Hyperlocal Tokyo

An Italian restaurant in Minami Aoyama. It's located within a 5-minute walk from Omotesando Station. It was awarded as one of the Top 100 Italian Restaurants in 2023. I went there around 12:30 pm on a Saturday, and it was about 70% full. The interior is dimly lit, creating a moody atmosphere. It has a luxurious feel with a black color scheme. Being in the basement, it felt like dinner even though it was lunch. I had the ¥7,150 lunch course. The course menu is as follows: ✔︎ Warm Appetizer ① The first dish was a fritter made with fresh porcini mushrooms from Italy. It was topped with cheese and acorn-fed ham. It was mind-blowing how the porcini mushrooms could achieve such a fluffy, potato-like texture (*ﾟ▽ﾟ*). ✔︎ Warm Appetizer ② Grilled horse mackerel with binchotan charcoal. The horse mackerel was sourced from Odawara Fishing Port. The salty flavor and aroma of the crispy skin were excellent. It was served with grilled lotus root. There was kuzu-ko (sweet potato starch) hidden in the holes of the lotus root, adding a chewy texture. The sauce was a beurre blanc sauce with capers. Then bread arrived. Ciabatta and rosemary focaccia. ✔︎ Pasta Spaghetti with mussels and nine-leaf leeks. The mussels were from Mont Saint-Michel. It was a simple and delicious Japanese-style dish. I devoured it in no time (●´∀｀●). ✔︎ Main Dish The main dish was boneless roast veal. It was from New Zealand. It was springy and delicious ✨. The sauce was made with meat broth and butter. It was sprinkled with girolle mushrooms. ✔︎ Dessert, Coffee Homemade Japanese chestnut Mont Blanc. The aroma of rum and candied chestnut skin gave it a bitter and sophisticated taste. It had vanilla gelato inside. I chose coffee for my drink. It was a very satisfying lunch. Both the atmosphere and the quality of the food made it feel like a dinner. A luxurious Italian restaurant. Thank you for the meal(^^)!

A business dinner at Ristorante Hiro Aoyama, a long-established Italian restaurant in Omotesando. The amuse-bouche was a fritter of pike conger eel and broad beans. The following assortment of appetizers was like a Japanese eight-course meal, each dish delicious. The prosciutto and red flesh melon was incredibly tasty. The octopus carpaccio was incredibly tender. The abalone was also delicious. The fish course was a mahata (grouper). The blue-ribbon sauce was also a nice touch. The main course was a 30-day aged Tochigi Kiryu Highland beef loin roasted in a wood-fired oven. A crossbreed of Japanese Black and Holstein, the beef had a good balance of fat and the rich flavor of the red meat was delicious. The whole onion roasted over embers was also delicious. For pasta, we chose a double order of bottarga spaghetti and porcini tagliatelle from four options. The bottarga pasta had a nice aroma of green chili peppers and was delicious. The porcini tagliatelle was also delicious, with its homemade pasta. The wine selection included three options: sparkling, white, and red. The Amarone paired perfectly with the meat. The dessert was also impressive. A Miyazaki mango was flash-frozen with liquid nitrogen, creating a frozen mango sorbet. The meal ended with a roll cake with a strong egg flavor and a cappuccino. The restaurant has a luxurious interior with a dark, sophisticated atmosphere. The explanations of the dishes were also detailed. It was a great restaurant. Thank you for the meal!

The whitebait fritters are truly exquisite. The crispy texture, the creamy melt-in-your-mouth quality, and the light, airy feel are perfectly balanced, making it a truly perfect dish. Tonight, it's sure to be a winner. And the dessert is also fantastic. It's subtly sweet, with a refined flavor that creates a perfect balance. The overall composition is excellent, with every element crafted to a high standard, following the flow of the meal. It's truly a work of art.

All the dishes were delicious. I had a very enjoyable time. Thank you.

We made a reservation for the Christmas lunch course and visited. First, we had bruschetta topped with quail eggs and white truffles. It was delicious and set the stage for the rest of the meal. Next came a colorful assortment of appetizers. The crispy and fragrant 'Fried Taro Root' was delightful, the 'Caprese with Fruit Tomatoes and Burrata Cheese' was refreshingly delicious, the 'Fresh Fish Carpaccio' was excellent, the 'Caviar and Crab Steamed Dish' had a perfect balance of saltiness and sweetness, the 'Foie Gras Sauté with Apple Mostarda' was rich and flavorful, and the 'Prosciutto with French Pear' was a classic combination. The main course was a 'Roasted Kumano Chicken with Black Truffle Sauce,' showcasing the chicken's rich flavor. The tagliatelle with generous amounts of Ise lobster was also excellent. The finale was a 'Roast Prime Highland Beef Tenderloin Aged for 30 Days,' cooked in a fireplace. I was full by the end, but I managed to finish it all. For dessert, we had a delightful combination of strawberries, custard, and ice cream, with a crispy and fragrant pie as the star. Overall, it was a delicious meal, and I was completely satisfied. Thank you for the wonderful experience!