Month: December 2019

The best chocolate cafes in Asia

This page is about great chocolate cafes in Asia (sometimes I call them chocolaterie that in French indicates a chocolate shop usually run by the producer). To qualify, the venue must have seats and have a range of original products. Most of these places are “bean to bar” operations, where the maker supervises every step of the process beginning with the choice of the beans. I have also included dessert cafes that have a special attention to chocolate. They are ranked, but they are all pretty awesome. Follow the in-text links for a full review.

1. Maison Marou – Ho Chi Minh City

Maison Marou in Ho Chi Minh City is the flagship outlet, cafe, and laboratory of Marou Chocolate, a brand founded less than a decade ago by two enterprising Frenchmen and using single origin beans from Vietnam. Their cafe showcases some of the stages of the production, their full line up that keeps growing, and some outstanding cakes.

2. Green Bean to Bar Chocolate – Tokyo

As the name Green Bean to Bar Chocolate suggests, this workshop adopts the philosophy to manage all the production process, from bean to bar. Their cakes are nothing less than extraordinary. You do not want to miss their eclair. It is located in the swanky Naka-Meguro.

3. Yu Chocolatier – Taipei

A great French-style chocolate shop, Yu Chocolatier also impressed by the hospitality of his staff. Pay attention to his seasonal creations.

4. Khom Chocolate House

Khom Chocolate House is a charming little cafe in Chiang Mai that offers a number of original drinks, cakes, and bonbons. It works mostly with French and Belgian chocolate. Ms Khom is the pulsing heart of the shop and adds her personal warmth and friendliness to the experience.

5. Cacaotier Gokan, Osaka

The spin-off of the famous Gaokan pastry shop in Osaka, Cacaotier Gokan is all devoted to chocolate using handpicked ingredients from around the world. While the first floor with its bonbons and bars looks like a boutique, the second floor of the venue is a lovely tea room with a retro flavor. The platter with the cake samples when you order is a showstopper.

6. 2am: dessert bar – Singapore

While not focused on chocolate, Janice Wong’s 2am: dessert bar in Holland Village in Singapore deserves a mention because chocolate is indeed a fundamental ingredient of many of the artistic desserts on the menu. The cake called Chocolate H20 is a classic and a must-have.

7. 17°C – Seoul

There are a lot of chocolate shops in Seoul and I may add more to this list as I continue to explore. For now, 17°C stands out especially for its seasonal drinks and a chocolate bingsu.

Green Bean to Bar Chocolate, an amazing chocolaterie in Meguro, Tokyo

First of all, I would like to acknowledge that I was first made aware of this little gem by watching a video about the area posted by Paolo from Tokyo, a very reliable youtuber from Tokyo who knows what he is talking about. Check out his videos.

The visit

I slowly arrived at the shop from Daikanyama Site Station, but you can as easily reach the place walking from Naka-Meguro Station (actually the latter is recommended because technically Daikanyama is not a metro stop, which makes thing more complicated, and the walk along the canal from Naka-Meguro Station is certainly more pleasant).

The storefront facing the street bordering the canal is in a nice light blue.

Inside they have many chocolate products for sale. “Green bean to bar” means an artisan production from the beans to the finished product. They seem to handpick quality beans from various locations and mold them in delicious chocolate bars and more.

I was particularly interested in their fresh pastry creations that were nicely displayed at the counter. The desserts were clearly inspired by French classics, but with a twist. The shop is directed by Chloé Doutre-Roussel, a Parisian chocolate connoisseur.

This place is not only a shop, but also a cafe.

I ended up ordering their special eclair (“special” because I have never seen it in this nice shape), a chocolate pudding, and, an iced tea.

The two chocolate desserts were just perfect, with the right balance between sweetness and bitterness (at least for my taste).

The check

I spent 1,485 yen (13.5 USD): a very honest check for thirty minutes of bliss in this place.

In my opinion, Green Bean to Bar Chocolate is one of the great chocolaterie you can find in Asia.

Where in Tokyo:
2-16-11 Aobadai, Meguro-ku.
Website: https://greenchocolate.jp.

Kakigori event at Florilege

Florilege is a Michelin-starred French restaurant in Tokyo, also included in the list of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. Reservations are pretty tough. But in October 2019 I was able to get a seat at one of their Kakigori special events nicknamed Gari Garilege.

