Crony (Tokyo, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

Mom and I always have a meal together on the final days of a trip to catch up with each other. That tradition got bumped up to Day Three of this trip to Tokyo thanks to the incredible demand at our dinner venue. Two-Michelin-starred Crony was an itch I’ve wanted to scratch for a long time but securing a reservation there was no easy feat. Fortunately before the trip, I managed to snag a table for tonight when Jelloman and little one went off for their own adventure at the beloved Pokemon Café.  

Crony was opened in 2016 by Chef Michihiro Haruta (春田 理宏) and sommelier Kazutaka Ozawa. The pair has worked together for nearly 15 years building a strong partnership along the way. Chef Haruta honed his craft at world-renowned restaurants including Ledoyen (Paris), Kadeau (Copenhagen) and Saison (San Francisco). He is best known for blending French, Scandinavian and North American cooking techniques into his contemporary cuisine.

Tucked away on a quiet street corner near Tokyo Tower, the cozy Scandinavian-style restaurant spread across two thoughtfully designed floors.

Its minimalist aesthetic, natural wood accents, and soft lighting created an inviting atmosphere that felt both refined and intimate.

First up, a welcome dish of roasted tea was served before the meal. This was particularly comforting after we just completed a slow walk from Tokyo Tower under the freezing cold weather. As our server explained, it was the first brew of tea leaves from a collection of limited edition roasted tea designed by the Maruhachi Tea Factory, called "Noma".

Snow crab, shimotsuke naganegi – The meal began with a few lovely little nibbles. The first was a delicious spring roll filled with snow crab meat and shimotsuke naganegi purée. The dish featured the shimotsuke naganegi, a variety of Japanese leek celebrated for its unique sweetness and tenderness, which was the perfect match with the delicate flavor of the snow crab. Probably my favorite dish of the evening.

Potato soufflé – The hollow potato soufflé was showered with truffle shavings on top. Very crispy like having a potato chip.

Yellowtail chisyato – The winter yellowtail was served on a crispy tartlet along with salty radish and shiso flowers. Very nice mouthfeel. 

Omu milk products cream cheese – A deep-fried doughnut filled with cream cheese, and topped elegantly with caviar and gold leaf. 

These things (fried dough with cream cheese) are always very addictive.

Sweet shrimp, gensuke daikon – The sweet shrimp was paired with a slightly tangy daikon consommé. The light acidity provided a nice contrast to the natural sweetness of the shrimp.

Yamanishi farm's lily bulb truffles – The lily bulb has been deep-fried in a light and fluffy batter.

The light and flaky batter added a pleasing texture to the diced lily bulb while the variations of Japanese onions and black truffle provided a delightful finishing touch.

Scallop, kelp – Sea scallops were served in what looked like a chawanmushi, or Japanese steamed egg custard with different textures of kombu, including charred kombu oil and a creamy kombu sauce on top. Not bad.

We had a variety of dishes served within a short period of time so it was time for a short break. Our server took this opportunity to introduce us to the restaurant’s signature sake sourdough; all this happening while they started getting our fish course ready.

The sourdough was exceptional. It was crispy on the outside, soft and slightly chewy inside.

Isaki fish (grunt fish) – This was brilliantly cooked, a little raw in the middle while the skin was perfectly crispy. The presentation was minimalist with Japanese mustard spinach and a pool of tomato water sauce on the side.

Shimanto beer wagyu, small turnip – The succulent Shimanto beer wagyu from Kochi Prefecture (高知県) was served medium was garnished with a simple turnip. I really enjoyed the light Japanese pepper sauce which allowed the flavors of the wagyu to shine.

The wagyu came with a small bowl of beef soup with drops of garlic oil.

Raclette – This looked like a small pre-dessert, a playful "cheese plate" featuring a small cheese ball made with cheese from Hokkaido.

Amao amaretto – The first of our two desserts. This came with confit strawberry "noodles" from Fukuoka, finished off with a scoop of milk ice-cream and amaretto sauce.

