Gracia

⭐⭐⭐⭐

🇪🇸 Spanish / 📍 Hiroo

📓 Visits: 5 (2020-2022)

There are two course menus offered at lunch and dinner priced at 3,500 and 9,000, and 6,000 and 9,000 JPY accordingly.  You can also order a-la-carte.  On all my visits I've had the 6K lunch menu which comprised 6 (was 7) courses and unfortunately is no longer available.  Prices don't include tax but no service charge is added.  English menus are available.

Chef-patron Jerome Quilbeuf previously worked at Restaurant Sant Pau, both the original restaurant in Barcelona run by culinary legend Carme Ruscalleda, which held 3 Michelin Stars for 12 years until it closed in 2018, and the offshoot in Tokyo.  The Tokyo restaurant relocated from Nihombashi to the Kitano Hotel Tokyo in April 2020.  Having been upgraded to 2 Michelin Stars in the 2014 Tokyo Guide, Sant Pau was downgraded to 1 star in the 2021 Guide.  Jerome left Sant Pau in 2020 with Ruscalleda's support.  Ruscalleda is famous not only for her cooking but her drawing and Jerome has three drawings from her in pride of place on his wall.  Sant Pau Tokyo closed on 2nd September 2023.

Some of the best and best value meals I've had at any restaurant in Tokyo have been at Gracia.  Having been to both Aca (review here) and Zurrriola (review to come) twice and Eneko once, Gracia remains my favourite Spanish restaurant in Tokyo.   For that reason it's all the more disappointing that my most recent meal was not up to the same level as previous ones.  What made Gracia so great was that Jerome and his sous-chef Johnny Lopez both previously worked at Sant Pau.  I only ever saw Jerome on my first visit but if I'd had my eyes closed on visits two and three I might not have known Jerome wasn't there because Johnny Lopez's cooking is just as good.  In the last couple of years they've taken on a new recruit at Gracia and unfortunately, for now, he's just not up to the same standard.  The ceviche has not had the same layers of flavour on my two most recent visits as previously.  In particular, what was a brunoise of apple that would titillate your taste buds is a now a less refined dice and there's too much sour cream.  The Iberico bikini was over-salted most recently.  Finally, it seems like Menu Gracia is six courses now instead of seven (I had eight on visits three and four) and there was only one new dish last time.  That said, Gracia is still the best value Spanish and the most authentic in Tokyo.  I scored no dish lower than 8/10 in my most recent meal and I've kept my overall score as-is for now.

Notes from visit five...

Cuttlefish, mushroom, fava bean puree - 9/10.  Main dish was the same pork with romesco sauce from visits #1 and #2 - 8.75/10.

Notes from visit four...

There were three substantially different dishes from my previous visits: Wagyu and chicken cannelloni:

A dish you could cook at home if you could be bothered but might not get as right nor presented as well - 8/10.  The main this time was Miyazaki sirloin:

It really needed the pepper for seasoning and the meat didn't have the depth of flavour you get from somewhere that specializes in beef but it was perfectly cooked and incredible value as part of a 6K course - 8/10.  Two desserts this time!  An orange that had been baked for an hour until black and filled with orange ice-cream and almond espuma:

Definitely a first for me, fun and delicious (7.5/10) and I thought that was it but they included the cheesecake as well.

Notes from visit three...

Prawn croquette to start: greaseless, packed with flavour and served at the perfect temperature.  Gone in two bites.  I could have eaten five more.  10/10.  Gazpacho with summer veg:

9/10.  'Vibrant' doesn't do this dish justice.  I couldn't fault it and the only reason I won't score it higher is because this is such a Spanish classic and I haven't eaten enough in my time to feel qualified to score it any higher.  This was accompanied with tomato toast which was perfectly seasoned and had great flavour.  Scallop ceviche:

Creamy scallop, a kick from the chili, cooling from the hidden sour cream underneath, sweetness from the seasonal corn, texture from the invisible, tiniest dice of apple.  It was the detail with the apple that you would only get from chefs who've had the best training.  This was a 1-Michelin Star dish.  10/10.  Warm salad of squid with lettuce, maitake and almond dressing: lovely and salty and couldn't fault it.  9.5/10.  Red shrimp rice:

al dente paella rice, a single sweet red prawn, prawn stock.  This was delicious but there was enough for two and I knew there was still more food to come so I stopped myself after two bowls and asked to take the rest home.  By dinner time that rice had soaked up all the stock and tripled in size, just like a risotto.  9/10.  Iberico pluma sandwich.  While no more than 3 bites this was a very fatty and sweet interlude and the only misstep in the meal.  If this had been served as the opening canape I would have enjoyed it more but the meal didn't need it at this point.  7/10.  The main course was a huge beef cheek in a rich red wine sauce served with potato puree and al dente vegetables.

