Grill Manten-Boshi Marunouchi グリル滿天星 (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

After spending almost the entire day strolling around Ueno (上野), we finally made it to Marunouchi (丸の内) where we were supposed to visit in late afternoon. But when we looked at the clock, it was already dinner time. 

None of us was all that hungry so we decided to have a simple supper this evening. But even without much expectation, we found it tough to land a table at the Marunouchi Building. Unless we wanted to spend more time waiting, it looks like Grill Manten-Boshi (グリル滿天星) was the only restaurant that didn't have much of a waiting list.

Grill Manten-Boshi is a Japanese omelette rice specialist with a strong pedigree. Founded all the way back in 1978 by Chef Yoshinao Kubota who is a protégé of Tokuzou Akiyama, chef to Emperor Shōwa, Grill Manten-Boshi is billed as a western restaurant with a local twist.

By the time that we finally got ourselves a table, we were already starving to death and adding insult to injury, we had some really sore legs from walking around Ueno all day. So, we decided to just order a bunch of stuff to share and get this meal over with.

The restaurant’s signature omurice dish (Japanese omelette rice) features silky-soft egg topped with prawn, scallop, green peas and gravy over some plain rice. Not bad. 

Another iconic omurice dish here with hamburger steak and scrambled egg. I have to admit, I like this one a whole lot better than the previous two dishes. The gravy, in particular, was working wonders with the steak.

Food Rating: 4.5/10

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 5/F 2-4-1 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-6305, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Marunouchi

Tel: +81 3-5288-7070

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 3:30pm daily, 5:30pm - 11:00pm (Mon - Sat), 3:30pm - 10:00pm (Sun)

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, Roppongi (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon at Roppongi Hills wears the usual black and red and from our first glance, it looks exactly like its twin brothers in London and Hong Kong.

I have always been amazed with the quality of service and food at Joël Robuchon's restaurants. They never seem to disappoint - well, at least on most given nights, they don't.



But this time, our lunch didn't get off to the flying start as we all hoped. A largely forgettable amuse bouche came in the form of a pork Rillette on crostini while we were expecting something more sophisticated or at least better presented (3/10).



But we quickly got back to the right tracks with our next course - grilled scallops in an asparagus and cream sauce (8/10).



Almost equally impressive was the foie gras ravioli in a warm chicken broth with herbs and spicy cream. You can't go wrong with Robuchon's scallops and ravioli (7.5/10)!



Our main courses were good but perhaps not as strong as the starters. First up was my baked chicken with the seasonal vegetables (5/10).



The pork loin was not a bad choice. It tasted a little like "char siu" from the Chinese cuisine. Very tender (6/10)!



Last but not least, a grilled white fish (which I happened to forget what exactly it was) served with some veggies and pumpkin puree (5/10).




Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: 6-10-1 Roppongi (Roppongi Hills), Minato, Tokyo 106-0032, Japan 
Closest Metro Station: Roppongi
Tel: +81 (0)3 5772-7500
Website: www.robuchon.jp/roppongi/lateier.html



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Fish Bank (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

We have passed by the entrance of Fish Bank a zillion times but like most restaurants with a scenic view in Tokyo, it's impossible to get a table without advanced booking. Fortunately, we got it right this time by calling the restaurant a few weeks in advance.

Billed as a contemporary French restaurant on the 41st floor of the Shiodome City Center, Fish Bank features a skyscraping view of Shiodome district with a stunning view to the Rainbow Bridge.



Similar to its cuisine, the interior décor of Fish Bank is also largely contemporary. The main dining room is considerably big with a few tables extending to the upper floor.



We were slightly disappointed with the view. Despite getting a nice table by the window, the Rainbow Bridge was nowhere to be found.



Fish Bank serves a number of prix-fixe menus ranging from ¥2,500 to ¥5,800. The set menu prices differed depending on the number of courses and the main course chosen.

Starting off lunch was a fresh oyster for every one (5/10).



This was not Fish Bank's signature sea urchin flan but it's close. Fresh sea urchin in its shell (6/10).



But after the sea urchin, every thing started going downhill.

Prawn and squid salad with pesto sauce (3/10).

Tomato with cous cous - refreshing but nothing spectacular there (4/10).

Tartare of assorted fish. Nice presentation but again uninspiring (3.5/10).

Pumpkin Soup was silky smooth and delicate (5/10).



Grilled prawns with baby greens - the first disappointing dish of the day (2/10). At this point, we still haven't seen a great deal of cooking techniques in any one of these dishes.



The menu was in Japanese but I recalled this was a trout fish that was again not up to par (3/10).



Penne tossed in a rich tomato sauce (5/10).



Veal was a bit on the dry side (3/10).

Beef tenderloin was slightly better than the veal but still not as good as the seafood courses (4/10).

Apple Crumble with cinnamon and ice cream (4/10).



Fruit sorbet with blueberry sauce (3/10).

Their Mont Blanc was arguably the best of the three desserts (5/10). 

 

We were a little disappointed with the view but very disappointed with the food. There was not much technique nor creativity involved in most of these dishes. Although billed as a French restaurant, the French flair has been sorely missing.


Food Rating: 3.5/10

Price: ¥¥¥

Address: Shiodome City Center 41/F, Higashi-Shinbashi 1-5-2, Tokyo, Japan
Tel: +03 3569-7171
Closest Metro Station: Shinbashi 

Website: www.fish-bank-tokyo.jp



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Hotel Villa Fontaine Roppongi Annex (Tokyo, JAPAN)

Jelloman has just returned from Seoul on a business trip (with me joining her) and she's getting on a plane again for a research trip in Tokyo. I decided to tag along on this one as well as so did her parents.

As always, we got into Tokyo in late afternoon and by the time, we arrived in front of our hotel, it was already late. Hotel Villa Fontaine Roppongi is one of the two hotels that Jelloman's company has been using almost exclusively for their research trips. This would mark my first-ever stay in Roppongi and I was looking forward to it.



The hotel lobby was relatively small but I wasn't about to start complaining. After all, it's part of the employee benefit!



We were assigned to the Annex building. Good or bad I wonder?

The floor plan is a basic circular design. 

Jelloman spotted on the other end of the building!!! 😆😆

Like most hotels in Japan, space is always a premium and it was the case at Hotel Villa Fontaine Roppongi Annex as well. Really tight in space without much room to work with. Another thing that actually bothered me even more was the limited natural light that came into our room. It was always really really dark around here.

They put us on the eighth floor so noise wasn't a problem.



While Jelloman peeled off for her business meetings, I brought her parents to explore Tokyo starting with the touristy Odaiba first. It's been a while since they last visited Tokyo so they were getting a bit re-acquainted with the city's surroundings here.

Venus Fort, Palette Town and the ferris wheel were next on the itinerary.



It was never hard to kill half a day in Tokyo. Time to meet up with Jelloman again as she's about to finish her work day soon. 

Rating: ❤❤

Price: ￥￥￥

Address: 3-2-7 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Roppongi-Itchome (六本木一丁目)

Tel: +81 3-3560-5550

Website: www.hvf.jp/roppongi/