Nemo

⭐⭐⭐⭐

🇫🇷 French / 📍 Minami-Aoyama

📓 Visits: 1

Nemo opened in June 2021 and earned a Michelin Star in the 2023 Tokyo Guide, some might say a year late.  Lunch of about 7 courses was originally priced at JPY 5,500 but increased to JPY 6,500 from September 2022 and again to JPY 7,500 in April 2023.  Dinner of about 10 courses is priced at JPY 16,500.  Prices are subject to tax and 10% service charge.  More background on Pocket Concierge.  My visit was for lunch.

The best dish was the hamaguri broth, flavoured with lemongrass, with hamaguri and super-fresh takenoko.  9/10.  All the other dishes I rated 7.5-8/10.  The firefly squid dish tasted rather of squid guts, as firefly squid often does, which I don't think is pleasant to eat.  The sauce that came with the kinmedai was flavoured with lemongrass so a strong seasoning was repeated.  Other than that there were no real faults but most of the dishes were just boring.  The main fish course was just a piece of protein and sauce with no other garnish, while the garnish with the meat course was a simple sautee of Spring vegetables.  Bread is freshly baked for each table but had very little flavour and was served without butter or olive oil.  In all the dishes flavours were more Japanese than French and nothing had any richness.

The restaurant is big on fish and the chef buys unusual fish directly.  The signature dish is the anago frit with macadamia nuts.  Unfortunately, on my visit, the anago was not served and none of the fish were unusual.

There was a twenty minute wait between courses at one point but otherwise service was very good.  The menu is bilingual but is often not more than word per course.  The restaurant manager can speak some English but all dishes were explained in Japanese.

Even with the price increases it's reasonable for seven courses of cooking of this quality at lunch.  If you're looking for very light, heavily Japanese French food then you may enjoy Nemo.  But it's not for me. 

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1306/A130602/13260539/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0

📱 Booking: 🟩 Bookings are taken by phone, TableCheck or Pocket Concierge for dates up to a month in advance.  If you're flexible on dates you should be able to get a booking within a week.  The restaurant does not take bookings for solo diners.

📍 Location: 

B1F, 6-15-4 Minami-Aoyama.  8 mins South-East from Omotesando station Exit B1.  The #1 bus from Shibuya station to Aoyama Gakuin Chutobu-mae (1 stop) is also convenient.  B1F multi-tenant building.  Look for "Familina Garden" pet trainers.
Map data ©2023 Google

📅 Visit March 2023 (lunch)

Sawara crepe, ratatouille
Hamaguri broth, hamaguri, takenoko, lemongrass
Firefly squid, white asparagus
Kinmedai, lemongrass, wakame
Iberico pork, sauteed Spring vegetables
Black sesame souffle, hojicha ice-cream
Canelé
Coffee

💴 Damage: 11,501 (6500 + 2 drinks @ 3000 + 10% + 10%)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h45m