L'Alchimiste: A Beautiful Mind

The famous gastronome Brillat-Savarin apparently once said “A chef must be like an alchemist”. Apparently, he was also clairvoyant as he was obviously thinking of Chef Ken'ichi Yamamoto. Sometimes, Gentle Reader, it pays to choose what's behind the lavender door. 

Your Humble Correspondent (YHC) is an occasional visitor to this wonderful playground of a restaurant, run by a delightful husband and wife (chef and sommelier) team together with a sous. The formula for success is simple - he cooks, she serves and pours, you enjoy.

It has the added appeal of not allowing children under twelve, which seems to my feeble mind to significantly improve the dining environment as well as overall safety. It also does not take kashi-kiri bookings, preferring diversity and energy in its guest list rather than drab infections of bland sarariman and over-ebullient brokers.

L'Alchimiste is focused on quality, quality, and then quality. The food is inspired and playful, Gentle Reader, and a carefully considered and interesting wine flight / degustation turns a meal into a journey. Chef describes his food as "pop gastronomy" - which seems unfortunate to YHC - but serves to underline both the reflection of food trends (i.e. "pop"-ular) and the taste explosion in a diner's mouth (where a pop is certainly much to be preferred over a bang).

The illusion is sustained by a menu that only lists the ingredients (or at least did when YHC has dined) from which M. Yamamoto conjures whimsical courses which keep bringing one back to the relationship between the ingredients and the magic. The standard fare is a ten course degustation menu for Y12,000 or Y18,000 with 5 wines (Y20,000 with 7).

The wine list is broader than it is deep, and suffers slightly from a fashionable bias towards bio and organic wines. At the risk of sounding old-fashioned, this trend is more about marketing than oeneology - the best Old World wines have been bio for centuries, and planting and pruning has long been linked to the lunar cycle.

At the risk of not being able to get a table in this 14 seat den of legerdemain for oneself, Gentle Reader, this is foodie heaven and deserves your patronage. It is a place to take fellow gastronomes like Brillat-Savarin or lovers, but never colleagues. Never.

And should you spy YHC in the corner, that means my lavender camouflage has failed and one needs to flee ...

Pip Pip!

L'Alchimiste: 1-25-26 Shirokane, Minato-ku t: 03-5422-7358 
Rating: Food: 9/10; Lavender-ness: 8/10; Service: 8/10; Ambiance: 8/10; Price-Performance: 8/10.
Total: 41/50 (4 Forks)