Address - Tokyo-to, Shibuya-ku, Jingumae 6-3-2 Opening hours - Open every day from 11:00 am to 11pm Map - See directions Telephone - 5485-2262 Menu - In Japanese and English CC - OK Fujimama has a site.

The first time you eat at Fujimama, it's a joy. The cook and the menu like to take big risks, so in the beginning everything is new and exciting. They offer Asian food with a twist, so that you might find for example leaves of basil in your fried rice. To make Fujimama's they gutted an old Japanese building, keeping its essence and mixing it with some modernity in a pleasant way, so also in that sense the place is a surprise. The wine list is good and interesting, and they keep updating it.
But you tire soon, because the cook is certainly original and dares making innovations, but often those innovations fail, and you are left with a certain feeling that something is missing, that his cooking style is shallow. I stopped going, because me and a friend of mine I often used to go there with felt it wasn't worth it any longer.

Walk down from Harajuku Station towards Omotesando on the right side of the street. Fujimama is in the first alley on your right after the intersection where Lotteria and Laforet are.

Frank comments:

NOTE: Since I am going to be mean to it, to be fair I must tell you right away that I have never eaten at Fujimamas.

On June 15 I published and, I assume, you all read Fujimamas menu for the reception to be held on the 26th. I must confess I was more amused than attracted, as I am more amused than anything else by the very concept of "fusion" in cuisine.
I am always skeptical when somebody systematically marries devil and holy water, as in this case. Contamination is certainly the heart and soul of progress, and one should not hesitate in breaking a barrier when necessary, but this should happen naturally, when needed, and food shouldn't be conceived with experimentation or transgression in mind. When these becomes a rule, after an initial novelty value fades, the result is boring and contrived.
Flashy as they are, these dishes remind me of a cubist painting. "Kahlua Pig on Crispy Won Tons with Red Chili Jelly - Tumbling Dice of Smoked Salmon and Miso Polenta". "Chinese Clay Pot Braised Duck with Wolfberries and Star Anise" ... Wow. How about "Bactrian Camel Hump Marinated in Chateau Lafitte 1976 with Vinegared Canadian Cherries and Laid on a Bed of Fettuccini Alfredo"?

That said, one of these days I will try eating at Fujimamas to see how it really is.