Rikka

Rikka (六花)

⭐⭐⭐

🥩 Steak / 📍 Roppongi

📓 Visits: 1

Rikka opened in March 2021.  At dinner there's a choice of 3 course menus priced at JPY 14,520, JPY 18,150 and JPY 20,570 that vary in the quality of ingredients used.  At lunch there are two course menus priced at JPY 4,598 and one priced at JPY 9,680 but only the latter comes with an actual steak and this is the course I went for on my visit.  The standard steak in the lunch course is 100g of round steak, pictured below on the right.

You could upgrade your steak to sirloin (left) or filet (centre) which would increase the total price of the course as pictured.  At dinner there is a wider choice of upgrades.  I stuck with the standard option.  Prices include tax but not 10% service.

Things got off to an uneven start with two appetizers: abalone that was fridge-cold and a smoked beef tartar with caviar and samphire.  The tartar was full of flavour and would turn out to be the best dish of the meal.  Roast beef with karasumi was OK but left an unpleasant aftertaste.  Deep fried oxtail pastilla with Comte cheese was delicious and not at all oily.  The restaurant is owned by the same company that owns L'Atelier du pain on the ground floor and one of the selling points of the restaurant is "as much bread as you like" from the bakery.  I was not given a choice and had a 'ciabatta' made from a fermented dough made with Kitano Kaori flour which has a very high water absorption capacity allowing you to make bread with 105% hydration.  It came straight out of the oven and had a texture like moichi, which I found very unpleasant, and was served with seaweed butter which was vile (I'm fine with seaweed but this was horrible).  The steak is kiln-fired and was served on a cold slate plate so it and the vegetables got cold very quickly.  The beef had strong flavour from aging but was chewy and contained a fair bit of sinew.  Dessert was labeled as coming from Patisserie CoCo Ange (also on the ground floor) so I was expecting, and hoping for, a cake.  This instead was green fruit tomato steeped in vanilla, kumquat, pineapple and basil sorbet.  The tomatoes were very sweet and moreish.  The sorbet had the aftertaste of artificial candy.  Coffee served after dessert was fine.

Service was very good.  All tables in the restaurant are in private rooms and the place is decorated just like a Roppongi VIP club (so I've heard).  One member of staff could speak a little English.  The course menu was not printed in English but the drinks menu was bilingual.  Drinks are Roppongi prices and my ginger ale was Roppongi quality.

It's hard to recommend Rikka for the food.  The starters are very small and because you only get 100g of meat and as I couldn't finish the bread it wasn't enough.  You really need to upgrade the standard steak, which pushes the price up.  Nakasei is much better value and TCC Rogama Sumibiyaki Steak would be much better value even at full price and is incredible value right now.  Rikka would make a great place for a flashy, intimate date where the food doesn't have to be the absolute best.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1307/A130701/13255614/ 

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.1

📱 Booking: 🟩 Bookings are essential right now.  The restaurant isn't particularly busy but if you just turn up you'll likely be turned away, as I was.  Same day booking by phone should be possible.  Same-day or bookings for one are not taken via Tabelog so you'll need to phone.  A little English spoken.

📍 Location: 2F 21 Roppongi, 6-1-12 Roppongi.

1 min South-West from Roppongi Station Exit 3, behind Roppongi Dori.  Enter through L'Atelier du pain / Wine Shop Sommelier and head to the back of the store for the lift/stairs.

Map data ©2021 Google

📅 Visit May 2021

Smoked beef tartar, caviar, samphire; Abalone
Roast beef, karasumi
Oxtail pastilla, Comte
Steak
Green tomato, kumquat, pineapple and basil sorbet
Coffee (or tea)

💴 Damage: 10,148 (9680 + 1 drink at 990 + 10% - yeah I know, doesn't add up)

⏱️ Time taken: 1h10m