A note on the words: free flow is the phrase Tokyo restaurants use for an all-you-can-drink option attached to a set course. A pissaladière is the flat onion tart of Provence, and shirasu are the tiny translucent whitebait, boiled and eaten whole, that get scattered over it here. Salade périgourdine is the salad of the Périgord in southwest France. Merguez is a spiced North African sausage that turns up all over France; sauce rouille is a garlicky, saffron-tinted mayonnaise usually served alongside fish soup, and bordelaise names a red-wine-and-shallot treatment from Bordeaux. Confit means cooked slowly in its own fat. Amuse-bouche is the single small bite that opens a French meal. Surume is the Japanese common squid, and fritto here means the pieces are battered and deep-fried.
French Kitchen on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hey, this is Hangover Meshi. So, dinner this evening with someone I hadn’t seen in a while! I booked French Kitchen at the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi, close by. The food here is pretty substantial, and if you pick the right plan you can eat quite cheaply with free flow included. I’d originally asked for one of the outdoor plans, but the wind picked up a bit and it turned slightly chilly, so I asked for a table inside — and they said yes without a fuss. Much appreciated!
Go into the Grand Hyatt, head to the staircase at the very back and go up, and you reach the restaurant.
[Bistronomy] (with free flow) A generous four-course dinner with lobster bisque, beef sirloin and more: 8,609 yen
[Beer garden] French BBQ on the terrace, on the theme of “a journey through France by food,” plus free flow: 11,330 yen
The menu changes quite a bit with the season, but with free flow (all-you-can-drink) included, four courses at 8,609 yen and something like the French BBQ at 11,330 yen is unexpectedly reasonable. And a journey through France by food — how stylish is that! So this time I asked for the 11,330 yen French BBQ course.
Champagne first, to toast! The free flow this time takes in champagne and both white and red wine.
The amuse-bouche first!
Clockwise from the bottom left: shrimp ajillo. French salami, prosciutto, and Iberico pork chorizo. Olives in two colors and marinated artichoke. Marinated feta cheese. The wooden board gives it a stylish feel! Having it come out as a plate is nice too — you pick at various things and the conversation flows.
Now that feels like a BBQ! A French BBQ, of course!
On the skewers: pork shoulder confit, spice-marinated beef rump, bacon, and lemon-scented chicken thigh
Next to that, grilled mackerel and ratatouille, and sitting on top a merguez sausage with mushrooms bordelaise, plus grilled corn. The sauce is sauce rouille, I think? It smelled of saffron and garlic, so that’s my guess!
There’s a proper fried course in there as well — it’s hearty.
So: free flow included, a meal in the luxurious surroundings of a hotel, careful and delicious dishes, a more generous spread than I expected, and on top of all that it’s 12,000 yen — isn’t that seriously good!? When you’re stuck, it really is French Kitchen. There’s something clean about the fact that there’s no dessert or anything like that, too. When you’re just being noisy with friends, more often than not you don’t need it! It fits the need exactly. I’ll be using it again.
French Kitchen (Bistro / Roppongi Station, Azabu-juban Station, Nogizaka Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★☆☆ 3.7
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
