Housed in the brand new Nihon Seimei Marunouchi Building alongside the Palace Building in the heart of the prestigious Maruochi district, Heinz Beck Tokyo combines casual dining (Sensi on ground floor) and contemporary fine dining (Restaurant Heinz Beck on first floor) all under one roof. On top of the cutting-edge cuisine, both restaurants also boast a picturesque view of Tokyo’s Royal Palace canal.
Over the years, we have been playing cat and mouse game with Chef Beck. Every time we decided to visit the eternal city of Rome, his prized La Pergola always seemed to be closed for holidays or maintenance, so this is really our very first experience with his electrifying cuisine.
There are 2 set menus (4-course@¥8000 and 9-course@¥19000) available at lunch on this opening day. A separate a la carte menu is also available upon request.
We were catching our flight immediately following the meal so we went for the shorter 4-course set.
The amuse bouche was a good but unspectacular start to this highly anticipated meal. Our first nibble was a simple salad with potato chips and edible flowers. That was immediately followed by a pumpkin soup, spiced tapioca and a macaron with truffle (5/10).
Three kinds of bread (olive oil, oatmeal and focaccia) were served and they were good ones. I was particularly impressed with this olive oil flavored one which they have added touches of pistachio nuts to make it even more savory.
While we were still enjoying our bread, our first starter was already on deck ready for center stage. It was a trio of amberjack marinated with balsamic vinegar and served raw with pomegranate snow (powder), purple potato chip and red corn.
This was a visually stunning dish with the dry ice providing the smoking effects. The taste of the amberjack was fresh and the pomegranate snow was a rather interesting match (6/10).
Fagotelli "Heinz Beck" was next. This is a signature dish from Chef Beck that was very popular at La Pergola Rome.
In a nutshell, it's pillow ravioli filled with carbonara sauce. The liquid filling was wonderful and it created a nice "explosion" that popped in my mouth (7.5/10).
Our main course was a pistachio crusted veal loin stuffed with braised onions, fresh fruits and crushed pistachio nuts. It was served on a bed of bak Choy in a lovely red wine sauce.
I loved the stuffing of onions and fresh fruits into the veal to make it more flavorful and sweet. The texture was excellent (7.5/10).
Finally our dessert was a frozen sphere of red berry sorbet served on a pool of tea flavored mousse along with some crystallized berries and chocolate crumbs. A very good ending to an entertaining lunch at this brand new fine dining restaurant in Tokyo (6/10).
Before we said our goodbyes to Restaurant Heinz Beck (and Tokyo), a lovely petite fours including a chocolate macaron with coffee cream, marshmallow, raspberry jelly, strawberry lemon tart and chocolate with peanut to go with my cappuccino.
We still got a bit of time before our ride took off so we decided to check out the casual sister, Sensi on the ground floor. The black and red color tone sure reminded us of our good friend, Joël Robuchon.
The Royal Palace canal could be found right next to the outdoor patio of Sensi.
We have quite a number of remarkable meals on this Tokyo trip and this one at Restaurant Heinz Beck, I thought ranked in the middle of the pack both from the service and food perspective.
Food Rating: 7/10
Price: ¥¥¥¥
Address: 1/F, 1-1-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Closest Metro Station: Otemachi
Tel: +81 3-3284-0020
Website: www.heinzbeck.jp
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