Pierre Gagnaire in Akasaka

If you have some knowledge on French cuisine, you may have heard the name of "Pierre Gagnaire", as a Michelin three stars chef and its avant-garde dishes. In Akasaka(赤坂), we have his branch restaurant as "PIERRE GAGNAIRE TOKYO(ピエール・ガニエール東京)", located on the 36th floor of the ANA Intercontinental Hotel(ANAインターコンチネンタルホテル). However....maybe I had expected too much beforehand.

Entrance

Dining room of PIERRE GAGNAIRE TOKYO

Table setting 

Amuse 

Pain de campagne and ECHIRE butter 

Fruit bread and milk bread

Starter 1

Starter 2 

Starter 3 and 4

Starter 5 

Grilled scallop with Mimolette sauce 

Grilled pork with sweet potato sauce

Avant-dessert 

Ice cream and mousse 

Chocolate cake with berries 

Tea

Chocolate 

Main dining room is chic but bright with full of sunshine. We can enjoy the wide perspective of Tokyo. The price is not so reasonable. Even lunch time, either JPY8,000 or 15,000 per person excluding service charge. But on weekend, the seats were fully occupied.

The main feature of Pierre Gagnaire might be a set meal consisting of variety of dishes using different ingredients by different cooking styles. So, I was excited to see many small dishes were served one by one. But...unfortunately, each dish was not so delicious enough, which did not meet at a focus. Though I understood their concept to try experimental methods on cuisine, if the dishes are not so delicious and delicate, I found it meaningless.

Particularly, the quality of starters were not high. If I had tasted five not-so-great dishes, I would like to taste only one nice dish. Main dishes were much better, but at moderate level. I like the presentation...but what happened? If this restaurant won the two Michelin stars, more other restaurants in Tokyo should win further... or before, it had been advanced, but in the current days others may have already caught up. My rating is 2.4 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

PIERRE GAGNAIRE TOKYO(ピエール・ガニエール東京) 
http://www.anaintercontinental-tokyo.jp/pierre_gagnaire/index.html