The Hanzomon/Kojimachi/Akasaka area looks quiet on the surface, so there isn’t much for tourists to see, but it’s actually the de facto center of Japanese politics, home to the Imperial Palace, the Prime Minister’s Official Residence and the National Diet Building. Every now and then when you walk past the Diet Building, you’ll see the guards snap to a stiff salute as a BMW 7 Series rolls in through the main gate.
I’m not particularly into politics and don’t really get the chance to meet politicians, but I like this neighborhood because it quietly hides a lot of little-known, uncrowded good restaurants. So when I was trying to decide where to eat with a friend this time, I picked ARGO, a French restaurant with a pretty good reputation around here. I’d heard the chef built his career at Pierre Gagnaire in Paris, so I had high hopes for the food. On top of that, lunch is relatively cheap, and since the place isn’t easy to find, it’s easy to get a reservation.
The Imperial Palace from the 9th-floor window
A view looking down over this much greenery right in the middle of the city is hard to come by. Besides the view, I really liked the stylish interior and the near-perfect service from a well-trained staff.
Petits fours salés
Little appetizer biscuits made with herbs and spices. Tangy and spicy, so they work as a starter, but they weren’t especially good. The thing in the middle was a super-mini curry bun.
Mineral water
This is a place with flawless service, so the water wasn’t cheap either.
Amuse
On the left, as I remember, were salmon wrapped in spinach and a skewer of salmon and potato. You dip them in the foamed miso sauce below. In the middle is a soup, and the round things on the right are ‘tofu’ made from paprika, asparagus and so on. I figured this must be the Gagnaire style. The miso sauce was good, but overall it was just okay.
Bread
Very high quality, though I’m told there are restaurants in Korea that serve bread this good too. Il Cipriani was about this level, I think..
Entrée: Hungarian foie gras and truffle cream, a composition with green pea sablé, served with a basil-scented celeriac croquette in green-pea breadcrumbs
The dish name is really long, but basically the left is foie gras + truffle and the right is a fried croquette with peas in it. Dipping the foie gras and truffle in the chocolate adds sweetness to the rich flavor, and they go together beautifully. The croquette nicely locked the fresh pea flavor inside the crispy crumb.
Entrée: angel shrimp wrapped in kataifi, a panaché of sweetbreads and seasonal vegetables with lemon balm sauce, five kinds of nuts and orange-scented olive oil
It was nice to get so many different flavors in one dish, but it falls a bit short next to the foie gras starter. The foie gras costs an extra 500 yen.
Fish course: pan-seared kuromutsu (bluefish), cider sauce, étuvée of leeks and demi-sel pork belly
This one is a 500-yen supplement, and the fish is a step up in quality. Maybe because the ingredient is so good, the sauce wasn’t bad, but it didn’t feel like a perfect match either.
Pan-seared isaki (chicken grunt), gratiné of southern French vegetables and tomato confit, fennel sauce
The fish here is lower grade, but you can feel the various sauces and ingredients coming together. The freshness of the tomato comes through even though it’s cooked. By this point I could see the restaurant’s pattern: the supplement dishes focus on using great ingredients and bringing out their natural flavor, while the regular dishes build flavor through contrast and emphasis between various sauces and ingredients. For the first choice the foie gras won hands down, but with the fish courses both had their own character, and I couldn’t say which was better.
Main: pan-seared fillet of Kumamoto akage wagyu, Madeira sauce, with seasonal vegetables
Akage wagyu has lately been the talk among beef fanatics. It’s raised free-range on Mt. Aso in Kumamoto, and the flavor is said to be out of this world. This one was an extra 800 yen, but it was the best of the best that day. I felt the absolute limit of how tender beef can get. It’s not very fatty either, which I liked. Honestly I should have eaten it when I was in Kumamoto, but I was really short on time then. Who’d have thought I’d make up for it here in Tokyo ^_^
Roast saddle of lamb, navarin style, with green pea purée and seasonal vegetables
This was also cooked nice and tender and the garnishes were tasty, but next to the overwhelming flavor of the akage wagyu it falls well short. The akage wagyu was on another level. Even the main I had at Joël Robuchon wasn’t this good. I never imagined the day would come when I’d go to a French restaurant and be moved by the taste of wagyu.
Dessert of the day
Well.. apparently this one was ordinary
Herbal tea. Tasty.
Dessert: strawberry mille-feuille and ice cream
This one was actually better. It’s a bit of a shame, but the desserts are a little on the weak side..
What I’d first expected from this kitchen was Pierre Gagnaire-style molecular cuisine, but what actually impressed me was straightforward cooking with top-quality ingredients. I think if you come for dinner you’ll get the molecular stuff too. Why? Because all this came to only 7,000 yen per person. It was a really fun experience, enjoying fantastic food at a low price. It got me really looking forward to the dinner course as well. That said, the service is so good that it feels a bit much for a casual meal with friends. A place like this is really best enjoyed on a date.