New York Grill (Park Hyatt Tokyo)

Posted on July 24, 08 by seat

Came back for the holiday lunch buffet(see tag for the last visit). Appetizers are great as ever.

オーストラリア産牛リブアイのグリル　根セロリのレムラード　牛テールのソース。
岩手産豚ロースのグリル　クラッシュポテトとキャベツ　マスタードソース。
Main courses are chosen from the menu and are served when you are done with appetizers. I had the Grilled Australian Rib eye beef in ox-tail sauce, with celery root in remoulade sauce on the side. My friend had Grilled pork loin, mashed potato and cabbage in mustard sauce. While the main dishes aren’t as good as the appetizers, they are fairly decent.

Desserts from the buffet. A glass of champagne is also included.
New York Grill

てんぷらと和食山の上ホテル(Tempura Yamanoue)

Posted on May 14, 08 by seat

天丼、￥３３６０。
Tendon: prawn, kakiage with prawn, fish and shishitou pepper.

Very famous tempura restaurant inside Hilltop Hotel. It was a bit of a quest to find the entrance…I went to the annex building, couldn’t find it, got out, went into the main building, couldn’t find it, got out, followed the tempura-ish smell and finally found the small sign leading to the hidden entrance outside the hotel building. ^^;;

かき揚げ天丼、￥２８８７。穴子天丼、￥３４６５。
Kakiage-tendon. Anago tendon.

野菜天丼、￥２８８７。天丼、￥３３６０。
Took a friend there and I had Yasai Tendon and she had Tendon. The prices include 5% tax and 10% service charge(even at lunch time!).

The sauce is this restaurant’s original and you can choose between “amakuchi”(甘口) and “karakuchi”(辛口). The staff said they are just the same sauce – “karakuchi” is just less sweet than “amakuchi”. I personally prefer karakuchi.

Probably the most “elegant” tendon I have ever had. All the tendon I had before felt cheap in comparison…both taste-wise and price-wise. ^^;;;

There are other lunch menu such as Ebi(prawn) Tendon, a luxurious Iki-Ebi Tendon which has a whooping price tag of 5040yen(plus tax and SC of course). Tempura full courses are also available at lunch time. Seating includes counter, tables, and zashiki.

Lunch menu(J): 1, 2.

山の上ホテル
 Hilltop Hotel/Yamanoue Hotel(English available)
There is also a Roppongi branch inside Tokyo Midtown.

The French Kitchen (フレンチ　キッチン)

Posted on April 3, 08 by seat

From the 5800yen(+10% service charge) lunch buffet.
Egg Benedict. A glass of champagne that is included.

Appetizer. Omelette with your choice of ingredients.

Second round of appetizer…

Main dish is chosen from the menu at beginning and is served when you are done with the appetizers. Braised lamb shoulder, merguez sausage, couscous and harissa.

Desserts. French toast.

You can choose the fruits from the counter and they are cut nicely and delivered to your table.

Refillable coffee or tea are also included.

Very good-value lunch buffet. I especially like the French toast, egg benedict(though not the usual fare with English muffins) and omelette. The restaurant is inside Grand Hyatt Tokyo in Roppongi Hills. Compared to New York Grill, I like all the hotel-breakfast menu here, but I think the appetizers and the desserts are better in NYG(the salad and appetizers are slightly on the oily side here). FK is cheaper though.
Menu here.

(Aug 17, 2009)
Went back on a weekday for the lunch buffet. It was much cheaper(Y3800) but there wasn’t as much variety of dishes as the weekend buffet – all the breakfast items(omelette/french toast) were not available. Also it didn’t come with champagne. I had the fish for the main this time, which was just okay.

Cuisine[s] Michel Troisgros (キュイジーヌ[S] ミッシェル・トロワグロ)

Posted on December 13, 07 by seat

French restaurant inside the Hotel Hyatt Regency. Check out the English review here.

Very high-quality snacks!

Amuse-bouche is green peas soup with mango and some citrus fruit jelly in it.
Homemade bread is basil, bacon and one I forgot.

トマトのジュレ、マスカルポーネオリーブとレザンのラビオリ仕立て。
真鱈のパヴェ、ポワローのグリエと舞茸添え、マスタードのジュー。
Tomato jelly with two kinds of ravioli – mascarpone ravioli, olive and raisin ravioli.
Madara(Pacific cod) with grilled leek and maitake mushroom in mustard sauce. The sauce is made from beef stock and katsuobushi. A bit sour.

シャラン産鴨肉、無花果のバニュールスワイン煮、ポムスフレとフォルムダンベール。
Challans Duck with fig cooked in Banyuls wine, potato souffle with Fourme d’Ambert cheese and wasabi. We had to add the duck sauce ourselves.

