Neighborhood: Yaesu (across from Tokyo station)
Price range: $$$
Dish to order: Linguine with wagyu sauce; braised Ise-ebi lobster with buckwheat and chili pepper
On the 40th floor of the Bulgari Hotel in Yaesu, this is Niko Romito’s Tokyo outpost, and it looks the part. Architects Antonio Citterio and Patricia Viel have outfitted the space with a soaring vaulted ceiling lined in wood panels, a fireplace lounge for pre-dinner aperitivi, and window walls framing the Imperial Palace below. The result is grand, elegant, and very Bulgari: Niko Romito, who holds three Michelin stars at Reale in Abruzzo, preaches the gospel of simplicity, and executive chef Mauro Aloisio carries that ethos to Tokyo with a repertoire of his own. His Tokyo-only signatures include a silky linguine cloaked in wagyu sauce and dusted with dried olives and capers, and braised Ise-ebi lobster set on spinach in a sauce infused with buckwheat tea and chili pepper. Elsewhere on the menu, sweet botan-ebi floats in a delicate broth flecked with pink pepper, parsley, and lemon oil, and a tender wagyu fillet arrives finished with a swirl of caper sauce and grapes. The restaurant holds one Michelin star, and it earns it. Both tasting menus and a la carte options are available.
Address: 40F Bulgari Hotel Tokyo, 2-2-1 Yaesu, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-0028