TFP Review
★Les Creations de
Narisawa/
Gaienmae: French
▼5785-0799
▽Data

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The doors of this
contemporary French
restaurant open
soundlessly onto a
white dining space
that gleams with
polished surfaces.
Music is notably
absent, and the
staff moves in cat-
like silence. All of
this is done, pre-
sumably, to focus
the diner's atten-
tion on the food.
But even if the
walls were fuchsia
and music was blar-
ing, Chef Yoshihiro
Narisawa's creations
would be impossible
to ignore.

Mr. Narisawa left
for Europe at the
age of seventeen,
and his food takes
in the influence of
those early days. A
dish of langoustines
and morel mushrooms,
bathed in a rich
Marsala cream sauce,
is indulgently nos-
talgic. Dewy slices
of smoked salmon,
draped over a bed of
finely diced vegeta-
bles, are enshrouded
in a puff of smoke
under a glass dome.
The presentation is
dazzling, but the
intense flavor of
the salmon steals
the show.

Mr. Narisawa deftly
combines innovative
techniques with a
quiet Japanese sen-
sibility. Delicately
fried baby ayu
sweetfish are served
with sugar-dusted
cherry blossom pet-
als and arranged on
the plate to look as
though they're swim-
ming. In a dish
called Mountains and
the Sea, the chef
hides succulent
abalone beneath a
layer of mildly
bitter sansai moun-
tain vegetables, and
covers the composi-
tion with a trans-
parent gelee of
Jamon Iberico. The
effect is surprising
- light and satisfy-
ingly earthy at the
same time.

The meat dishes, in
particular, showcase
the chef's talent.
Rosy medallions of
pork, painstakingly
braised for hours
using a technique
called arroser, are
perfectly tender and
infused with flavor.
The pork comes with
puddles of sweet
onion puree and dots
of highly concen-
trated, anise-scent-
ed sauce, but the
meat is delicious
enough on its own to
render these gar-
nishes almost unnec-
essary.

No meal is complete
without dessert, and
at Les Creations de
Narisawa you'll get
at least three.
Despite your pro-
tests, the server
will leave a box of
airy macarons on the
table. And, despite
your better judg-
ment, you will eat
every last one.

[Prix-fixe menus are
Y7000 and Y21,000 at
lunch, and Y21,000
at dinner, plus
service charge. No a
la carte at dinner-
time.]

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◎Minami-Aoyama 2-6-
15. ◎Open noon-1:
30, 6:30-9pm (LO).
Closed Sundays, 3rd
Mon.

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