Kakigori, of course, is Japanese saved ice (see this review). This random events at Florilege are announced through their Instagram and headed by pastry chef Miho Horio. I learnt about the event thanks to Time Out Tokyo event page.

The visit

I just showed up at around 3pm and I was promised a slot at 4.30pm. Meantime I hang out in the neighborhood (there was a festival going on in the nearby shrine), then I got an email from the receptionist for an earlier opening. All good.

Before being seated, I had to place my order and pay at the reception. I chose the kakigori with Japanese chestnut (by the way, I think there was a mistake in the menu because there was no chocolate). All kakigori available looked interesting. I should mention that they also had ramen available. But I passed on it since I had other dinner plans.

I sat at the counter circling the kitchen. The room was very dark and the pictures are pretty bad. It must be nice to have a full meal here.

I was shown the drink menu.

I ordered a cold tea that incurred in additional 500 yen that I paid directly to the waiter behind the counter.

The kakigori arrived with an additional glazed chestnut on the side. It was really rich with pastry-grade chestnut paste spread on top. It took a while to find my way inside this huge kakigori. It was certainly a great specimen of Japanese shaved ice.

The check

So, all in all, I spent 3,000 yen… that was a handsome amount of money for a kakigori and a tea. But it was in a top venue with top-shelf ingredients. No regrets.

Where in Tokyo:
2-5-4 Jingumae B1.
Website: https://www.aoyama-florilege.jp/en.
Keep an eye on their Instagram and Facebook for events like this.

Snacking on Amazake Yokocho in Tokyo

Amazake Yokocho (alley) is a lovely street in Ningyocho neighborhood in Tokyo. The name comes from the old days, before the big Kanto earthquake, when there was a popular shop selling amazake (a sweet drink made from fermented rice). The street, less than 400-meter long, is dotted by interesting shops and eateries.

The visit

I spent some time checking out the shops after a meal in Futaba restaurant.

The first obvious stop was Futaba shop itself specializing in tofu products.

In the shop you can find tofu in all imaginable ways. Most of their offering seems to cater to households or other restaurants, but…

There is a product you should not miss. Made out from soy milk, their donuts are something to try. Just a few hundred yen.

in front of the shop they have a bench and a couple of chairs where you can enjoy the donuts.

Next to Futaba, there is a shop called Morinoen specializing in toasted green tea (houjicha). You can smell the aroma of the green tea being toasted from the street. They have a nice houjicha soft-serve ice cream that I tried. They also have a tea room upstairs. The place deserved another visit.

Across the street there is a famous seller of taiyaki (the popular cake filled with read bean sauce shaped as a fish) called Yanagiya. On a Saturday afternoon the queue was just too much for me. Go on a weekday.

I did go back and got my prize during a weekday later in December (just 160 yen for one). It was peeping hot and the red bean paste was tasty, but I am not so expert to judge what makes people queue.

Next to the taiyaki place, there is a shop selling traditional sweets that I highly recommend. A lady that I suspect was the owner spoke English with me.

One of their signature product is a type of dorayaki, pancakes stuffed with red bean paste that have a tiger-pattern (for this reason is called torayaki, tora meaning tiger in Japanese) . Hence the tiger in the shop window. These are very nice gifts.

The choice was pretty amazing. In the end I tried a cake with chestnut. This sweet is called gyokuman, which consists of a chestnut surrounded by five stacked layers of red bean paste.

They even had some parfaits and their own soft-ice cream good for your stroll.

One more snack

Ningyocho is the place where ningyo-yaki were originated. These are small pancakes filled with sweet red bean paste shaped as heads. Literally, it means “cooked dolls” and is yet another reference to the doll-making businesses that were once located in the area (Ningyocho means “doll town”). The head actually are a reference to the faces of the Seven Lucky Gods. There are a few places selling those in Ningyocho. The ones pictured above were purchased from Amamidokoro Hatsune (甘味処 初音). On one of the corners of Amzake street Itakuraya is another shop selling them.  

The check

All the snacks mentioned above cost a few hundred yen each (just a few dollars). I highly recommend this street for a good snack or two.

Where in Tokyo:
Nihombashi, Ningyocho 2.
In Japanesse: 日本橋人形町2.
Website: http://amazakeyokocho.jp.

