L'Effervescence - Tokyo
View of the restaurant’s small garden
Rating: 18/20
Where: Tokyo, Japan
When: Lunch for 2 on 23 February 2023
Cost: Tasting menu 30800 Yen, Wine pairing 19800-44000 Yen
Accolades: 3 Michelin Stars, Tabelog Silver Award (2023)
Why: French cuisine with some excellent dishes in a serene setting
L'Effervescence is a Michelin three star restaurant located in Tokyo, about a 15 minute walk from either Shibuya or Roppongi Hills. It is located in a residential neighborhood, and there was barely any foot traffic when we arrived for our lunch reservation on a chilly February Thursday. The stark exterior of the building would look at home in a Star Wars movie, but once inside, the dining room exuded serenity. Black was the dominant color, and most tables had a view of a small garden. It was easy to forget that we were in one of the largest cities of the world - this little oasis of good food could easily have been in a small town. Speaking of food, the cuisine here was French. There were some Japanese influences, but they were quite subtle.
The only meal offered at L'Effervescence was a fixed tasting menu, so no food-related decisions needed to be made on arrival. Dietary restrictions were accommodated with prior notice and we even received an updated printed menu to reflect them. There were two wine pairings (at 19800 and 44000 yen) and a non-alcoholic pairing (5500 yen) on offer. We tried the two alcoholic pairings (which included a glass of sake), and the wines were good, but not outstanding. In a couple of food/wine pairings, however, the wine complemented the food exceptionally well, which, arguably, is much better than average for a wine pairing. In my opinion, the “standard” pairing is the way to go here, since the more expensive pairing was only marginally better, which didn’t justify the much higher price. Ironically (given the name of the restaurant) there was no sparkling wine in the wine pairing, so we ordered a glass of champagne to accompany the amuse bouches. That was a wise choice since the complimentary welcome cocktails were too insubstantial to last very long. These cocktails were fine, but not particularly noteworthy.
Our lunch started with a bouquet of dried vegetables that were served with a dip made from tofu, sour cream and olive oil. The vegetables were delicious, cut extremely thin, nicely crunchy, and perfectly salted. Even better was the creamy dip: with just the right amount of salt it was a perfect match not only for the vegetable crisps, but also for the bread course that followed later 19 (20 for some of the vegetables).
The next amuse bouche was unfortunately not as successful. Our server remarked that a traditional Japanese meal would feature a rice dish right about now, and he presented us with a scallop shell filled with a Miyagi rice risotto. Besides rice, the shell contained broccoli, fugu milt, pickled onions (I think) and caviar. Unfortunately, this dish was severely lacking in flavor - some more salt might have improved matters significantly. As it was, the caviar was pretty much the only source of saltiness, and there was very little of it. Similarly, the pickles contributed some sourness, but there was not much of them either. The rice and milt that made up the majority of the dish provided only texture 16.
We then received two breads, a room-temperature focaccia, and a warm sourdough bread. The latter was remarkable in that its crust was very soft - no crunch here at all. Both breads were made at the restaurant's sister operation Bricolage in Roppongi Hills. Decent breads, but not at the level that one would expect from a three-star restaurant. Thankfully, there was still the excellent tofu dip to go with the breads 16. Speaking of Bricolage, these two breads were poor showcases for the bakery: it makes truly excellent pastries and is definitely worth checking out.
A medley of 58 (!) different herbs and vegetables (including a single fruit - kiwi) constituted the first “real” course of the tasting menu. Most (if not all) of these ingredients appeared only once in the artfully arranged dish. It was L'Effervescence's take on the “seasonal salad” so popular in many fine-dining restaurants. The closest comparison I can think of for this dish is the one served at Piazza Duomo in Alba. Both salads relied heavily on herbs, and had an Asian vinaigrette dressing for some of their ingredients. But L'Effervescence's dish offered a wider range of preparations for the non-herb ingredients: roasted, blanched, pickled, some dressed, some not, and so on. I quite enjoyed this variety of textures and flavors. The herbs were very aromatic, and the provided powder of kelp, fava beans and salt added some welcome saltiness. Overall, this was an excellent course, and it was so complex and well-constructed that one didn't even think about the fact that February must be one of the worst times for such a highly seasonal dish. It probably helped that the emphasis was on the aromatic herbs, and not on the vegetables 19.
