L'Orangerie
๐ซ๐ท French / ๐ Jiyugaoka
๐ Visits: 3 (2025x2, 2024)
๐ Visit June 2025
Kanpachi had the perfect cure. The skin was torched so it was crispy. Texture and flavour from the herbs, edible flowers and shio-aji meringue. I can't stand cucumber. But the cucumber sauce here was delicious and free of the usual cucumber odour. 10/10.
A generous portion of managatsuo. Superb hamaguri and hamaguri cream sauce. Instead of the usual green cabbage, the chef chose Savoy cabbage, which has so much more flavour, yet I can count on one hand the number of times I've had it in Japan (and two of those occasions were here). 10/10.
Main dish of Ezo shika got better as you ate it and benefitted from the red wine sauce and roasted fig. The vegetables were excellent: the morels had flavour and just weren't for show, even the carrot was super sweet. The overall quality of the venison meant the dish wasn't quite up to the same standard as the other dishes today or other mains I've had in the past, but at this price I was more than content. 8.5/10. 9.5 with better quality meat and if it was steaming hot from the kitchen.
Pre-dessert of fromage blanc, lemon cream, salt milk ice-cream and lemon verbena foam. All layers in perfect balance. One of the best pre-desserts I've had in years. 10/10.
A couple of touches to note on the main chocolate and cherry dessert that sound simple but are the sort of thing most chefs miss in smaller French restaurants in Japan: the addition of kirsch in the sakuranbo ice-cream and the cherry stalk replaced with tempered chocolate. A good dessert, but didn't beat the pre-dessert or main desserts I've had here before.
9.5/10 for the petit fours. Half a mark knocked off as the macaron was a little sweet.
Kegani, beef consomme jelly, soramame, soramame espuma
Kanpachi, cucumber sauce, salt meringue
Managatsuo, hamaguri, hamaguri cream sauce, Savoy cabbage
Ezo shika, red wine sauce
Lemon
Chocolate and griotte delice, raspberry sauce, kirsch and sakurambo ice-cream
๐ Visit March 2025
Cold confit of sawara was close to perfect. The sauce went well with the fish which seemed to lose a little flavour as you ate more. Salad was fresh and good but not as good as the fish and sauce. 9-9.5/10.
In another demonstration of technique I counted eleven components on the main dish of lamb.
Desserts were superb. I don't particularly care for citrus but somehow the chef had taken out all the bitterness and acidity you normally get and, even with the inclusion of a white chocolate ice-cream, had not overdone the sweetness. I don't expect to ever eat a better citrus-based French dessert in Japan again. 10/10.
Salmon tart; bacon
Uni, beef consomme jelly, cauliflower espuma, curry powder
Cold confit sawara, anchovy cream sauce , herb oil, snap end salad, raw mushroom
Managatsuo, sherry vinegar beurre blanc, firefly squid frit, nanohana
French lamb loin, pomme puree, Italian white asparagus, Parma ham, Mimolette, tsubamina, coco bean stew, fukinoto tapenade, black garlic puree
Yoghurt ice-cream, strawberry marshmallow, rhubarb compote, saffron
White chocolate ice-cream, citrus
๐ Visit September 2024
Dessert I rated 10/10, everything else 8.5-9/10. The chestnut and blackcurrant dessert was a technical tour de force: one tuile filled with a layer of chestnut cream and a layer of blackcurrant sauce; a second, double-layer tuile filled with chocolate neither too bitter and neither too sweet. This dessert wouldn't be out of place in a 3-Michelin Star restaurant in Paris.
Zuwaigani, fennel espuma, olive oil
Aori ika, roast cauliflower, cauliflower soup, almond oil
Poached ballotine sujiara, Savoy cabbage, fish sauce
Italian veal, girolles, nasu, trompette de la mort
Fromage blanc, Shine Muscat, verbena jelly, white wine granita
Chestnut, blackcurrant
White tablecloths, carpet. The restaurant has just five tables. Located on the top of a small multi-tenant building, the dining room has windows on three sides and a unique skylight (official photograph). Service, from team of one Restaurant Manager Yuki Tatebe, is pitch perfect: professional, efficient, confident, error-free and warm. In the kitchen are just two chefs: head chef Kenji Furukawa and a second chef specialising in patisserie.
There's a decent choice of non-alcoholic drinks, including some non-alcoholic cocktails which are all excellent. Only one type of bread is served, which I believe is bought-in, but it is delicious. Even the coffee is above average, freshly ground for every serving and never from a capsule.
Everything is as it should be and everything is simply delicious. Many chefs can deliver a beautiful looking dish, some can deliver on flavour but perhaps in Tokyo only here can a chef deliver a hyper-seasonal plate that looks like classical haute cuisine and delivers everything in flavour you'd hope for. Better value than any of the 1-Stars, better all round cooking than any of the 2-Stars and better desserts than at all the 3-Star restaurants in Tokyo. A grown up restaurant for grown-ups. L'Orangerie is the perfect French restaurant. I wonder if the inspector is keeping it to herself.
๐ https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1317/A131703/13224702/
❓ My Rating: 5.0 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (cooking: 4.8, desserts: 4.9, value: 5.0, happiness: 5.0)
๐ฑ Booking: ๐ฉ An easy booking via Tabelog or TableCheck for lunch at least two days in advance. Lone diners will either need to book by phone or put a note that the booking is just for one. For weekend or holiday lunch you should book a week in advance. Same-day dinner bookings by phone are possible. No English menu. Tatebe-san doesn't really speak English.
๐ถ Free WiFi? ❌ No
Added to my bucket list for my upcoming trip this fall! Love that you put in your in-depth thoughts for every visit, and describing the non-alcoholic options.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
DeleteAppreciate the thoughtful review as always! Have you tried / heard of L'ESSOR or La couleur d'ete? Would be curious to hear your thoughts
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. Yes, been to both. L'essor isn't special but the lunch is cheap and it's easy to book so I'd go back. La couleur d'ete was pretty disappointing. Once you add on a beverage (if you don't drink your only choice will be San Pellegrino), cafe gourmand and service your 6k lunch is now 9k. The food was good or fine but unmemorable and I didn't like the premises.
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