, and we say so. Some counters release seats on a fixed schedule and hold nothing back; there, the honest answer is a date rather than a promise.
What makes Tokyo different?
Introduction. A number of the best counters take no first-time guest without one, which is a relationship question rather than a booking one — and it is why notice matters more there than anywhere.
Also in Experiences
- Availability
- 24 hours
- First response
- Within the hour
- Your manager
- One, named
- Languages
- Seven
Tell us what you need.
From the simple to the impossible.