Restaurant L'Argent ラルジャン (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

After spending a few days doing touristy stuff and meeting friends over dinner, mom and I finally had the opportunity for another fine-dining experience tonight with Jelloman and little nugget off to Pokémon Café for dinner. I was trying to stay close to our accommodation in Akasaka and although choices were far and few between, I managed to find ourselves two seats at Michelin starred Restaurant L'Argent (ラルジャン) just three minutes walk from Toranomon station (a couple of stations from Akasaka).

When L'Argent first opened its doors back in 2020, its original location was on the 7th floor of Ginza Place taking over from Bistro Marx which we had the pleasure of visiting in 2015. However, very quickly they found themselves on the move even before they really settled down. In 2021, they relocated to this new location in Tokyo Club Building.

Let's talk about the talented man behind the kitchen here. Head chef Junichi Kato (加藤順一) cut his teeth at some of the best restaurants in Europe including 3 Michelin-starred Astrance (Paris) and 2 Michelin-starred Restaurant AOC (Copenhagen) before coming back to Tokyo to become the head chef of Sublime in 2015. He was the head chef of L'Argent's opening team in 2020.

It was always nice to be seated at the counter table watching the chefs work on different dishes at the same time.

But for our amuse bouche, we didn't have to look very far for the preparation work. It was performed right in front of our very eyes.

Mussels, eggplant – This looked rather similar to a delicious Malaysian pie tee (小金杯). The thin and crispy pastry shell was filled nicely with chopped mussels and eggplant emulsion, finished off elegantly with caviar and perilla flowers on top. There was a burst of acidity from the emulsion that helped to balance the briny flavors of the mussels.

Horse mackerel, pear – More lovely acidity to come.....

Slices of horse mackerel sashimi and pickled Japanese pear jelly were hidden underneath the foamy pear emulsion which has been decorated with patches of chrysanthemum petals and mint leaves. I was expecting a lot of sweetness from the pear emulsion but to the contrary, it was a powerful display of lovely acidity which combined well with the pear jelly to bring out the best from the horse mackerel. A very refreshing start.

Our second starter was one of Chef Kato's signature dishes, his foie gras terrine which has been coated with a layer of green tea made from green tea leaves grown by his mother living in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Foie gras, green tea – The ring of foie gras terrine with its green tea coating was served with dabs of sweet wine jelly, roasted pistachio and green tea coulis. A very well-balanced dish with gamey, earthy flavors, sweetness, acidity and bitterness all at the same time.

Some homemade brioche to go with the terrine. Very nice.

At this point, a pair of small barley bread was served up with some cultured brown butter. Unfortunately, it was a bit hard and crusty. The brown butter was reasonably good though (not as good as the one from Roganic).

Fermented mushrooms – Another signature dish of the restaurant. The silky smooth Parisian soup was made with fermented white button mushrooms, and served with thin slices of the same mushrooms and a layer of mushroom purée on the bottom. Just when the chef was finishing up his introduction, he began to shave winter truffles from Italy onto the soup. That was so amazing to see. 😍😍😍 I thought the soup was really rich and flavorful, which was perfect on a cold winter night in Tokyo like tonight.

Celeriac, hay – The skewer of roasted celeriac was smoked with hay and paired with a plate of sour cream and dashi as dipping sauce.

A palate cleanser to re-calibrate our palate right before the fish course.

Longtooth grouper, saffron – I believe this was another one of the chef's signature creations. The longtooth grouper fillet, was wrapped together with scallop and langoustine mousse using a thin sheet of what I thought was lard. The whole thing was then charcoal grilled, and served with poached broccoli, broccoli purée and pickled pearl onions. A very light sauce made of fish and scallop broth provided the dish with a lovely finish full of wonderful shellfish flavors.

Wagyu beef, potato "croissant" – Our final savory dish was wagyu beef from Yamagata Prefecture (山形県) which has been touted as the top five wagyu in all of Japan thanks to its deep flavors and soft, melt-in-the-mouth texture.

Despite finishing on the grill, the piece of wagyu was still very soft and wobbly. I like the truffle sauce cooked with red wine and walnuts giving the beef some rich and nutty flavors. The potato croissant with bacon and mushroom tart rounded out another solid offering from the team.

Rose, bamboo charcoal – The lone dessert tonight was bamboo charcoal ice-cream, with vanilla snow and warm rose petals. A clever play of temperature.

Inside the coating was a centre of rose mousse combining well with the rose petals to deliver a nice floral notes to the dessert.

An adorable petite fours to wrap up a very strong showing from the talented (and young) kitchen.

I was honored to have the chance for a photo together with Chef Kato. A very humble and talented young man.

One can tell from the presentation and style of cooking that contemporary French cuisine is in Chef Kato's DNA. Mom and I had a great time tonight (although mom could barely speak tonight due to a very sore throat) and hopefully, we get to come back for a return visit very soon.

Food Rating: 7.7/10

Price: ￥￥￥￥

Address: 2/F Tokyo Club Building, 3-2-6 Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0013, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Toranomon

Tel: +81 3-6268-8427

Website: www.largent.tokyo

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:30pm, 6:00pm - 10:30pm (Mon - Sat)