Yogurt mousse and orange. Chocolate tarte with coffee cream inside. Ice-cream is caramel and anise flavour.

High-quality petit fours!

I have heard about this place for a long time and everyone warned me that the food is not “classic French” but more modern Japanese-French fusion kind of cuisine. The fish is definitely very Japanese, while the rest are light tasting and use quite a bit of herbs. I like the food alright but am not crazy about it. The environment is elegant, and the service, though a bit formal, is very professional. Somehow there are menus for 7500yen and 10,000yen course, but the cheapest 5000yen has no menu which makes it a bit embarassing to order…
Cuisine[s] Michel Troisgros

Tapas Molecular Bar

Posted on December 2, 07 by seat

The much-hyped “chemistry experiment” dinner course at Tapas Molecular Bar!

食前酒。カブラレスとさきいか。
Opening Aperitif: Yakult and beer. Cabrales Cuttlefish.

カリカリビーツ。
Olive cloud. Crispy beets.

ホタテとカボチャソルベ。
Chef cooking the scallop, which is served with pumpkin sorbet.

赤。トミくん。
Red: Tomato and beets. Tommy Thai: prawn in Thai style.

いちごのスパゲッティ。
Chef making the “spaghetti” that is more like kanten. Strawberry and Pesto Spaghetti.

手長海老、アーモンド、きのこ。ジュージュー肉。
Scampi, Almond, Grapefruit.
Warm Sizzling Beef. The beef popped out from a steel foam dispenser…

にんじんキャビア。
Carrot Caviar. Made using the syringes! XD

Tomato and water melon. Served steaming(pic here).

イベリコの秘密。
Secreta de Cerdo: Smoked Iberico pork. The cup is used to trap the smoke. Smells wonderful.

うなぎ、パイナップル、味噌。
Unagi, Pineapple, Miso.
Cold and foamy corn soup on top of foie gras hot soup.

ジューシーラム。
Ice of something I forgot. Juicy Lamb.

味噌汁。
Sweet liqueur inside the straw. At first we didn’t know and were waiting for the “drink” to come…but it was just one monthful of liqueur in the straw.
Miso Soup on a spoon. The white balls are tofu jelly and the green powder is wakame…really tastes like miso soup.

くうき氷。
Blue Hawaii. The chef said you should finish it in 20 seconds. I panicked taking pictures! The chef scared us that because it is so cold, it could freeze our tongues if we were not careful…but he didn’t say how to be careful.

ブルーベリーとローリエ。
Blueberries and Laurel: Blueberry sponge cake.
Desserts for one.

サフランとチョコレートのカプセル。カプチーノのわたあめ。
Close up of the Saffron Chocolate Tarte, and Cappuccino cotton candy.

Fruit Course. After eating the miracle fruit(red thing in the right pic) and keeping it in your mouth for a while, the sour fruits like lemon and lime tasted so sweet with all the sourness gone. It is amazing!

What a fun experience. The food was actually very delicious which I didn’t expect at all. Plus all the performances and surprises that keep you in high tension for more than 2 hours, I think it is worth a visit. They have a chef who can explain everything in English so foreigners can enjoy it just as much.

Wine menu here and here.
Food menu here.
Dinner course alone is 12000yen per person.
Tapas Molecular Bar

Italian Dining Ventaglio(Mandarin Oriental Tokyo)

Posted on September 27, 07 by seat

From the 5000yen dinner buffet. Everything is from the buffet except the pasta which you pick from 2 choices and they bring to you from the kitchen. I was a bit shocked that they brought us the pasta while we were just starting our appetizers… Anyway, the food is mediocre at best. Most of the appetizers are strong with herb(as mentioned in the homepage). The cooked meat are slightly better.
Italian Dining Ventaglio

New York Grill (Park Hyatt Tokyo)

Posted on September 12, 07 by seat

Weekend brunch buffet, 6200yen. Includes a glass of sparkling wine.

Salmon mousse and other appetizer from the buffet.

More appetizers.

You get a variety of main dishes to choose from. I had the roasted Australian baby lamb, with spicy minced lamb meat. The meat was very tender and perfectly cooked but it was just simple grilled lamb that I got tired of it after finishing one slice(there were three thick slices!) I wish there were some sauce or spice to go with it.

I thought I didn’t have space for desserts…but I was wrong. Three of us clean-swept the dessert bar.

The restaurant is on the 52th floor of Park Hyatt. Too bad it was raining that day otherwise the view would be stunning.

I’m not a big fan of buffet but this place is nice! Food is good, and the atmosphere is relaxing. If you don’t order extra drinks, your bill will be less than 7000yen.
New York Grill (English review here)