A note on the words: buri is yellowtail, at its best in winter; hirame is flounder; shirako is cod milt, a creamy winter delicacy in Japan; shirasu are tiny whitebait. Kadaif is the shredded pastry used across the eastern Mediterranean. Mi-cuit means barely cooked through, and chaud-froid describes a dish that is hot and cold at once. Fumet de poisson is a concentrated fish stock, Duglere is a classic sauce of fish stock, white wine, tomato and shallot, and Perigueux is a truffle sauce. Kuzumochi is a jelly-like cake made from arrowroot starch, and yuzu is a fragrant citrus. Prices are as of this writing (August 2026).
Monolith on AutoReserve (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
I want to eat something good today too. This is Hangover Meshi. This time, Monolith, the one-Michelin-star restaurant in Shibuya. It was the end of the year and I badly wanted really good French food, so I booked and went. The location is a little past the top of Miyamasuzaka, I think? It is slightly off the center of Shibuya, so the setting is quiet.
Inside there were two parties already. Including us, it seems they were serving three tables that day.
MENU Haut Couture, 27,500 yen
MENU L’Obelisuque, 22,000 yen
MENU Monolith, 16,500 yen
There are three dinner menus. The one named after the restaurant, menu monolith, is the cheapest at 16,000 yen, then 22,000 and then 27,500. I had done some reading before coming, and saw that for another 7,000 yen a head the main could be changed to their signature dish baked in pastry — and since we were here, of course one wants to change it. So the plan was to take the minimal menu monolith and swap the main.
Expectations are high before anything has even started.
To begin with, beer after all.
A white beer. Incidentally, drinks are not ordered by looking at a list; they are settled by conversation, so you generally cannot see the prices. (I am sure they would tell you if you asked.) That is the sort of place it is, so come prepared or you may get a surprise.
They let me photograph the amuse-bouche before it was divided up. Two portions side by side look lovely.
From the left: Angel shrimp wrapped in kadaif and fried. The very fine pastry shatters with a snap, and then comes the rich, sweet savor of the shrimp. The coating is light and yet its fragrance lasts a long time. Very good.
Next, a crepe of paprika, shirasu and rice, I think they said? The dry, crisp snap that only rice flour gives is very satisfying. Chew it and the concentrated sea savor and salt of the shirasu burst out, and the scent of the paprika tightens the finish. There is a paprika sauce laid underneath, so the aroma comes from above and below.
A macaron. It is blackened with bamboo charcoal, and it smells remarkably spicy, which is curious. Sweetness, and a solid savor underneath it. Impressive.
Furthest right is a mousse with cumin and carrot in it. Cumin and carrot go together extremely well, and it is good. Cumin at just a suggestion of a scent is very pleasant.
And this is only the amuse-bouche. Today may be extraordinary.
The signature dish, the Monolith Egg. This time it is made with Tamayura Kohaku eggs from Aichi, and the density of the yolk is on another level. They told me to scoop it up from the bottom, so I took a spoon to the base of the shell and up came a heavy, flowing scrambled egg. The moment it goes in, the sticky depth and sweetness of the Tamayura Kohaku yolk covers the tongue. Almost like a thick cream. But it is not simply rich. Straight after, a sharp vinegar note cuts through, and sweetness, and then the smoke and salt of bacon tangle into it. Sweet, sour, salt, and the savor of egg. Add hot and cold together in the mouth and it all becomes one thing and the sensation is simply: this is extremely good. So this is what chaud-froid means.
Remarkable that they can express all that inside a little egg-shaped vessel.
Eaten with the soft brioche it is good again.
Wild buri finished mi-cuit, with squid and dried tomato on top, and leek laid underneath.
The king of winter flavors, wild buri, is thick with fat; the moment it goes in, the fat melts away softly and you get a rich savor. And yet it is not heavy at all. The sauce, and also the leek alongside it, have had their sweetness properly drawn out, and that melting texture and mellow aroma are a perfect match. The squid has tremendous savor too, and a good springy bite.
This course has a lot of fish this time, which is very welcome.
Around here the beer ended and I moved on to champagne.
Shirako and spinach, with a blue cheese called Fourme d’Ambert over the top, made up as a gratin. Winter means cod shirako. Put a spoon in and hot cream flows out from inside. The rich, milky quality peculiar to shirako fills your mouth. The mellow, toasted quality of the blue cheese over it goes with the creaminess of the shirako frighteningly well. The sharp salt of the cheese and the flavor of the blue mold must be tightening up the mellow sweetness of the shirako while amplifying its depth. Remarkable.
They brought bread as well, and scooping up the remaining sauce with it is good again. I usually keep off carbohydrates, but when something is this good, never mind.
This one is remarkable. Really, the amount of seafood in this course is wonderful.
Hirame, cooked exactly right so that it is soft, with freshwater shrimp on top. A sauce made on a fumet de poisson. I take it this is a classic dish, and licking a little of the sauce, it is superb. Moving, even.
The thick hirame is cooked miraculously well. So soft that you need no knife, delicate enough to crumble in the mouth. The elegant savor pouring out of that lean flesh is backed up powerfully by the springy bite of the freshwater shrimp and its concentrated crustacean sweetness. And above all, this Dugléré sauce is tremendous. Built on fish stock and white wine, with the flavors of tomato and shallot dissolved into it. There is the rich depth of butter, and yet — the tomato, perhaps? — a cooked sweetness and acidity work through it, so that for all its weight the finish is astonishingly light. The hirame and the shrimp must be delighted to be paired with a sauce this good.
If you asked me which dish of the course I would most like to eat again, this might be it.
The main was meat next, so I asked for something heavy and red.
And there it is.
They brought it out before carving. Pastry baked firm right through on the outside.
They said they would cut the ends off and bring it back, and inwardly I was shouting: what happens to those offcuts? I would take them home if I could.
So this is the signature dish baked in pastry. It looks positively divine. The bearing of a king. It looks superb.
Rich foie gras, and in the middle a Périgueux sauce made with black truffle. And beef fillet. The pastry is baked that firmly, and yet look at this beef. Is that not extraordinary cooking? Chef Ishii’s control of heat is remarkable. And he cannot even see it while it bakes.
The moment the knife goes in there is a light crisp sound, and there is the fillet glowing rose, and the foie gras. The first surprise is the quality of the Ashikaga beef. The savor of the lean meat is intensely deep. Being fillet it is soft enough to cut with chopsticks, which is startling in itself, and yet it still has the firm resistance of proper meat to chew, and elegant juices pour out with every bite. Into that, foie gras melted by the heat clings like a sauce. The buttery, crisp pastry has soaked up all of it — the juices, the foie gras fat and the mellow Périgueux — and the mouth overflows with savor. I have truly never eaten anything like it. French food really is good.
The mushrooms and Brussels sprouts on the side are good too.
A sorbet made with mandarin and tarragon.
Having just been eating that rich pastry-baked dish, something clean like this is very welcome. Good.
French restaurants give you plenty of dessert as well.
The main dessert. Kuzumochi, was it? Along with grilled eggplant, chestnut and yuzu.
Tea and petits fours. These are good too, but I am full.
Well, thoroughly satisfied. Full, and all of it good. In the end I ordered water and wine and champagne and so on, so the final bill was rather startling, but being able to sit somewhere like this and eat genuinely good French food at leisure is not something you get to do often. Spending money on experiences like this must surely matter.
I shall watch for another chance to come.
Monolith (French / Shibuya Station, Omotesando Station, Meiji-jingumae Station)
Tabelog dinner rating ★★★★☆ 4.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