This was decadent and delicious and better than the beef cheek I ate at Maison Marunouchi a week ago.  So much food.  I refused the offer of bread to accompany this dish.  9.5/10.  Dessert was Jerome's baked cheesecake.  Baked fat and sugar is always good.  9/10.  Menu Gracia is supposed to be seven courses but that was eight and with rice to take home this was an insane amount of food for JPY 6,600.  Apart from the unnecessary pluma sandwich (it might have been a freebie as a returning customer) there was nothing I could fault in this meal and it was the best meal I'd eaten so far this year in Tokyo and by far the best value.

I've pictured the (very generous) main dish of pork loin served with romesco sauce and a selection of vegetables I had in first two meals.  You could easily pay 3,000 yen for a dish like that a-la-carte elsewhere and it probably wouldn't be as good.

The only dish I could really fault across my first three visits was the oyster dish, on visit #2, which was unbalanced and really needed two oysters, though I accept that might not be doable within the budget.

The chefs here work very hard.  There are now three of them.  They could be serving 5-6 parties having different course menus starting at different times or dining a-la-carte so they are constantly busy and don't have the luxury of being able to stand around and chat all evening.  If that was what you're looking for this restaurant is not for you.  When the restaurant is busy dishes will be timed so they can be served to multiple groups at once.  Food is served on beautiful (albeit Italian :) Bitossi plates, which is a change from the usual monochrome landscape in Western restaurants.  Cutlery is Cutipol and (not consistently?) replaced between courses.  Main courses are served on hot plates.

There is a 7-seat counter and table seating for up to ten.  It's hard to see what the chefs are doing while dining at the counter because it's crammed full of bottles and stacks of crockery, but that's part of the charm.  I haven't seen the waiter who was there on visits 1-3 since.  The current crop of staff don't really speak English and if they remembered me at all they didn't say so.

On previous meals I've lamented the lack of quality drinks (avoid the grape juice and the sherry).  But Jerome's Champagne sparkling wine was good and cheap at just JPY 1,078 a glass, inclusive.  The homemade ginger ale, priced the same, was aromatic and generously-sized.  After-meal drink is not included in the 6K menu.

The objective of Eat Play Works is a casual dining environment with excellent food at reasonable or very reasonable prices.  The casual part is in no doubt (if you're at the counter there's no real space to keep your bag and no-where for staff to keep your coat and/or bag either) but not every restaurant here ticks the latter boxes.  If you go for dinner at Gracia, order the most expensive course for two then when you add drinks and coffee you could easily drop 30K, which is not cheap and probably more than you might expect to pay in such a casual setting.  But the cheapest dinner course at Sant Pau was twice the price of the most expensive dinner course here.  At Aca you'll be paying several times more on food, which is not as good.  And you don't have to order the most expensive dinner course here: order the 6-course dinner course menu or just check out a few dishes a-la-carte and if you don't have a great time at least your wallet will be less empty.

Was the Michelin figure Jerome had placed on the counter since the restaurant opened in July 2020 presumptuous, a statement of ambition, forward-looking or backward-looking?  Perhaps just good planning as Michelin caught up and awarded Gracia a Bib Gourmand in the 2022 Tokyo Guide (only to drop it in 2024).

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1307/A130703/13248611/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.7

📱 Booking: Since the inclusion in the Michelin Guide if you don't book you might be turned away.  You can book via Tabelog or TableCheck or by phone (which is difficult in English).  For weekdays, same day by phone or day before online.  Week in advance for weekends.

📍 Location:

2F Eat Play Works, Hiroo.

Map data ©2021 Google

📅 Visit May 2022

Kani croquette, jalapeno
Iberico ham bikini
Scallop ceviche, sour cream, beets
Ika, mushroom, fava bean puree
Pork loin, romesco sauce
Cheesecake

💴 Damage: 8,800 (6600 + 2 drinks at 2200)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h5m

📅 Visit December 2021

Croquette
Iberico ham bikini
Scallop ceviche, sour cream, beets
Wagyu, chicken cannelloni
Iberico pluma sandwich
Miyazaki sirloin
Orange, orange ice-cream, almond espuma
Cheesecake

💴 Damage: 7,700 (6600 + 1 drink at 1100)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h40m

📅 Visit June 2021

Prawn croquette
Gazpacho, summer vegetables; tomato toast
Scallop ceviche
Warm squid salad
Red shrimp rice
Iberico pluma sandwich
Beef cheek
Cheesecake

💴 Damage: 8,756 (6,600 + 2 drinks @ 2156)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h15m

📅 Visit December 2020

Iberico
Rocket, fig, grape, smoked sanma
Fresh oyster, apple, sour cream, piman sauce
Roasted scallop, mushroom, persimmon, parsely soup
Unagi, cheese tortellini, dashi
Pork loin, romesco sauce
Cheesecake

💴 Damage: 7,810 (6,000 + 1 drink @1100 + tax)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h25m

📅 Visit August 2020

Croquette
Bikini
Ceviche
Gazpacho, ricotta
Scallop, potato, curry sauce
Pork loin, romesco sauce
Sea water ice, almond foam

💴 Damage: 8,316 (6,000 + 2 drinks @ 1560 + tax)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h25m