Chef Jeff Ramsey, Molecular Tapas Bar, Tokyo

And so we’re back from Japan, and feeling a bit depressed not only at the prospect of coming back to the daily grind, but also at leaving a wonderful, magical, astounding and vibrant country and people.  This is not to say that we didn’t feel some travel fatigue at the end of our trip, having had our good fill of various temples and shrines over first 2 weeks.  By the time we reached Tokyo, the urge to see these lovely and ancient structures was definitely not as strong as it initially was at the beginning of our journey.

The Tapas Molecular Bar at the Mandarin Oriental was a perfect last dinner for us.  We had spent this last day running from Tsukiji Fish Market in the early morning to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.  The next day, we would head out for Narita and for home.

The Mandarin Oriental hotel is a swanky establishment, and it seemed that virtually every staffperson there spoke excellent English.  We were a little early for our scheduled 8:30pm dinner slot (every evening there are only 8 seats for 2 dinner slots – one at 6pm and one at 8:30pm) and thus were able to peruse the cocktail menu, which contained a nice selection of original as well as classic cocktails.  Alas, I can’t remember the name of the cocktail I eventually chose but it contained gin, yuzu liqueur, ginger ale and sudachi juice – my kind of drink — light, refreshing, gently acid.

It turned out that we were the only customers at the tapas bar for the 8:30pm slot, and thus had the undivided attention of the chef, who turned out to be the “Chief Culinary Engineer” himself, Jeff Ramsey.  We had an exceptional meal enhanced by being able to comfortably converse with someone else in English.  Traveling through Japan and making use of our rudimentary nihongo was fine, even exciting, but after 3 weeks of this, we were happy to be able to relax and not feel that we needed to try so hard.  Chef is originally from Maryland and has a Japanese mother; he started out behind the  sushi counter and then went on to work at Jose Andres’s minibar in Washington D.C.  Throughout all our other marvelous dinners in Japan we had never really felt quite as comfortable as we did that night; perhaps it was the booze, but more likely it was the comfortable American accent and the fact that we were alone at that counter with really interesting food and techniques being set out and explained before us.  Chef was a little soft-spoken, but explained his dishes well, and was chatty and humble.  He told us that he had not entertained any foreign customers for a couple of weeks, presumably due to the quake, and that his family had evacuated to Osaka temporarily.

Below are some of the dishes/ moments that were favourites.   Full set on Flickr here.

Fukinotou, Avocado, Sesame Oil Crumble

These were Butterburr sprouts wrapped in avocado with dehydrated sesame oil.  We ate a lot of fuki on this trip, sprouts and stems, as well as saw fresh bundles in the markets and depachika.  Foraged wild, they’re a prominent springtime vegetable.  They’re my new favourite seemingly-unattainable-outside-of-Japan vegetable.  If anyone knows of a source in the Bay Area where one can get Butterbur, please let me know!

Springtime Landscape I

Really tasty dish with all my favourites: escargot, trotters and sweetbreads with vegetables (nanohana, fiddleheads, eringi mushrooms) and taranome “dirt” caviar, made from a Japanese grain that resembles quinoa.

"Xiaolongbao" Lamb Chop

People generally recognize xiao long bao as a steamed, soup-filled dumpling.  Somehow, the kitchen had stuffed clear lamb jelly to this nubbin of meat still on the bone, and then cooked the meat perfectly.  We were instructed to swipe the chop through the sour cream and eat it like a drumstick.   It did burst, like a soup dumpling, filling one’s mouth with delicious lamb juices.  The tiny green and white thing is a baby peach, still hard, still without its pit, that had been pickled.

DD the Dragon

DD having some fun with the liquid-nitrogen-coated passionfruit puffs chef had prepared for us.

Details

I made a reservation by sending an email (per their website) to motyo-fbres@mohg.com.  I wrote a request in my pidgin hiragana and katakana, and received a response in English and simplified Japanese asking me to confirm the number of persons at dinner, and to fill out/ send back a credit card form.  When we reached our hotel in Tokyo, they informed us that Mandarin Oriental had called asking for us to confirm our reservations for later in the week.  Dinner was ¥14000 per person, with 13% service charge and excluded drinks. Cocktails are ¥1900 to ¥2100 each.  An additional wine pairing for the tasting menu is available but I forgot to peek at the price.  Tapas Molecular Bar has garnered a Michelin star every year since 2009.

If I had to do it over, I would make a point to arrive early and ask to sit by one of their floor-to-ceiling windows, order a cocktail and enjoy the spectacular view.  Or, make sure to have a high tea in the same room.  (Note: smoking is allowed in the Oriental Bar, where the restaurant is located.)

http://www.mandarinoriental.com/tokyo/dining/molecular/

Mandarin Oriental Hotel, 2-1-1 Nihonbashi Muromachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 103-8328 Japan.