Maruhachi tea processing roasted tea "noma", hon-mirin – An ice-cream made from the same tea leaves from the welcome drink using a second and third brew. When life comes full circle! 

Four beautiful migrandises to end the meal with, starting with this honey macaron.

Slo salt factory's salted caramel candy.

The smoked madeleine came with some nice smoky flavors.

Airy gâteau au chocolate.

I thought the kitchen did an incredible job of pacing tonight. With so many dishes on the degustation menu, it could be tricky at times but they delivered in spades. Several dishes really stood out tonight including the snow crab spring roll and yellowtail tart; and no dishes I disliked which is always a plus. Overall, it was a very enjoyable meal and I'm sure mom had nothing but praises as well. After a long long day, I decided to quickly settle the bill and arranged for a driver to send us back to the hotel.  

P.S. In case you're wondering, "Crony" means lifelong friends or friendship and in their context, it refers to the circle of producers, staff and of course the guests.

Food Rating: 7.9/10

Price: ￥￥￥￥

Address: 1-20-3 Higashiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0044, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Akabanebashi

Tel: +81 3-6712-5085

Website: http://www.fft-crony.jp/

Opening Hours: 6:00pm - 11:00pm (Mon - Sat)

S. Pellegrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants: 30th (2025)

Alla Prima (Seoul, SOUTH KOREA) ★★★★☆

Alla Prima was a late addition to my itinerary after realizing that I had no real chance of getting a table at Soigné this weekend. The 2-Michelin-starred Italian restaurant by owner-chef Kim Jin-hyuk has always been on my radar but after hearing some bad experience there from my buddy V, it was put on the back burners for the last little while. 

Chef Kim was trained in Japan before opening Alla Prima in 2015. All it took was a year and a half for the chef to garner his first Michelin star in 2017 and the second star came in 2019, four years after the restaurant was first opened. 

I was told that sitting at the restaurant’s L-shaped counter is a must for any first-timers at Alla Prima.

The uphill walk from the subway station was a little more challenging than I first anticipated so something to cool myself down a bit before treating myself to the exquisite Italian fare.

Spanish mackerel, dragon fruit, hazelnut, myoga – Underneath the two slices of Spanish mackerel from Japan was a refreshing salad made with dragon fruit, hazelnut, purple onion and spinach. The salad dressing came with some nice fruity notes (dragon fruit?) and there was some extra heat provided by myoga, a Korean root vegetable reminiscent of ginger in flavor.

Emmental cheese, vegetables, herbs – Next up, another salad.

This was made with over 40 different vegan ingredients ranging from roots and leaves to the flowers. The dish was finished off with a nice pour of Emmental cheese emulsion.

Just before I got started with my salad, I was handed a long list of ingredients used in the dish.

Glutinous rice, barley, egg, caviar – Following the two salads was one of Chef Kim's staples in his tasting menu featuring a quenelle of glutinous rice blended with barley and meat from chicken wings. It was accompanied by a quenelle of caviar sitting on a sauce made with slow-cooked egg yolk to infuse some robust flavors to the rice. Interesting dish.

Pike eel, burdock, chopi – A hearty Korean dish with local pike eel and crispy burdock noodles. The key was the broth made with the fish head, bones and dried vegetables. Very rich and deep flavors. 

Looked like Chef Kim was taking charge on the next dish. 

Rump steak, eggplant – Admittedly not my favorite cut but I thought the rump steak was beautifully executed, having initially slow-cooked, then charcoal grilled and finally finished up in the oven. The flesh was lean and wobbly but incredibly flavorful. There were two sauces on the side, the first a typical red wine reduction with dill and Korean rice wine. The second of the two sauces was an acidic one made with olives and capers. It was a pretty easy choice for me (the red wine sauce of course!). 

Pine mushroom, bottarga, sudachi, spaghetti – The pasta dish today was spaghetti tossed with pine mushrooms, which I had yesterday at Eatanic Garden as well.

