Ginza Oishi, Tokyo

The experience I had here was unlike any in any restaurant I've had. It was wholly unique, unpredictable, and enjoyable – enough that I'm willing to call it the best restaurant experience of my life thus far. It's the epitome of spectacle – something you would get if you mixed the theater with the dining room, and the main chef is as much an entertainer as a restauranteur. As many new places as I visit, this will be tough to forget.

It's a French-Japanese restaurant that's able to blend together these two cuisines in a way that showcases the peak of both.

The concept here is eating around a single counter, where the chefs are on one side of, and the diners are on the other side. There are only about 10 or so diners in total, meaning every person gets a great view of each meal being prepared, and it's easy for the chef to hand out each new item on individual plates and receive it back when it's done. I was the only non-Japanese person at the restaurant, but rather than sitting at one of the edges, the chef assigned me the very center spot. This was extremely cool.

There are a lot of courses in the meal, so I'll go through each one by one, with my thoughts.

1. Gougeres, Firefly Squid, and Caviar. The amuse bouche – obviously really small, meant to be eaten in a single bite, but that bite had a ton of richness and saltiness that left you wanting more, and prepared for the rest of the courses

2. Raw sea urchin consommé jelly. Known as the chef's signature dish, this was also topped with caviar, but what really was great was the consommé jelly – with the salty, beefy taste yet the perfect soft jiggly texture that was unlike anything I've had before.

3. White asparagus and cherry salmon. This asparagus tasted slightly sweet interestingly, compared to the bitterness of green asparagus. Made a good combination with the salmon

4. Black Truffle Flan. Now this was my favorite dish of the night. A lot of places advertise truffles, and I've never found them to be that special, but this is the one dish that made me stop in my tracks and realize – I see why they're so expensive. The amount of truffle flavor here was unbelievable – bordering on reaching the limit, but stopping just before there. I've never experienced such a powerful umami flavor in a single dish before. At the bottom you discover a surprise egg yolk, which just mixes with everything so well.

5. Appetizer platter, including Galatine, Abalone, and Vegetable Terrine. This dish came with a sakura branch and flowers on top, which was pretty cool. Probably the coolest plating of the night. The galatine is something I've never had before, but quite intrigued by. It feels like a compressed charcuterie board.

6. Crab Charlotte. Looking at the plate, you wouldn't know it, but this comes with a heaping of snow crab at the bottom. Super good

7. Japanese Monaka, with Foie Gras Mousse, and Strawberry Jelly. This is a tiny wafer cookie (monaka) but with foie gras added in the middle. How can it not be good. The light thin-ness of the wafers and the crunch creates a fatty, sweet, crispy combo that's just delectable.

This is the point where we could adjust the portions on certain dishes. The chef would give us a bunch of options in terms of sizes, and we could pick which one we wanted

1. Eel Pie. This was an unagi wellington the chef had been preparing throughout the night, and posed several times with the pre-baked pastry, and the final baked pastry, which was absolutely gorgeous. I opted for a half portion here. But this was great – the layer of pastry on the outside, eel on the inside, and saffron rice in between. The combination just works, and when combined with the beurre blanc sauce (which surprisingly wasn't too fatty) was excellent. Despite being baked the eel was perfectly juicy.

2. Watermelon juice. Just a palate cleanser, but surprisingly good

3. Wagyu Sirloin. This was the other main dish the chef and his team had been making through the night. We got to see him cutting off (exasperatedly and hilariously) a huge slab from the even-more-massive wagyu portion. Then we got to see it being grilled and going up in flames, and finally it was served to us a couple hours into the meal. I opted for the half portion here again. This also came with asparagus tempura. While good, and cooked perfectly, I did think this was on the chewier side. Didn't quite measure up to the other dishes

4. Sakura Shrimp Risotta. A pretty fascinating combination of flavors here, with shrimp beignets having a fascinating taste that reminded you of shrimp tempura a bit yet felt very different. The sauce was great

5. Curry Rice. The absolute most basic dish possible, and yet so damn good. It tastes like pure comfort food. The curry has a sweetness to it, but yet a depth of flavor that's unmatched – with tons of spices working hard in the background to make it so delightful to eat. Easily the best curry I had in Japan. I just love how pure this dish is.

6. Melon Soup. The sweetness of this melon is unlike any I've ever had before. Outstanding

7. Sakura Cheesecake. The final dish, this is a piece of cheesecake with dubai chocolate on the side. It's the best cheesecake I've ever had and I'm a huge cheesecake connoisseur. Unlike NY cheesecake with a graham crust, this one has basically no crust – but what carries it is how unbelievably creamy it is. There's not really that slightly sour taste – instead the cheese is made to shine, mixing cheesiness with sweetness in a way that's astonishingly good. It's the kind of cheesecake you can only get at a place like this, and is therefore spectacular

Finally we were done after this – and I don't think I've ever been as full in my life

The food here isn't technically perfect. Nothing on the plating is mind-blowing – there's not a ton of artistry here. The focus is more on the ingredients rather than the quality of the chef itself. Despite this, what truly takes it over the top is how amazing the experience is outside the food.

I didn't understand the chef for 95% of the 3 and a half hour long meal. Normally, that would be a big challenge – because he spends a ton of effort explaining each dish (I was able to somewhat understand by talking to the guy next to me, who spoke some English). But I didn't really care about that because there are some things that transcend language. The personality of this chef is one of those things. He's boisterous, playful, loud, energetic – all in one. You don't have to understand what he's saying to understand what he's going for. Throughout the entire meal – he keeps the same energy; making jokes, theatrically performing actions, engaging in comedy, and so on. Part of the reason you go to this restaurant is to watch him specifically. I don't know how he has the energy to do this every night, but I'm glad he does, because I get to watch him. He is why I would consider going back to this restaurant if I'm ever in Tokyo again.

Price-wise, it's certainly expensive at around 37,000 yen, but honestly compared to other fine dining restaurants, it's really not that bad. I was happy to pay this much.

Overall, just truly an unforgettable dining experience