The Four Seasons hotel in Tokyo benefits from a central location and intimate setting nestled within the Pacific Century Place building. The hotel is also lucky enough to hold the renowned Ekki restaurant; famous for its views and Japanese cuisine, Ekki provides guests with an intimate setting within which they can enjoy the traditional Japanese culture.
The interior of the restaurant itself is very contemporary and reflects Japanese design while combining hints of western culture. Informal, relaxing and with stylish low level lighting, it was the perfect place to enjoy afternoon tea, lunch or an evening meal, which was the purpose of our visit to ekki.
We were lucky enough to sample the Chef’s Special Winter Menu during our visit to the restaurant and decided to taste the entire menu with both a fish and meat course. The set menu began with the salad of heirloom beets and pears accompanied by goat cheese coulis and candied walnuts. This winter salad was a light start and produced a lovely winter flavour through the combination of earthy beets and pears. We followed this dish with a blue crab bisque with fine champagne cognac. Like the salad before, this dish was light and reminiscent of winter flavours; the bisque was given a warm depth by the champagne cognac.
“A special dessert to finish our special visit to this extremely special restaurant.”
Beginning our mains, we sampled the poached sole with seasonal mushroom sabayon and spinach. This dish gave the chefs the opportunity to show their creative flair and skill with seafood and they did not disappoint. Perfectly balanced flavours complemented this delicate fish. The second of our mains was the roasted veal tenderloin, butternut squash puree, swiss chard and sauce borderlaise. The veal was cooked perfectly and complemented perfectly by the sauce. Red wine based and named after the popular wine region of Bordeaux, the sauce borderlaise gave an earthy and warm feel to this dish, providing us with the perfect winter main course.
To finish we were delighted to sample the restaurants Chocolate Degustation dish. This dish was the ideal finish to our winter meal and featured a veritable treat within a multitude of chocolate delicacies; a special dessert to finish our special visit to this extremely special restaurant.
The Bill: £90 per head
