There is a French restaurant with a wonderful view at the Mandarin Oriental in Nihonbashi, so I went. I hear it holds one Michelin star. Being in a hotel, the service was good and the atmosphere was lovely.
Just as I sat down and was about to order, a live jazz performance started. Signature is an expensive restaurant, and maybe because it was a weekday, there were not many diners, but the bar was absolutely packed. Bars with this kind of atmosphere are not that common in Tokyo, after all.
Louis Roederer Brut Premier
Starting with a reasonable champagne.
Night view
You can see Tokyo Tower. A truly romantic scene. It would have been nicer if the sky had been clearer, though.
Night view
I never get tired of the Tokyo night view, no matter how many times I see it.
Finger food
Foie gras and caviar come out first. They taste pretty good, too.
The kitchen
It is an open kitchen.
Firefly squid and chorizo, squid ink cream
An appetizer made with spring ingredients. The squid ink was delicious.
Bread
I chose the chestnut bread and the nori bread. Unsalted butter for me. The chestnut bread was good, but the nori bread was not much to write home about.
Smoked guinea fowl and spring vegetable terrine, served with Mr. Matsubara’s ricotta cheese
Beautifully presented, and it tastes pretty good, too.
Snow crab gratinated with black olive, fennel cream and socca
Crab is at the tail end of its season, but it still tastes great. I was a bit surprised that a foreign chef uses traditional Japanese ingredients.
Bread
This time I asked for the chestnut bread and a baguette.
Kinmedai Dugléré style, braised spring cabbage and glazed champignons, scented with coriander
The kinmedai is sprinkled with a mildly spicy Chilean chili powder. The mushrooms had an unusual aroma, which I think was the coriander.
Roasted saddle of lamb and braised shoulder, baby turnips, thyme-scented jus
The main course is lamb, and it is beautifully cooked.
Mint jelly and chocolate
The mint jelly on top of the chocolate refreshes the palate. A high-level dessert.
Passionate passion fruit
Desserts made with tropical fruit. Pretty good.
Cake
They brought this out when I mentioned it was an anniversary. It tasted good, too.
Herbal tea
Petits fours
Not all of them were great, but the coconut meringue, the chocolate, the financier and the pink marshmallow were good.
Compared with the service and the atmosphere, the food itself was not especially distinctive. I suspect the Michelin star was earned by the atmosphere. The night view and the jazz created a fantastically romantic mood, but for my part I wanted more focus on the food. A meal that left me a little wanting.