A note on the words: sushi rice is plain rice seasoned with vinegar, and the pressed block of it under a slice of fish is the shari; here that block has been fried. Itoyoridai is the golden threadfin bream, a white-fleshed sea fish. Sauerkraut is finely shredded cabbage fermented in salt, porcini are the woodland mushrooms Italians dry for their scent, and fennel is the pale bulb vegetable with an anise note. Earl Grey is black tea scented with bergamot. Panna cotta is a set cream dessert, and a canele is a small French cake with a dark caramelized crust and a soft middle.
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Jean-Georges Tokyo on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Lunch this time is Jean-Georges Tokyo. I spent a while based around Roppongi, and I had no idea a place like this sat on a road I walked all the time, ha. Looking it up, it dates from 2014 — so it has been here ten years already! It is apparently the Tokyo restaurant of a two-star French place in New York, and since I have been deep into French cooking lately, that is exactly my sort of place. At lunch there are courses that come with a private room, so I phoned, they had space, and I booked one.
[Lunch / private room guaranteed] Weekdays, one group only. Tasting B, 7 plates. 13,000 yen
[Lunch / private room guaranteed] Weekends and holidays, one group only. Tasting B, 7 plates. 14,000 yen
[Lunch / private room guaranteed] One group only. Tasting J, 10 plates. 20,000 yen
[Lunch / private room guaranteed] One group only. Tasting G, 10 plates. 25,000 yen
There are several lunch courses that come with a private room, but it was a weekday and I went for the easiest one, the seven-plate Tasting B.
A thousand yen off on weekdays does make you feel you are getting a little something.
Now, up to the private room on the second floor.
The selling point of this restaurant is presumably the counter, where you eat at zero distance from the chef, so if I ever come in the evening I would like to try it there. A good room, white throughout, with a view outside.
Sesame! Vegetables in a sesame dressing. Somehow a very refined taste. And chopsticks come with it — you eat the whole thing with chopsticks, basically, which makes it easy. Vegetables in a sesame dressing does feel rather Japanese! Quite interesting.
And what came out next was sushi, ha ha. Not ordinary sushi, though. The rice part, they said, is crispy vinegared rice — sushi rice, deep-fried. And the fish on top sounded like “bora-bora” when they said it, but what fish is that? A quick search turned up nothing. Well, at any rate, eating it, the texture is a very curious one. And it is faintly, properly vinegared rice, which is the fun of it.
And then, Tuna. Tuna, ha.
It is tuna, right enough, but I looked at it and thought, what is this?! Apparently it is a tuna noodle. With a ginger marinade sauce over it. Cutting it long and thin so that it works like noodles is a clever idea. It is good solid bluefin, so being able to eat it genuinely like noodles is what makes it fun. The ginger marinade sauce has a nice acidity to it.
The fish course. This time it is itoyoridai, they said, and what is set on the right is sauerkraut. What is spooned over the left is a cabbage and porcini sauce. The scent of the porcini drifts up and goes so well with the white-fleshed fish. French fish courses really are good. The crisp bits on the skin make the texture interesting too.
And the last main is beef!!! Tenderloin. The vegetable beside it is fennel, and the black garlic sauce is in front. The main sauce is an Earl Grey sauce, they said. The meat is tender and very good. The black garlic sauce goes beautifully with a substantial cut like this. Right, that was good.
Honey panna cotta. Break the crisp chocolate around it and there is panna cotta underneath. Good.
There is a whole range of drinks to choose from, and I picked the Winter White Earl Grey because the name sounded cool.
The bite-size canele was good.
So: a seven-plate course. Each plate is a refined sort of size, so with the bread and the dessert it came out just about right. Modern French that you eat with chopsticks, creative cooking that folds something Japanese in as well — all of it is very interesting. If what you want is surprise rather than French cooking that is French all the way down, this may be the better shape for it. And one day I would like to eat in front of the chef with a glass of wine. It was good.
Jean-Georges Tokyo (French / Roppongi Station, Azabu-juban Station, Nogizaka Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.6
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
