H

⭐⭐⭐

🎁 Innovative / 📍 Ebisu

Visits: 1 (2022)

The award for worst choice of name for a restaurant goes to 'H', which relocated from Kagurazaka, where it was previously called 'H acca' to Ebisu in October 2020.  Pre-1990 this might have been a clever choice but using a single letter to name anything wouldn't even feature in a list of search engine optimization "do not's" because surely no-one would be so daft to do it.

H was on my watch list so when I saw the price would be going up from JPY 19,000 to JPY 24,000 in February 2022 I immediately made a reservation before the price change.  All the background on the restaurant is on Pocket Concierge.

I don't think I've ever been to a restaurant with so much talking.  Every dish gets a long introduction.  Every drink that comes with the alcoholic or non-alcoholic pairing is introduced to everyone and even the dishes the food is plated on get their own introduction.  At the end of the meal the three staff each introduce themselves and hand out business cards.  Despite all the talking this is really sermon-like and there isn't much in the way of interaction.  The restaurant manager could speak a few words of English but if you want to understand everything you'll need to understand Japanese.

There's only one sitting per day which starts at 7pm with doors opening fifteen minutes beforehand.  The "scheduled end time" is 9:30.  I arrived 5 minutes late and the chef had already started talking.  After the introduction chef asks each diner in turn if they'd like the alcoholic or non-alcoholic pairing.  Hildon spring water is included in the course and you can also opt for drinks by the glass.  I had two glasses of champagne priced at JPY 2,200 each from a bottle that retails at JPY 5,060.  The champagne was outstanding for this price.

The first dish was served at 7:15 with drinks just before so if you arrived at 'doors open' you'd literally be sitting there for 30 minutes with nothing to drink or nothing to chew on while you wait for everyone else to arrive and for the chef to finish talking and get everything organised.  On the one hand I like the fact that they actually let you in to the restaurant before the start time and the 15 minute buffer should reduce the number of latecomers.  On the other hand, it's poor hospitality if you can't even get a drink while you wait.  It wasn't intentional, and it's a selfish thing to say, but I was glad I was late.

First up was a cold starter of cabbage and crab which was spoiled by too much lemon.  Next vegetable gratin with Comte cheese.  The topping had good flavour, as you'd expect, but that was it.  A piece of amadai shirako was served alongside the gratin but it couldn't save the flavourless contents.  Next kue, sauce américaine and risotto.  The kue was outstanding - a large piece and the fat delicious but the dish was again spoiled by too much lemon.

Next a very generously-sized wagyu sando topped with truffle.  The filet was soft and had a delicate flavour.  Two sauces in squeeze bottles added another flavour dimension.

Next the carbohydrate: a tomato and cheese pasta.  It smelled better than it tasted and despite the lengthy explanation it was just tomato and cheese pasta.

The main dish was duck from Loire served with chervil root.  I've had better duck but it was fine.  Don't remember eating chervil root in the past, which was a revelation.

The final savoury dish was a consomme which was delicious.

Two desserts were served.  The first was mikan, yoghurt, semi-freddo and milk chocolate.  This shouldn't have worked but did.  The chocolate was very good quality; a large portion and delicious.

Second dessert a cress ice-cream with olive oil.  Another first for me and great.

Herb tea to finish.

The chef takes each party down the 3 floors in the lift to see them out so you might have a long wait before you can actually leave at the end of the meal.  If you book via Pocket Concierge the bill will be automatically charged to your credit card and as I was in the first position at the counter I was able to leave immediately.  So in the the end the meal took 2 hours instead of the advertised 2.5.

My expectations going in were not particularly high so I didn't leave disappointed, perhaps leaving with a feeling that I was glad the meal didn't take any longer rather than anything else.  Chef Tetsuya Horie is quite young as is the sous-chef Minoru Kawatoko, who produced the desserts, which might have been the best two things served tonight.  Names to look out for in the future but right now I could not recommend H.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1303/A130302/13263889/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.6 (desserts: 4.0)

📱 Booking: 🟩 Easy.  Same week via TableCheck or Pocket Concierge.

📍 Location: 

4F Timezone Hilltop Bldg, 1-18-9 Ebisu Minami.  4 mins from Exit 1 (Metro) or the West Exit (JR) of Ebisu Station up the hill along the side of tracks.  Note there are at least three "Timezone" buildings along this street so make sure you find the right one.  4F multi-tenant building.
Map data ©2022 Google

📅 Visit January 2022

Cold cabbage, kani
Comte, vegetable gratin; amadai shirako
Kue, sauce américaine, risotto
Wagyu sando
Tomato and cheese pasta
Loire duck, chervil root
Consomme
Mikan, yoghurt, ice-cream, milk chocolate
Cress ice-cream, olive oil

💴 Damage: 23,400 (19000 + 2 drinks @ 4400)
⏱️ Time taken: 2h