Atmosphere and delicious tofu dishes at Futaba in Tokyo

Tofu cuisine is a thing in Japan; there are even high-end restaurants serving tofu-based course meals. While exploring Ningyocho I came across a shop and restaurant specializing in tofu that I decided to try: Tofu no Futaba (豆腐の双葉) on Amazake Yokocho street. Contrary to what you might find online, the restaurant is no longer open for dinner, it only serves set lunch menus from Monday to Saturday.

The visit

I knew the restaurant was upstairs and initially I headed to the main shop on Amazake street. But it is the wrong entrance for the restaurant.

The shop keeper assigned her six year old son to escort me to the right entrance on a side street around the corner.

Actually, I later realized they had a sign explaining where to go in front of the shop, but it was all in Japanese.

It was a Saturday and there were a lot of customers in the dining room dominated by a long communal table where I sat.

No English menu, but ordering was simple since they had a nice picture menu and you can order only set menus that start at 1,000 yen. I went for the most expensive deluxe set.

The order was taken by a lovely old lady that was literally running the all place by herself. After taking the order and going into the kitchen, she ran out and from the other side of the room she asked “Ponzu ok?”. Hell, yes, it was ok, I love ponzu, a citrus-based vinegar sauce. I guess she must have had trouble with some other foreign customers so she asked. She was adorable.

Soon the lunch set I ordered arrived in all its splendor. There were three different tofu dishes, in addition to a large miso soup, rice, cabbage, and pickles.

The tofu was prepared in different styles and combined with different vegetables. I found all dishes delicious even if I might have not understood all the details.

I have filed this restaurant under “vegetarian”, but you know that in Japanese cuisine they use a lot of stocks made our from meat, so I cannot guarantee that it is really vegetarian.

After lunch I had a dessert or two on Amazake Yokocho street.

The check

The check was 1,500 yen (or 13.75 USD). All the experience was really nice and I would certainly go back for the food.

And after the meal you can stroll on Amazake Yokocho street for desserts.

Where in Tokyo:
2-4-9 Ningyocho.
Website (not updated): http://www.futaba-tofu.jp.

A oyster course menu at Hokkaido Akkeshi in Nihombashi

Hokkaido Akkeshi is an izakaya in Nihombashi, Tokyo, specializing in oysters from the namesake town. Akkeshi, in Hokkhaido, is a famed oyster producer and its oysters are the only one in Japan available all year round (but in limited quantities and they are regarded as a gourmet dish; they are small but rich in flavor, see more in this article).

I was there during my October 2019 trip with a group of other 11 people and we had their course menu. These menus are quite common in izakayas, sometimes they are called banquet menus and are a perfect solution for large parties. We also had the all you can drink deal.

The visit

The izakaya is located in a basement and the oyster theme is evident since the entrance where a selection is on display.

Thanks to a local friend who managed the reservation, we had a private room all for ourselves.

The first dish was an appetizer sporting egg custard with seafood and two slices of sashimi (karei, Japanese flat fish).

Then we shared a salad with lotus root.

The third dish was a bucket of fresh oysters. Unfortunately, only one per person…

The fourth dish was clams and more oysters that were boiled at the table.

The content was perfectly measured to give everyone one oyster and three clams.

We then had another pot with salmon (two slices per person), mushrooms, and vegetables.

But the most exquisite dish was their kake furai (deep-fried oyster). It was simply delicious with all the sweet and salty flavor of the oyster intact beneath the frying.

Then, what was left of the hot pot with salmon and vegetables was used to cook noodles. The broth was very delicious.

The last dish reserved a surprise… it was a sort of chestnut Montblanc with the shape of an oyster. Very elegant.

The check

The costs of the course menu was 4,000 yen for the food and 1,500 for the all you can drink option. Taxes included. It was around 50 USD per person for a very satisfying meal that included some surprisingly good dishes. I highly recommend this place but a warning: there were no English menus or English speaking staff. But if you order the course menu you might just do fine even if you do not speak Japanese.

Where in Tokyo:
2-2-15, Nihombashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 103-0027.
PS: there is a oyster bar operated by the same company in COREDO Muromachi shopping center that serves excellent lunch sets with fried oysters. They have English menu and may be a safer bet to enjoy this kind of oysters.

