The Mandarin Oriental – Molecular Tapas Bar
So, this past Sunday was Mina and my one year anniversary… We went to the Mandarin Oriental Molecular Tapas Bar in Nihombashi… Ranked the number one hotel in Tokyo! Yeah!
The service was top notch and we felt like royalty. Too bad it costs an arm and a leg to stay a night.
The menu for that night was the summer tapas selection which included:
Aperitif
Apple and Manchego Cheese
Caramel Corn
Uni and Fennel
Carrot Caviar
Fed
Langoustine Jim Lambie
Unagi, Pineapple, Miso
Wagyu
Smoke
Watermelon Bash
Crab
Xialongbao
Miso Soup
Air Granite
Chocolate Pumice
Olive Oil Gummy
Puff
NY Cheesecake
Cappucino
Miracle Fruits
First up was the Apertif which was some sort of algae sangria that reacts to the acidity of lime juice in order to change color from orange to purple.
Then came the Apple and Manchego cheese waffle which was made of thinly sliced toasted apple and freeze dried Manchego cheese, which reminded me of one of those flakey flute cookies but the tangy and crunchy apple with the freeze dried Manchego cheese had interesting texture.
Next up was the Caramel Corn. The Caramel Corn was exactly what the name implies expect that the corn was reconstituted into the consistency of an air puff and the caramel was drizzled over the corn puff. This was surprising because as soon as you crunched past the thin coating of caramel, the corn puff immediately melted upon contact with your tongue. The corn flavor was surprisingly potent.
Ahhh, Uni and Fennel… This is what I thought was the worst tapas of the night. I hate Uni and that definitely was the reason but the preparation of this tapas was interesting. Uni is sea urchin and in this tapas, the uni was changed into snow and the broth warm with some spices that I forgot. The mixture of hot and cold was interesting but I couldn’t get past the “fishy” taste of the uni and was underwhelmed.
Carrot Caviar… One of the three top tapas, in regards to presentation. This tapas was created by mixing carrot puree with algae that then reacts with sodium to create perfect round spheres which look like salmon roe. It was fascinating to watch the droplets form in the sodium bath and the process was interesting. This tapas was served with a passion fruit seed which was quite tasty.
Red… Red is a themed tapas that changed every season, this year it was tomato and this tapas was tomato overload. The skin of the tomato was transformed into a gelatin that had a strong tomato flavor and also the juicy innards were changed into white gelatin, the whole dish looked like a hard boiled egg and a cube of gelatin. Overall flavor was… tomato.
Langoustine Jim Lambie… This tapas was inspired by the artist Jim Lambie and was easily the most colorful dish. The two big shrimp were quite juicy and tasty too. I like the micro tomatoes and the pickled micro cauliflower. The sauce was something mixed with charcoal to give it the black color. Yes the black lines on the dish was the sauce.
Unagi, Pineapple and Miso… This tapas was one of my favorites. The amazing thing about this tapas was that no miso was used in its creation. The unagi or eel had a sauce which I forgot what it was but when you eat the unagi mixed with the sauce, it somehow creates a miso flavor. Amazing! This was so tasty I would have been happy with just a plate of that amazing unagi. Yumm!
Then came the Wagyu… For those who don’t know what Wagyu is, it is Japanese beef. Wagyu is supposed to be so soft you can cut it with a spoon and it was. The treatment for this particular Wagyu was that it was not cooked. Instead it was wrapped in leaves and given a 50 minute bath in an onsen. Yeah you heard right, this piece of beef was given a bath! WTF?!! Honestly, though the treatment of this tapas sounds impressive, I wasn’t impressed. I like my meat to have texture and Wagyu was so soft it almost didn’t taste like beef, more like artificial beef. Interesting none the less.
Smoke was two chicken oysters cooked with some sort of sauce with crispy skin and little orange tomatoes called chinese lanterns or strawberry tomatoes… The concept here was th steam is trapped under some earthen ware and as you reveal the food, the steam looks like smoke. No very original but it was delicious, cooked perfectly…
Watermelon Bash… Inspired by the Japanese custom to smash watermelons at the beach. All parts of the watermelon were used to create this tapas. The green outer coating is made entirely of watermelon husks and the inside was a sherbet made from watermelon, all was sprinkled with almond powder.
Crab… This was interesting but I didn’t care for the concept, it sort of grossed me out. So this tapas was made by deep frying a crab, the foam next to it is reconstituted vinegar and the green sause was something that I forgot. The whole dish reminded me of dying crabs and made me woozy but I ate the whole thing. The green sauce was the best part.
Xialongbao was definitely on my top three. This lamb shank was butterfly fillets and injected with the pan drippings of the lamb roast and put back into the oven to cook. This lamb was so juicy the goodness that was inside made a crazy exhale as I dove right in. I love lamb and this tapas was amazing. The concept behind this tapas was to recreate the juicy center of Chinese Xialongbao. It was accompanied with an avacado mashed potatoes.
This miso soup tapas was very interesting and quite flavorful. It looked like a beige egg yolk with tapioca pearls on the side but it was nothing like that. This tapas was flavor packed. The miscous layer fo the yolk thing was made from miso and seaweed and the inside was miso soup. The tapioca pearl looking things next to the yolk thing was actually tofu pearls. A very interesting tapa.
Air Granite… I couldn’t get a good picture of air granite but it basically was nitrogen froze vanilla icecream and azuki beans. As you eat air granite, smoke escapes from your nose. It was quite funny to watch the other people eat this one. I tried to keep the air granite in my mouth without having smoke shoot out of my nostrils but the long you wait the more the gas builds inside your mouth. I looked like a cartoon, you know when the cartoon character eats something so hot, steam shoot out of all orifices. Priceless. Not the most ingenious tapa but fun none the less.
Deserts:
Cappucino Cotton Candy
NY Cheesecake. Not really, it was quite light and puffy, almost like a snoball if you remember those hostess snacks.
Olive Oil Gummies
Puffs
Chocolate Pumice
And miracle fruits. They were just plain citrus fruits but they were accompanied by some sort of African bean that if you eat it, the proteins within the bean cause everything to taste sweet.
And at the end of the day you can pee in front of Nihonbashi. This is a daytime picture of the bathroom facing Nihonbashi but the view is even more amazing at night.
All in all, a good anniversay. I am torn about if it was worth the price to go to the Tapas Molecular Bar. The service and atmosphere were excellent but I love to eat and I had to get something ot eat afterwards because it was not filling. Mina was full but then again she is a girl. If you are in Tokyo, you should try it if you have the money. It was an experience.
Sorry for the weak pictures but I forgot my camera and had to use my phone.
[ Life.Iz.Good]