The al dente pasta was finished with a nice sprinkle of bottarga and there was a bit of sudachi there for some nice zesty flavors. 

Mascarpone, espresso, marsala – A deconstructed tiramisu as my pre-dessert which was very light in textures and flavors.  

Indian long pepper, banana, pineapple – The 'real' dessert was pineapple mousse and cubes, banana ice-cream and Indian long pepper all under a few sheets of crispy tuile. It felt like having a deconstructed ice-cream cone all together.  

After dessert, there were tea and a couple of mignardises to close out the meal.

Service was impeccable from start to finish, thanks largely to the solo effort by my server Tyler who spoke really fluent English. It was an experience incomparable to last night's at Mingles, where several servers merely dropped off our dishes while rushing through the introductions. Despite not being able to visit Soigné, one of my favorite restaurants in Seoul, this was more than just a replacement. While there wasn't much in the "wow" department this afternoon, each dish was expertly prepared and cooked to perfection. Ultimately, that's what truly matters. An experience with impeccably executed food and service.

Food Rating: 7.4/10

Price: ₩₩₩

Address: 13 Hakdong-ro 17-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Closest Metro Station: Hakong

Tel: +82 02 511-2555

Website: www.allaprima.co.kr

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm (Wed - Mon)

S. Pellegrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants: 61st (2024)

Mingles (Seoul, SOUTH KOREA) ★★★☆☆

I didn't have much time to plan for this trip but one thing was certain, I was going to try my best to include either Mingles or Soigné (or perhaps both) in my action-packed schedule. Unsurprisingly, fitting both into my compact itinerary proved impossible at last but I did manage to squeeze Mingles into our first day.   

It was a Friday night but the restaurant wasn't entirely full. I would say, about 70% full.

As usual, there was only one tasting menu (₩340,000) available with just the choice of main dish and dessert. It didn't take very long for me to make a decision on both.

Dinner started off with a small soup and some canapés. Taking center stage was a small bowl of chilled sweet corn soup topped with sea urchin. Starting the meal with a refreshing dish like this was a nice way to kick off the evening, especially on a hot and dry summer night.

The canapés featured a pair of chilled strawberries, one stuffed with caviar and the other with finger lime, elegantly presented on a bed of thin ice.

I have had a few Korean rice cakes in my life but not one made with potato. Always a first time I guess!

These were immediately followed by a trio of Korean nibbles (themed "Korean seasonal seafood"), including a small piece of big fin squid served over rice (like a sushi) which was nicely topped by some radish, cucumber and red pepper sauce, gizzard shad with fermented kimchi hidden underneath and last but not least, a small tartlet with brown croaker, soy bean paste and seaweed.  

Just when I thought we were done with our amuse bouche; here come two more nibbles. Fried red mullet and gamtae roll.

I had this one last time as well. Hanwoo beef tartare with smoked eel and pickled purple onion hidden inside the tube made with seaweed.

Korean zucchini namul and rice cake tart – I have seen a different version of this made with radish instead of zucchini on the social media.

Underneath the thin layers of Korean zucchini, we have some shrimp tartare covered beautifully by some frozen juice made with shrimp head and coral, along with chopped spinach all resting on a base of crispy rice cake. The sweetness and freshness of the shrimp were nicely complemented by some perilla notes. In my opinion, the best dish of the night.

Mingling pot – I have enjoyed a few Mingling pots in the past with slightly different ingredients. Before the soup was served up, our server brought along this plate to show us what they used to make this cold brewed anchovy broth.

As always, the broth came with an abundance of locally caught seafood including abalone and sea cucumber. There were also different mandu (Korean dumplings) like fish mandu, Hanwoo cabbage mandu and morel mandu in the mix.

I love the noodles made with acorn, perhaps a little more than the broth itself. Tonight, I found the broth to be a bit too strongly infused with herbal flavors. As a Chinese, we would normally save this for winter time when the weather's cold and wet.

