L'ecrin

⭐⭐⭐

🇫🇷 French / 📍 Ginza

📓 Visits: 3

Didn't really enjoy the one meal I had at l'affinage not long after ex L'ecrin chef Yasuyuki Takara struck out on his own.  So a visit here was never really of interest, especially when a decades-old Grand Maison had no Michelin Star.  That changed when, following the departure of chef Koji Watanabe in 2022, who went on to open Watanabe Ryouri-mise and the appointment of chef Yuhei Kurita the restaurant suddenly debuted with a Michelin Star in the 2024 Guide.  With lunch at just 11k and the price of Ginza lunches rising elsewhere, it was worth a shot.  Well it's all change again.  In September 2025 Kurita-san left and went on to open La Tradition (review to come) the following year.  He's been replaced by ex-Sezanne Shuto Sugita.  As usual, I went for the cheapest lunch.

First up cheese espuma, tomato water, olive oil.  It needs some bread or other texture.  It's unremarkable and I don't think the almonds matched.  7/10.  Duck liver parfait with raw brown mushroom on brioche is good.  8/10.  Next a one-note corn soup.  Still no bread is served.  7/10.  The fish course is shiro amadai.  There's not a lot to fault.  The basil and shrimp sauces are delicious.  The courgette flower is stuffed with shrimp.  9/10.  The meat course is Landes pigeon.  It's cooked beautifully and has superb flavour from the charcoal grill.  The red wine sauce doesn't add anything.  8.5/10.  Pre-dessert is white corn ice-cream with soba-cha and rice pudding.  The soba-cha is dominant and I'm not really sure sweetcorn ice-cream works as a dessert.  5.5/10.  The main dessert is worse.  Fresh peach, peach sorbet, sesame tofu, yoghurt, sesame tuile, sesame crepe.  It tastes as dissonant as it looks.  4.5/10.  Your choice of after-meal drink includes hot chocolate.  A couple more sweet things follow: a delicious macaron made from orange and black tea and a chocolate ganache.  The sweet trolley they had in the past is no more.  The bread supplier has changed again and now it's Parklet Bakery, who make a decent campagne.

The fish and meat courses are better than I've had here in the past but the desserts are not.  I'm not sure who the actual pastry chef here is because they announce, to great fanfare, the appointment of ex-Asahina Gastronome Rie Takeuchi but only as the "Executive Advisor for the Pastry Chef Department".  It's still mentioned on the Tabelog page but it's not mentioned in her Instagram bio.  I wonder if the main dessert I ate here today was conceived with poor advice or just no advice.

Pacing is all over the place.  I'm made to wait 10 minutes in the downstairs "bar" before I can take my seat.  Then everything up to the main course is timed to be served at the pace of the slowest table.  Then the first two desserts come out in a flash but the macaron is taking so long I have to ask.

The price went up from 11k to 16k with the most recent chef change.  That's twice the price of lunch at L'Orangerie but the food is not as good.  Will wait for the next chef change before I go back.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1301/A130101/13002444/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.7

📱 Booking: 🟩 An easy booking for the same week. If you're on your own you'll have to phone.  Otherwise book by Tabelog or TableCheck.  English menu, English spoken.

📍 Location: 

4-5-5 Ginza.  1 min from Ginza station Exit A9 up Ginza Chuo Dori.
Map data ©2026 Google

📶 Free WiFi? ✅ Yes

📅 Visit August 2026

🕛 Lunch 16,000

🛎️ Service charge: 12%

💧 Water charge: ∅

TOKYO SHIROKABI Cheese. Olive Oil from Shodoshima
Brioche MEGUMI duck Liver Mushroom
Corn
Parklet Bakery Country Bread
SHIROAMADAI Bincho charcoal
Landes Pigeon Cassis
Sweet corn, AICHINOKAORI
Peach Black koji
Japanese Black Tea, Orange

💴 Damage: 20,068 (16k + 2 drinks @2400 + 12%)

⏱️ Time taken: 1h50m