Poisson Rouge

⭐⭐⭐

🇫🇷 French Bistro / 📍 Oimachi

📓 Visits: 1

Brasserie Poisson Rouge debuted in The Michelin Guide Tokyo 2025 with a Bib Gourmand.  Prix fixe lunch starts from JPY 2,050 for two courses but I opted for the three course which starts from JPY 3,000.

I chose lentil salad to start.  The vegetables were not much better than supermarket quality.  Lentils were good, as was the dressing.  But it ended up eating mostly like undressed lettuce leaves and I'm not sure if the 'julienne' of boiled bacon brought anything to the dish.  6/10.

The three-course comes with soup and I chose the fish soup.  The aioli improved it but it lacked intensity of flavour and was not finished with Pernod or vermouth.  6.5/10.

For a supplement of 800 yen I chose the neck of lamb confit for the main.  I could imagine eating a better version of this but it got the job done and I can't remember having neck of lamb in Japan before.  Restrained myself from asking for more mash.  The other veg were simply boiled.  A generous 8/10.

Bread was a bog-standard baguette.  Ask for no bread unless you really like refined carbohydrates.  4/10.

Dessert is charged separately and starts from 500 yen.  I chose the tart tatin with vanilla ice-cream for 700 yen.  Served warm, as it should be.  Dense, rich apples.  Pastry very thin, not crisp or very rich but that's fine.  Ice-cream too rich with cream for me.  If that wasn't enough cream for you there was a splodge of whipped cream underneath.  7/10.

Cafe au lait at 450 yen was better than it looked (more substance than froth).

The menu is written on a blackboard in Japanese only.  (The items on sticky notes are, I assume, limited.)  Ten years ago I'd have taken one look at that online and never looked back but technology has improved now so even if you can't read Japanese you can use your phone to translate and they plonk the blackboard down in front of you so you can take as much time as you need.  Service was efficient.  I went late in the afternoon and the place was full.  I suspect you might have to wait longer to be served if you turn up at 11:30 or 12:00.

Portions are very large so it's a big and cheap feed.  If you find yourself at the Samezu Driver's Licence Center (shudder) then this is the place to go if you can time it right.  I would go back if I was in the area but would not make a special trip for it.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1315/A131501/13034087/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.6

📱 Booking: 🟩 Reservations are not essential but recommended - they were full on my lunch visit.  I booked by phone a week in advance.  No English menu.  No English spoken.

📍 Location: 

1-53-8 Oi.  2 mins south from Oimachi station Central West Exit.

Map data ©2024 Google

📅 Visit October 2024

🕛 Lunch 3,000

Lentil salad 
Fish soup
Neck of lamb confit +800
Tart tatin +700
Cafe au lait +450

💴 Damage: 4,950 (cash only)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h15m