Sezanne

European Dining with Asian Ingredients and Influences in Tokyo, Japan

Sezanne has been on my list for awhile. I heard about how legendarily difficult it was to get a reservation and when I was lucky enough to stumble upon an opening, I immediately booked it and told a few friends to fly in for the meal. In between the time that I made the reservation, and we arrived in Tokyo, Sezanne received their third Michelin star, making even harder to get any future reservations.

Working across London, Paris and New York, where he trained under Chef Thomas Keller at Per Se, Chef Daniel Calvert worked in many major food destinations around the world before arriving in Hong Kong. He spent five years running Belon there, getting his first Michelin star and being ranked 4th on Asia’s best restaurants list before being approached by the Four Seasons to move to Tokyo to open Sezanne. In their first year of opening they immediately earned two Michelin stars, and a few weeks before we arrived, they earned their third star. Earlier this year, they were also ranked number 1 on Asia’s best restaurants list.

With expectations high, we arrived at the Four Seasons Marunouchi completely and absolutely hungover having flown in late the previous night and staying out drinking as each friend arrived and joined the revelry later and later into the night. After a few coffees at the bar, we were in a slightly more respectable shape, and we were escorted into the main dining room for the lunch service.

We were presented with a list of all the suppliers for the restaurant, and two menus to choose from. We’d made the trip to Tokyo primarily to visit Sezanne, so we decided to go all out with the seasonal menu. To my amusement, it was hairy crab season, and many the dishes had strong Chinese influences.

The amuse bouche was a rich aged cheese puff, a perfectly square piece of pacific saury on top of sweet caramelized onions and green olive paste, and half a duck foie gras tart with a jelly made from soy sauce and yellow wine, finished with a gold dust topping.

We were presented with the Shanghai hairy crabs, and the largest white truffle I’ve ever seen in my life.

The bread course was a home-baked sourdough made with Japanese brown rice and white miso. A bit of an odd sour note, might be the sourdough mother that they were using. This was the only dish that I didn’t love. This was served with a rich Brittany butter.

The first hot starter was a hot soup made with hairy crab meat and roe. Rich, creamy, decadent and completely loaded with hairy crab flavour. Some deep fried croutons were added to add a bit of texture. An absolute masterpiece.

The next starter was a Kasugodai (or young Sea Bream). Uniquely, they sandwiched a thin layer of Bafun Uni mousse between two layers of fish, and topped it with a bit of caviar, lemon zest, Japanese Parsley and a sauce made from the Uni.

The third starter was the pan-seared Fugu (the deadly Japanese pufferfish). The dish had two pieces of firm, almost chewy pufferfish, some silky pufferfish smelt, as well as two deep fried buttery croutons and Japanese cabbage. This was sauced with a carrot, hairy crab roe and fish bone sauce.

They came around to present the drunken crabs. The Shanghainese hairy crabs were marinaded for 5 days in a French yellow wine, from the Jura region of France.

The crabs were picked for all the meat, and formed into a tart and finished with a gold powder spray. A lot of intricate work for a single condensed mouthful of sharp alcohol and rich crab flavour.

Next, came a rich Hokkaido monkfish liver on top of a single perfectly round ravioli filled with peanuts and mushrooms, topped with a sweet wine consume and additional foie gras fat for richness.

Before the next dish, we were presented with some live hairy crab, recently deshelled and still moving. These crabs were rapidly disassembled and picked for the next dish.

My favourite dish of the night, a hairy crab roe risotto topped with massive flakes of white truffle. The absolute highlight of my meal - masterfully executed, with perfect textures and a very generous serving of white truffle.

A dish not for the trypophobic, an refreshing cucumber and vichyssoise pudding topped with Ikura (salmon roe) and a small pinch of horseradish, served on a plate full of spaced holes. After the richness of the last few dishes, it was a great palate cleanser and reset before the main courses.

The first preparation of the 10 day aged duck, Peking duck style and presented to us on a silver platter.

A slice of duck breast, with extremely crisp skin, double sauced with a carrot leaf sauce and a thick sweet red wine reduction, along with sweet carrots and a single piping hot baby potato.

The second preparation was a flavourful broth made with the duck bones, the duck leg meat, cubed and served in a cup with spätzle and topped with a boiling green onion oil. A very Chinese preparation of the aromatics and flavours, although using a very European noodle.

As a palate cleanser before dessert, a refreshing lemon curd topped with a lime granita, served within a half lime.

The first dessert was a shaved chestnut tart, presented on top of warm chestnut cream, with a single slice of white truffle. Quite neat, and a very delicate preparation. I’m personally not a huge fan of chestnut, but the dish worked quite well.

A slice of a soft chocolate brownie.

Finally, a carrot cake with hairy crab roe, topped with thin sticks of lemon zest. These are two flavours that I would not expect to work well together, but uniquely did, with the sweetness of the carrot cake contrasting with the slight bitter richness of the hairy crab roe.

The famous Daniel Calvert sea salt chocolate cookie. presented to us in a gift bag as we were leaving.

Going into the meal, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but expectations were high. I wasn’t sure if we were going to see a very strictly French meal like Les Amis, or a more contemporary fusion approach blending French cuisine and local culture, like Odette, or La Biographie.

Instead, I got neither - I got a European style meal, using many Japanese, Chinese and French ingredients, and Chef Daniel demonstrating the influences from Chinese cooking from his time in Hong Kong. This was an absolutely amazing meal, and well worth the trip to Tokyo.

Total damage 307500 JPY/3 people