Ryukyu Ryori Mie

Kohagura Tomi opened Mie in 1958 and moved it to this Kumoji house in 1960. She grew up in Shuri learning the cooking of its old samurai families, and the restaurant traces its dishes to the table of Baron Sho Jun, who was King Sho Tai's fourth son and a noted gourmet. Her brother was the essayist Kohagura Hoko, who wrote widely about Ryukyu food. Tomi's handwritten recipe notebooks survive as a record of the cuisine.

Dishes arrive on the Ryukyu lacquer and Tsuboya ware that Tomi collected. The nakami soup shows the patience involved: the kitchen washes pork tripe again and again, rubs it with okara, simmers it with kunenbo citrus peel and ginger, and finishes it in bonito and pork stock until the broth runs clear. Courses take two hours, and the seven-dish Mie gozen at ¥3,500 makes lunch the easier way in.