Nabeno-Ism (Tokyo), a French restaurant with a Japanese soul

French restaurants can be very fun in Japan, when the chef is Japanese and is not afraid to push the envelope (see my experience with Goh). Nabeno-Ism, headed by Robuchon’s alumnus Yuichiro Watanabe, is certainly a perfect example of this trend. Yuchiro opened the restaurant in 2016, after 21 years of work in the Robuchon group. During this time, he came to become the head of the main Robuchon’s restaurant in Tokyo and he maintained three Michelin stars status for 9 consecutive years. His new restaurant was immediately awarded one star that became two in the 2019 and 2020 editions of the Tokyo Michelin Guide. The symbol of the restaurant that looks like three stars is taken from Yuchiro’s family crest (the three stars being three dumplings to be offered to the gods). The name encapsulates various elements, including a reference to Osaka Abeno cooking school, where his journey as a chef bagan.

The visit

The restaurant is located in an area South of Asakusa, on the bank of the Sumida river.

From the rooftop you can get a great view of the Sky-Tree.

I and two friends had lunch on a Sunday in October 2019 and we had the Komagata menu with a fixed course and the choice of fish, pork, or beef as a main.

The amuse bouche was actually a spectacular composition of appetizers: chilled tomato soup, with orange juice, maple syrup, and lemongrass foam (center); a Japanese rice cracker with French butter, an anchovy, a caper, and spices (bottom-right); beetroot tartare and cream cheese in a Japanese-wafer known as monaka (center right); a marinated green olive and dried plum wrapped with sliced sliced dry sausage and pickled cucumber (upper right). Difficult to describe all these unique flavors. Too bad they were small bites.

As expected for a French table, there was a bread basket. The bread, freshly baked, was the only element of the meal that was pretty ordinary.

The second dish was a buckwheat mash, with kombu jelly, sea urchin, grated wasabi, green onion sprout, and a golden leaf on top. On the spoon there was a bit of Vodka cream to be used to mix the mash).

The next dish was pigeon. I am not a fan of pigeon even if I know it is an important component of French cuisine. However, the meat was so perfectly cooked that I overcame my recalcitrance and I enjoyed the dish. There was a combination of pigeon breast cooked sous-vide and a sort of pate. The dish was completed by deep-fried eggplant, ginger jelly, quinoa, and two kind of grapes.

Next was a salmon confit on a toasted brioche, topped by salmon roe (ikura), rice, and a house-made paste made with boiled eggs and spinach. Three sauces were “splatted” on the plate: Sorrel paste, fresh cheese with fish sauce, and lemon. I guess a dish to mark the time of the week, the Sunday lunch.

My main was a delicious scorpion fish (difficult to know the exact species). The fish was deep-fried (but still very soft) and came with broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. The sauce was made with sherry vinegar, heavy cream, and a hint of soy sauce.

The first dessert was a marinated persimmon ball, lime jelly, and Juniper berries ice cream.

The second dessert was a composition of pasted chestnuts wrapped in cracked meringue with ginger and cassia sauces, plus a scoop of Laurier ice cream

Tea and petit four concluded the meal.

In describing his philosophy on the restaurant’s website, Youchiro refers Shizuo Tsuji, the dean of Japanese high-cuisine, that advocated a French style expressed with Japanese sensibilities, unique, and fun. The meal I had certainly lived up to his reputation, was one of my best meals of the year and I appreciated the boundless creativity and the unexpected combinations, not to mention the artful plating. It was French cuisine with Japanese sensibilities.

The check

I do not have a picture of the check, but this menu, available for lunch, costs 10,500 yen (96 USD). Menus for dinner are, of course, more expensive. Both for dinner and lunch also shorter courses are available, but I would recommend the full experience. Considering the quality and creativity of the course, I think the price point is incredibly generous. A place to visit again and again, with the menu changing frequently depending on the season and availability of ingredients.

Where in Tokyo:
2-1-17 Komagata.
In Japanese: 東京都台東区駒形2-1-17.
Website: www.nabeno-ism.tokyo.

The story of two fryers: Tempura Fukamachi

If you read my review of Hanabi Japanese Cuisine, you know that tempura can be material for fine dining. Japan is full of high-end tempura restaurants. Tempura Fukamachi is one of these and has been consistently awarded one star in the Tokyo Michelin Guide.

One of the unique features of the restaurant is the two fryers (behind a copper screen) kept at different temperatures to better match different types of food to be fried. This should give you an idea that this kind of tempura has really little to do with the greasy stuff you may find in overseas Japanese restaurants as an afterthought in a long menu.

