Signature (TOKYO, Japan) ★★★☆☆

The reason why I picked Signature over a bunch of other restaurants was mainly because it's a MO restaurant. MO always gets it right when it comes to fine dining and it's so often the case in all the MOs from around the world.



This is a Sunday so there's a lot of family gathering held here.



I thought the amuse bouche caught me by surprise. A very nice thoughtful combination of nibbles there.


 

Our starters were encouraging too. I particularly liked my chestnut velouté which was silky smooth.


 

Main courses provided very little surprise for us though, especially the fish courses.


 


I was hoping to see some marron in our dessert since it's almost season now but instead we got some chocolate and fruit.


 

Food Rating: 6/10
Price: ￥￥￥￥

Address: Mandarin Oriental Hotel Tokyo 38/F, Nihonbashimuromachi, Tokyo, Japan
Closest Metro Station: Shinnihonbashi
Tel: +81 (3) 3270 8188
Website: www.mandarinoriental.com/tokyo/fine-dining/signature

Kani Doraku Shinjuku かに道楽新宿 (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

The giant mechanical crab in front of Kani Doraku is a landmark on the busy streets of Shinjuku. Needless to explain, this is a crab specialty restaurant. They have different outposts all across Japan with Osaka Dotonbori as its flagship store.




Time for an all-crab feast.....



The highlight of the whole crab was the rich crab roe!? Well, we have seen more from hairy crabs.



Enjoying some boiled and raw snow crab legs at the same time.



The crab leg sushi was great but my personal favorites are these crab paste sushi here.



Dessert was a couple of mochi but I am longing for some matcha ice-cream right now. 

Food Rating: 6/10

Price: ￥￥￥￥

Address: Theatre Building 7 8/F, 3-14-20 Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Shinjuku
Tel: +81 (0)3-3352-0096

Website: douraku.co.jp.e.at.hp.transer.com

La Table de Joël Robuchon, Yebisu Garden Place (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★★★

We tried to start every trip with a bang and this trip to Tokyo was no different - we first kicked  off our trip with a memorable dinner at the famed Chateau de Joël Robuchon in Ebisu.

It was a windy night in Tokyo and for a moment, we thought we were in Chicago! After a 10-minute walk from the Ebisu Station, we arrived at the Yebisu Garden Place which used to be the grounds of the Yebisu beer factory more than a century ago.

Following a short tour of the Ebisu area, we finally found the four-storey Chateau where Restaurant Joël Robuchon is housed.



After a couple of  amuse bouche, we turned our attention to our starters, which were all beautifully presented. 

First up was a steak tartar served with a quail egg on top.

 

Equally competent was the cream of porcini mushroom, served with a thick slice of pan seared foie gras. 

Joël Robuchon restaurants always have the best scallops. Meet my pan seared Hokkaido scallops! They were so mouthwatering.....

Of the four starters, the green pea soup was probably the least flashy.

Onto our main courses, the duck breast with sautéed vegetables was superb.

 

The wagyu beef was also perfectly done and again served with seasonal vegetables.

 

It was an amazing feeling to have such a wonderful dinner in a middle-age chateau setting.  That feeling was second to none. The haute cuisine was also everything one would expect from a Joël Robuchon establishment - perfect execution from start to finish!

After dinner, we spent some time to enjoy the Christmas spirit.....







Food Rating: 7.5/10

Price: ¥¥¥¥

Address: Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-1, Mita, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-0062, Japan
Closest Metro Station: Ebisu
Tel: +81 (0)3 5424-1347

Website: www.robuchon.jp

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