Tile fish, golden puffed rice crust – Tonight's fish course was tile fish from Jeju beautifully crusted with golden puffed rice and served with dried fish porridge and summer pepper. The tuile on top of the fish was actually pressed caviar, adding some distinctive saltiness to the dish.

Sticky rice risotto, crab, tomato, sesame oil, caviar – A closer look at all the ingredients for our next dish, our seafood risotto.

This was very nicely presented with the disk of sticky rice risotto on the bottom, topped elegantly by snow crab meat, caviar, tomato and egg. It was pretty tasty, although Jelloman thought it was a little heavy handed with sesame oil. 

Chicken roulade, black vinegar sauce – I originally thought this was a play on the traditional Korean ginseng chicken but it wasn't.

The chicken roulade wrapped with paper-thin chicken skin was delicately paired with mushroom purée and drizzled with a black vinegar sauce. Less successful was the side dish of ginseng chicken wanja (traditional Korean meatball) with sesame and jangajji (Korean onion pickle).

Hanwoo Korean beef, Korean pork soondae – The main dish was Hanwoo beef done two ways, served with yam pancake. 

I was a little surprised with the portion here. One really thin slice of charcoal grilled tenderloin and two equally thin slices of sirloin. Both of them tasted alright (tenderloin slightly better than the sirloin) but nothing that blew me away. However, at a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, I expected to be blown away.

A side dish of nectarine and white kimchi that came with the beef.

And a homemade Korean pork soondae (blood sausage). That was the end of the savory stuff.

Bibimbab, rice ice-cream and pudding – Chef Kang's signature pre-dessert inspired by the Korean bibimbap with the ice cream made from glutinous rice pudding, garnished adorably with fresh herbs, sesame oil and soy sauce.

Apple & ginger – The main dessert was a choice between Mingle's signature Jang Trio and the seasonal creation, Apple & Ginger. A part of me wanted to have the savory-sweet Jang Trio again but my adventurous side got the best of me this time. This was simply a combination of apple sorbet, sliced apple, ginger gelée and jujube mousse. I thought the heat from the different textures of ginger was a little too overpowering for the apple and jujube to handle. 

The kitchen did a great job with pacing so we actually got some extra time to enjoy a cup of tea with some Korean snacks.

Our three snacks included Yam joo-ak, a deep-fried doughnut shaped dough made with yam and sticky rice powder which has been dipped into vanilla syrup, Kamrae puffed rice (I called this the Korean sweet crispies "馬仔"), and gochujang choux.

Some of you may have noticed that my experience rating for Mingles dropped from 5 stars to 3 stars on this recent visit. Did something catastrophic happen tonight? Not really. It was more a mix of things that happened (or did not happen) at the same time. 

First and foremost, I thought the service team was awful tonight with the exception of one guy. They were not attentive enough and their English accent was quite challenging to understand. In fact, more than half of the things they said about the dishes were lost (I did not have this problem with my next two meals at Eatanic Garden and Alla Prima). Worse yet, they seemed content to mumble these descriptions and move on swiftly.

And finally, the tasting menu. It has been a year and a half since we paid our last visit but there were still a number of similar dishes around with some minor tweaks. I love the fact that they kept their most popular dishes around (like the rice ice-cream and Jang Trio) but the rest of the menu could benefit from a fresh update. I thought the Hanwoo beef dish tonight was particularly underwhelming and it was not just the small portion that left me disappointed. All in all, it was just an OK experience, not one shining with two Michelin stars.

Food Rating: 7.1/10

Price: ₩₩₩₩

Address: 2/F, 19 Dosan-daero 67-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea

Closest Metro Station: Apgujeong Rodeo

Tel: +82 02 515-7306

Website: www.restaurant-mingles.com

Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 3:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm (Tue - Sun)

S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants: 44th (2024)

S. Pellegrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants: 13th (2024)