The visit

I had a reservation at 1.15pm, the second turn for lunch, during my October 2019 trip to Tokyo. I arrived early and I killed a quarter of hour in the museum of the national lottery, just next door.

There were 11 counter seats and two tables for two people each. In my turn at 1.15pm there were only 6 customers including me. To my question, a waiter said that walk-ins with no reservation are ok. If you wish to avoid the hassle of making a reservation, just try to show up at 1.15pm and see if they have a seat.

The store-front in a side street of Ginza with the potted plants and the yellow curtains cannot be mistaken.

My workstation had the classic tempura sauce, shredded radish (most people will mix the radish with the sauce, but not me), sea salt and lemon.

There were three lunch menus and I made my choice upon arrival. The most expensive also included a dish with sea-urchin, while the less expensive did not have he final rice dish. There was also a vegetarian option, but including prawns. In the end I had menu n. 2. Here’s an account of the dishes.

1. Two prawns heads: very crispy, we were recommended to use salt.

2. Two prawn bodies, again with salt and then with sauce.

3. Gingko nuts.

4. Chestnut, with salt. Unexpected, it was very good.

5. Kisu (white fish). One of the best dishes for its tender meat. A would say that it is a tempura classic.

6. Lotus root.

At this point customers with the highest-priced menu got a sea urchin dish. It was fried inside a nori and cut in two. There was a lot of sea urchin, perhaps worth the extra 3,000 yen. Sure it looked delicious.

7. Hotate (scallop). A very meaty specimen.

8. Shiitake (Japanese mushroom).

9. Asparagus.

10. Anago (saltwater eel).

11. Hot tea and vegetables as a palate cleanser (carrot, radish, zucchini, napa cabbage or hakusai).

12. Miso soup.

12. Rice dish with shrimp tempura on top (tendon).

There were three options for the rice dish: Ten-Don, Ten-Cha, or Ten-Bara. The Ten-Don is a fritter served on rice with some soy-based sauce drizzled over it. The Ten-Cha is a fritter served over rice and then tea is poured over it. The Ten-Bara is a fritter chopped up and mixed into the rice. My tendon was excellent and totally worth the differential with the cheaper menu. The Ten-Cha also looked very inviting.

13. ice ceam scoop.

The chef would dip gently the food in the flour and then in the liquid batter, then use one of the two boilers, with different temperatures, to fry it.

I would say that the main difference with a regular tempura was that the frying did not kill or overwhelm the original flavors. Sauces were not particularly useful from this point of view. The food spoke by itself.

The 13 dishes took around 90 minutes, I had paid by 2.50pm.

The check

After tax, I paid 11,550 yen (105 USD). It was an excellent meal and worth the hefty check, even if I am not big on tempura course menus. If you visit Japan, I would recommend to try this kind of cuisine at least once so you can compare it with more regular tempura. I also spent 1,500 yen for the reservation service from Japaneazy.

Where in Tokyo:
2-5-2 Kyobashi.
In Japanese: 東京都 中央区 京橋 2-5-2 A·M京橋ビル 1/F.

Oyakodon dinner at Toritsune Shizendou in Tokyo

Oyakodon is is chicken meat and egg in seasoned broth over rice in a bowl. Oyako means parents and children, like chicken and egg, and don (donburi) means a bowl. I have always found it a cruel name. It is a simple dish good for lunch sets and quick dinners and it was purportedly invented in Tokyo.

I had it in Michelin-recommended restaurant in Akihabara called Toritsune Shizendou, the only venue that got recommended (Bib Gourmand) for this dish.

The visit

I went by the restaurant, housed in an independent building in a back alley near Suehirocho metro station, right after their afternoon closing time and I was able to speak to a lady and make a reservation for the same evening.

When I arrived I was seated at the counter. At 6pm I was one of the first customers. They also had some private rooms upstairs. But the place got busy pretty quickly, even if I think a walk-in for an individual customer may have still been possible. An English menu with pictures was available, but I think there were more options in the Japanese menu.

I had their signature Oyakodon that included a miso soup and some pickles. It was indeed delicious. All the elements were perfectly amalgamated together and every tiny piece of chicken was flawless (no cartilages or weird textures ruining the flavor).

But the restaurant also serves many other chicken-based dishes. I tried their chicken cutlet.

It was made out from one of the most perfect chicken breasts I have ever had.

