Les Saisons

⭐⭐⭐

🇫🇷 French / 📍 Hibiya

📱 Visits: 4 (2012-2019)

Les Saisons has held one Michelin star ever since The Tokyo Guide was published.  Relatively speaking, there aren't many restaurants in Tokyo serving very classical French food and Les Saisons is perhaps the most classic and grandest of them all.  There are several menus to choose from.  In January 2022 these were: JPY 8,500-14,00 for 3-5 plates from the lunch menu; 21,000-43,000 for 4-6 plates from the dinner menu (also available at lunch) or you can go a-la-carte.  Prices in the a-la-carte menu vary considerably with starters between JPY 6,800 and 12,000, mains between 8,600 and 16,500 and desserts around 3,600.  Menus change many times a year according to seasonal availability of ingredients.  In truffle season there's a special menu which was priced at around JPY 48,000 last time.  The restuarant's signature dish of a whole black truffle in pastry topped with foie gras is JPY 26,300 and available all-year-round.  There are a few extra choices available on the lunch menu with supplements.  If you choose both fish and meat as opposed to one or the other you'll get a smaller portion of each rather than a larger portion of one, despite paying more.  This is a practice I've seen in other restaurants in Tokyo but which I feel is a bit of a cheat.  Prices include tax but are subject to 10% service charge.  You can preview the trilingual menus on the hotel website, if you can navigate a little Japanese.

On my first visit, many years ago, I had the cheapest lunch menu and, as is often the case when you make that choice, felt my experience was compromised.  On my second visit in 2013 I had what then was the top 6-course lunch for JPY 22,550 and enjoyed this much more.  After being tired from eating modern and uncomplicated French food in Tokyo I was yearning for proper classical French and decided to go back in 2019 and order a-la-carte.  The dishes I ate (minus the artichoke starter, sorry) are pictured below.

Dover sole was a bit disappointing.  It was flavoured with ginger which I feel didn't enhance the flavour of what is the best or second best European fish.  The meat dish was veal sweetbread with white peaches and truffle jelly.  This was too sweet and didn't work for me.  I still haven't found a restaurant in Tokyo to serve a great sweetbread dish, though at least it was properly cooked.  The last time I had sweetbreads in Tokyo was at Lature and they were completely unevenly cooked, which stopped me from going back.  Cheese is supplied by Bernard Antony, the most celebrated supplier of cheese in France, but I opted to go straight to dessert.  There is typically only one dessert on the a-la-carte menu.  That's rather limiting but it does make things easy.  Fortunately for me, I had chocolate souffle with coffee ganache and Yamazaki whiskey ice cream.  This was the best dish of the meal, a properly grown-up dessert and possibly the best dish because it was the least messed-around with.  A variety of breads were served and above average but not spectacular.  Petit fours were as you'd expect from a classical 1-star European French restaurant but with everything being so sweet I'd had enough sugar.  Coffee is not included when you go a-la-carte and was priced at JPY 1,200.

Service was fairly well-drilled and staff can speak English.  I don't remember seeing any non-Japanese staff, which is unusual for a 5-star hotel, so don't expect any conversation with an expat.  The chef came out at the beginning of the meal and worked the room a bit but didn't come to my table at the end of the meal.  I wouldn't have thought the restaurant gets many lone diners ordering 4 plates a-la-carte on a weekday lunch so I expected a bit more interaction with the chef.

I think your experience at Les Saisons very much comes down to your expectations and what dishes you choose.  I expected a lot, perhaps too much, from my most recent meal.  I should have, perhaps, remembered that Les Saisons is a 1-star restaurant in Tokyo and not a 3-star restaurant in Paris, but it's hard not to feel disappointed when you're paying this much.  Though I've yet to visit Tour d'Argent, after this it made me give up trying to find exceptional, un-modernized, classical French food in Tokyo.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1301/A130102/13002294/ 

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.9

📱 Booking: 🟩 Reservations are not difficult and you may even be able to just walk-in.  Jackets are required for men.

📍 Location: 

2F Imperial Hotel.  1 minute from Hibiya Station, Exit A13.
Map data ©2021 Google

📅 Visit September 2019

Artichaut poivrade farci au foie gras et truffe 7,000
Sole farcie, grillée au beurre de gingenbre, carottes condimentées 12,800
Noix de ris de veau aux pêches blanches et gelées de truffes 9,500
Soufflé chocolat, café ganache, glace Yamazaki, 3,400
Coffee 1,200

💴 Damage: 37,290
⏱ Time taken: ~1h30m