There should be a word for “underwhelming signature dish”. It's almost an oxymoron: why should a dish that a three-star restaurant is known for and has been perfecting ever since opening day be anything but fantastic? Well, let's consider L'Effervescence's signature dish, the slow-cooked turnip. Cooked for four hours at a very low temperature, the turnip is then cut in half, seared and finished with butter. A sauce made from parsley and olive oil, as well as some croutons complete the dish. I liked the sauce, and the pairing with a slightly sweet sake was truly excellent. But the turnip itself was so subtle in flavor that one might question whether it had any at all. Maybe I would have liked this dish better with more salt? Turnips also taste very differently throughout the year, so maybe a juicier summer turnip would have been tastier? Texture-wise, the turnip was pretty firm, somewhere in-between the classic Japanese preparations of crunchy pickles and turnips soft-cooked in dashi. I was really looking forward to this dish, but it was a far cry from the amazing turnip preparation we recently had in Singapore 16.
Better was the following dish, which was the most “Japanese” course of our meal. A filet of amadai (tilefish) was broiled table-side under hot coals, and then served with a dashi on top of a sunchoke puree. The fish was perfectly cooked and quite lovely, and the sunchokes pretty nice as well. Oddly, the dashi was quite thick - not the consistency that I would have expected. Taken individually, the ingredients of this dish had really great potential, but their sum somehow was less than the parts. The flavors here were muted, heavy, and a bit too similar for the different ingredients. More contrasting flavors or more of a pop with some acidity or salt might have made for a more exciting dish 17.
Our main course was a duck from Kyoto served with a port sauce, beet puree, sauteed spinach and shaved truffles. The duck was prepared quite lean - barely any fat was left under the wonderfully crispy skin. With the caveat that I’m not really a fan of duck in general, this was a pretty good dish, but I would have preferred it to be juicier and less chewy. On the positive side, I quite liked the sauce, spinach and truffles 17.
The pescatarian menu replaced the duck with abalone, and left everything else the same. This abalone was cooked to perfection: meaty, very flavorful and with a slight bite. It went great with the sauces originally meant for the duck. Easily the better of the two dishes 19.
Ravioli filled with duck thigh meat and scallops were served in a “soup” made from duck consomme and celeriac. The broth was a bit light in flavor, but the ravioli were quite lovely, having a good meat taste and some spices 18. The pescatarian version was lighter in flavor, dropping the duck thighs and consomme, but keeping everything else the same. My wife appreciated the vegetable flavors and thin ravioli skins, and would have rated this higher than my 17. These ravioli played the part of the traditional “rice dish” at the end of Japanese meals, in the sense that one could ask for multiple helpings until one was full. I didn’t really need even more food at this point, but it's nice to see how this useful Japanese tradition carried over to a French setting.
A cheese course contained five different cheeses that were all made in Japan - ranging from brie via blue cheese to aged mozzarella. The cheeses were each served with a matching drop of honey or sauce, all very light in flavor. The accompanying fruits that had been soaked in alcohol went in the opposite direction - they tasted quite strongly of alcohol. The cheeses were all pretty good and I appreciated their Japanese provenance; I only wish that the portions had been larger 17.
Our dessert was made from chestnuts that had been aged for more than one month in below-zero (Celsius, that is) temperatures. The dish contained chestnut mousse in noodle form, chestnut pieces, as well as crunchy apple skins and ice cream made from Japanese Oolong tea. I liked the crunchy apples and slightly bitter ice cream, but the chestnut was a bit too mealy and savory for my taste 17.
A round of petit fours concluded our lunch after almost three hours. A chicory cream puff topped with shiso flowers and lemon peel had nicely bright flavors 18. The peanut financier made with brown sugar and salt felt a bit heavy to me 17. Much lighter and better was an apple mousse with mint on a soft cracker 19. A rosemary cookie sandwich filled with butter cream and a fig compote was slightly savory 18. Kohakutou is a Japanese candy that has a crunchy outer sugar layer, and was made from Japanese oranges in this case - very sugary, but tasty 18. A chocolate tarte with dry ginger was more subdued 17. Finally, a cocktail called “World Peace” was made from peanuts, milk and Japanese soju. Based on a recipe by San Francisco's one-starred State Bird Provisions, this was a nice capstone to our meal. Light and flavorful, I don't know how this could be made any better 20. After that, a traditional matcha tea concluded our lunch.
Overall: A great lunch with wonderful service. I liked the subtle Japanese influences in terms of ingredients and etiquette (such as the ravioli course standing in for the rice pot), but otherwise this was purely French cooking. There were some superb dishes, but unfortunately also some that were “merely” good. What was frustrating about the latter dishes was that they had all the makings of being fantastic, but were just missing a final nudge in terms of more salt or more acidity to make them truly shine. Had I asked for a salt shaker, my ratings might have gone up by quite a bit. I would blame my Western palate, but this very meal showed that the kitchen is quite capable of producing perfectly seasoned dishes, they just didn't do so consistently 18.
