A note on the words: a porterhouse is the great T-bone cut carrying both sirloin and fillet; Oscietra is Russian-sturgeon caviar ranked just below beluga; blini are the little pancakes it is served on. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
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Empire Steak House Roppongi on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Drinkers, thank you for waiting. It is Hangover Meshi time.
Now then, this time…
…we go all-out at Empire Steak House in Roppongi!
It has been too long! American dry-aged steak is a wonderful thing…
A Manhattan-born steakhouse that landed in Japan in 2017! The Sinanaj brothers who run it trained for over 25 years at the legendary Peter Luger, and the house took Zagat’s No. 1 steakhouse in America six years running. (Peter Luger, incidentally, also has a Tokyo branch — in Ebisu!)
What a treat this will be. We were a larger party this time, so: a private room! My first time in one here, I think.
To start… beer! — is what I would normally say, but tonight, a highball.
The most luxurious whisky-and-soda there is. So… good. Not a drink I can have often, so let us savour it.
Steakhouse bread is always absurdly good.
But beware of filling up! The road ahead is long.
This serves three, apparently! Jumbo shrimp, lobster, and two kinds of oyster.
One of the most popular starters at Empire — a gloriously extravagant platter!
The contents: jumbo shrimp, lobster, two kinds of oyster. An all-star cast of the sea.
Squeeze the lemon and bite into a shrimp, and the sea’s savour floods out. The springy lobster flesh; the oysters sliding down clean, milky, without a trace of funk. Every item is a headliner in its own right! You could stop here and go home happy.
And this time — caviar too! 24,200 yen for 50 grams…!
In the chilled caviar server at the centre, Oscietra, served with a white mother-of-pearl spoon (shell, they say, to keep metal away from the eggs!). Around it, the traditional garnishes: blini (little pancake-like things!), chopped egg white and yolk, minced red onion, chives, sour cream. You load caviar onto the tiny pancake-like blini, scatter on the garnishes, and eat.
Mmm — delicious! A nutty aroma and a mellow, rounded saltiness.
Oscietra is the roe of the Russian sturgeon, ranked just below beluga and prized worldwide — here as an unheated, additive-free fresh salt cure.
Which is to say: a perfect drinking snack! The glass empties itself.
Empire’s signature salad, topped for us with the sizzling Canadian bacon. Steakhouse bacon strikes again — that toasty richness and savour are ridiculous.
A classic Caesar: fresh romaine under a generous shaving of Parmesan, black pepper ground at the table after serving. Yes. Delicious!
On hearing the soup of the day was clam chowder — sold! (Shellfish are my favourite!)
Filled to the brim with clam savour and creamy white richness.
Some of the table ordered this one instead. It looked splendid!
Honestly, having eaten all this, I could happily call it a night…
But the main event starts now!!!!
First the fillet — so tender the weight of the knife alone glides through. The moment it meets the tongue, a delicate, refined lean-meat savour spreads slowly with the moistness of the flesh. Barely any fat, and yet the concentrated depth of aged beef comes through completely. Delicious!!
Then the sirloin. The surface carries a proper hard-seared crust; the knife goes in and the juices well up from the cut face. One mouthful and the sweetness of the fat and the meat’s savour fill the mouth with that juicy chew. A complete change from the fillet’s refinement — this one shouts “you are eating meat”!
And then — the rib eye steak!!
The instant the knife goes in, juices seep from the cut. One bite and the rich sweetness of the fat and the savour of the lean burst outward, more juice with every chew!! Less delicate than the fillet, but the spring and heft that only rib delivers — magnificent!
I am too full! (Ate too much.)
And what aids digestion best? Alcohol, obviously! A grappa to move things along!
After all that — you are still having dessert?
I asked myself the same thing. Yes. We eat it. We must. A crackling caramel shell over sweet, vanilla-scented silken custard. The strawberries are on form too.
And at last, a coffee to bring us in to land.
Ahh, that was delicious!
So — we ate on a scale I can scarcely find precedent for, and the satisfaction matched it! Everything was the kind of thing you simply do not eat on an ordinary day. Devour that many starters before the steak even arrives and of course you end up this happy! Bliss!!
Mind you — after this much food and drink, tomorrow morning will most certainly call for a genuine hangover meal. Now, what shall my rescue meal be…
May you meet something good to eat today too.
Empire Steak House Roppongi (steak / Roppongi Station, Roppongi-itchome Station, Azabu-juban Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★★☆ 4.0
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
