Girandole’s spacious dining area ()
Visitors to Tokyo come excited to experience Japanese cuisine but, once you’ve lived here for a while, you realize that Tokyoites are spoilt for choice when it comes to the quality of food available from around the world. Tokyo is a mecca for some of the most skilled and experienced chefs from all over Europe and Asia, many of whom will jump at the chance to test their skills in Tokyo’s competitive fine dining industry. One such chef with experience in both the Japanese and French culinary industries is Chef Kojiro Tsutsumi who joined Park Hyatt’s Girandole restaurant in 2007. Since then, Tsutsumi has risen through the ranks at Girandole, becoming Sous Chef in 2014 and promoted to Chef de Cuisine five years later. Specializing in traditional brasserie cuisine using local Japanese ingredients, this summer, Chef Tsutsumi will be serving Girandole’s new summer menu, the Pintade d’Amakusa.
Situated on the 41st floor of the Park Hyatt Hotel in Shinjuku, Girandole is one of the most picturesque fine-dining restaurants in the capital. With stunning views of the city and a relaxed yet luxurious atmosphere, the dining area features a two-story-high collage of European brasserie life, evoking a romantic Parisian getaway without leaving Tokyo. While Chef Tsutsumi’s French brasserie skills are on display throughout the three-course menu, he’s added no shortage of exciting twists to the dining experience.
Opening the menu is the first course of Antilles-style marinated bluefin tuna with avocado mousse. Immaculately plated and garnished, the locally-sourced bluefin tuna has a subtle sweetness and buttery tenderness derived from the Antilles-style marinade often seen in French seafood and poultry dishes. The avocado mousse appears almost like wasabi, adding to the Japanese-French fusion quality of the dish.
The crown jewel of the summer menu is of course the titular pintade, this course is made up of the main dish and a salad dish, both using specially-selected quarters of the bird. On theme for the menu, the guineafowl, known as the queen of poultry, is a French pure-bred pintade sourced from Kumamoto’s Amakusa. This pintade was raised on a steady diet of protein-rich okara and a feed comprised of local oyster shells, seaweed and rice as well as mineral-rich groundwater. The main dish is a roasted Amakusa pintade breast with sauteed seasonal vegetables also sourced in Amakusa. The pintade breast possesses a succulence that can’t be captured in most other poultry dishes and the sauteed Amakusa vegetables provide a sweetness offsetting the light, sudachi-infused natural jus.
Served with the pintade breast is a roasted Amakusa pintade leg and summer leaves salad. Plated on a light seeded mustard dressing, the entire dish has a bright and crisp texture punctuated by the crispy and savory skin of the pintade leg. Paired with a light and refreshing white wine or rosè, the course is high in vitamins and minerals, perfect for overcoming the summer heat.
Dessert is pistachio cream, strawberry and fig jam, mixed berries and strawberry sorbet. The light and summery dessert is dynamic in flavor and texture, perfectly rounding out the menu and nicely paired with the variety of teas and coffees available.
Having quickly risen through the ranks at Girandole, Chef Tsutsumi shows no signs of slowing down with the creativity of his offerings as Chef de Cuisine. The skillful fusion of French and Japanese influences in the summer Pintade d’Amakusa menu proves that the experienced chef will continue to exceed the already high standard set by Girandole’s heritage and reputation.
The Pintade d’Amakusa course is available until August 8, 2022
Sharing menu for 2 – ¥15,000 (¥16,500 including tax) For reservations and inquiries, please contact Girandole at 03-5323-3459.
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Girandole – 41st floor, Park Hyatt Tokyo, 3-7-1 Nishishinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 163-1055
