There’s only room for ten diners along the counter at this intimate French restaurant, hidden away on a backstreet towards Namiyoke Shrine. When slipping into your seat, the first thing you’ll notice is the row of bottles with spices and herbs lined up in front of you, providing a hint of things to come. Seafood of the quality you’d expect from a fancy sushi joint is prepared with extreme attention to detail, and turned into unconventional but utterly delicious French-style dishes using the aforementioned array of seasonings.
Our personal favourite dish is the abalone steak (¥4,800), steamed for an impressive eight hours before grilling. This time-consuming process results in a wonderfully soft meat, which is then served with a sauce combining abalone liver with fermented sansho pepper to really bring out the umami. All mains come with simply grilled, naturally sweet seasonal vegetables, which are some of the best in Tokyo. For the full experience, have your meal with a ‘spicy highball’, made with Japanese whisky plus a sprinkling from those ever shaking spice bottles. If you ask, the staff will even switch things up with a pepper or herb of your choice.