Finally I had a specimen of their skewers with the infamous chicken dark meat. Again, the meat was flawless and very satisfying.

I can attest that all ingredients were top-shelf. According to their website, the owner-chef Mr. Sasaki handpicks whole chickens with internal organs and judges them. The reason for this is that the meat quality deteriorates faster if you remove the entrails (which is standard practice). The restaurant mainly uses female exemplars that are well-fattened, just before starting to lay eggs, 160-180 day old.

The check

Quality comes at a price. For these three dishes I paid almost 4,000 yen (36 USD). The bowl was 1,648 yen, the cutlet just 618 yen and the skewers a whooping 1,648 yen (there were also some other skewers similarly priced). It is a pity that the skewers had such a high price point, otherwise I would go back just for those and the cutlet.

Where in Tokyo:
5-5-2 Sotokanda.
Website: https://toritsuneshizendou.gorp.jp.

Butagumi, the tonkatsu trendsetter in Tokyo

Butagumi is a restaurant in Tokyo that has made a name for itself for elevating the simple tonkatsu to a fine dining experience. I must say that I do not think this is a completely new concept, Maisen does it (at least in their original location in Omotesando). However, Bugagumi has its own vibe and uniqueness.

The visit

I headed to the restaurant on an evening with a reservation. Unfortunately it was located quite far away (1km) from the nearest metro station, but I did not mind taking a walk. The restaurant occupies a traditional house in a quiet district that mixes residential buildings and several discreet eateries.

I was the first person to show up on that evening (at around 6pm). They had some trouble finding my reservation, but eventually I was escorted to a dining room upstairs. I was alone. The dining rooms are normal living quarters, the atmosphere is intimate. It is like dining in a private house and can host a total of less than 40 guests.

The first unique feature of the restaurant that struck me was the long list of pork varieties. There were more than 20 listed on the menu, but only half dozen were available (and I think are available at any given time). Still, the choice was amazing and for each variety it was possible to choose different cuts. I was attracted by the Himuro-Buta brand from Gunma, because it was described as aged for two months. Also, it was possible to ask for the belly, a very unusual cut for a tonkatsu (that usually is based on the loin or the fillet sometimes).

While my order was being prepared downstairs, I was served a complimentary amuse bouche (cherry tomato, pork, and a cracker with cheese. You would expect this kind of amuse bouche in a fine dining establishment and I guess this was the message.

I soon got the tonkatsu with a number of side dishes: rice, cabbage, pickles, and miso soup. It was over 200 grams.

The tonkatsu did not disappoint. It was different from any other tonkatsu I ever had. The pork belly was of course full of fat, but it did not bother and it merged well with the crust that was deep and soft at the same time.

Tonkatsu sauce and mustard were available along with the sauce for the cabbage.

I also had an additional side dish, a marinated eggplant.

The check

The total check was 4,100 yen (37.5 USD) with the tonkatsu set accounting for 3,200 yen (it was not the most expensive, some varieties of pork would exceed 5,000 yen). For a tonkatsu is a hansome sum of money (a tonkatsu set can cost as little as 10 USD even in central Tokyo). However I accept the philosophy of the restaurant and the search for great pork meat around Japan that kind of justify the higher price point.

Bonus: Butagumi for lunch at Roppongi Hills

Butagumi also operates a spin-off restaurant in the shopping complex of Roppongi Hills. I tried it as well for lunch!

It looked popular for lunch, but I arrived before noon and I dodged the lunch crowd. The picture above was taken when I was leaving.

I was seated at the counter where I could watch the frying at close range.

The menu was much simpler than in their main restaurant and there were only two types of pork meat: regular and premium brand. The exact provenance depends on daily stock. The regular brand includes pork from Chiba and Okinawa. The premium may mean pork from Gifu (natto-eating pork!) or Kagoshima; Matsusaka or Shirokane brands. I had their “small” 110-gram premium tonkatsu.

It came with the classic side dishes. Overall I found it quite ordinary.

Considering the price (1,980 yen or 18 USD) not sure about the value for money. I do not think that choosing the premium brand added anything and I would recommend to skip this venue, but still try the main restaurant for a more interesting experience.

Where in Tokyo:
Main restaurant: 2-24-9 Nishiazabu.
Roppongi Hills branch (B2F): Roppongi 6-2-31 (connected to exit 1 of Roppongi Hills metro station).
Website (in Japanese): http://www.butagumi.com.