Tapas Molecular Bar

I feel bad for writing this since I know the chefs take passion in the innovative dishes they create. However, since it wasn’t my first experience having molecular gastronomy food it wasn’t as fabulous as I was hoping. My hubby decided on this place for our NYE dinner in Tokyo. It was a special holiday menu with a special price. The hotel is beautiful and the view that the restaurant on was quite nice.
I’ve been to Alinea in Chicago years ago, e by Jose Andres, and we went to El Cellar de can Roca in Girona last January and Mugaritz in San Sebastian this past Spring. So I was somewhat expecting something better than Alinea and e but maybe not to the level of El Cellar since it’s the #1 restaurant in the world. So I think I walked in with fair expectations.
There are a number of reasons why I didn’t give the 5 star reviews like everyone else:
1. one of the dishes was pigeon and it was groose. I had to swallow it to not offend the chef since you’re sitting right in front of them.
2. another dish was a cheap tasting fish with no flavor baked in a clay bread that was not meant to be eaten but the chef said we could eat it.
3. a number of the sweet dishes should’ve been coated in chocolate instead of candy. It would’ve tasted better and better texture to the palate.
4. the caviar and lobster was fishy so I assumed it wasn’t fresh
5. the 72-​hour sous vide wagyu was tasteless and not good at all. All I was thinking was what a waste of Japanese beef.
6. the cigar wafer was too sweet for the savory dish that was in it. It just didn’t taste well together.
7. the hard jelly thing that was supposed to be like penne was just wayy to hard that it made the taste and texture taste groose. They used that hard jelly thing again.
None of the dishes actually tasted good. You have to go in with the understanding it’s more a show and all about creativity. So that’s why I’m giving 3 stars — for creativity but they fell far short from all the other molecular gastronomy restaurants I’ve been to. Hopefully they improve since it can be a memorable experience if the food is also tasty.

A fabulous dining experience from beginning to end. With only 8 patrons, the 2 chefs lead a theatric performance filled with surprises, delights and a hammer smashing or two.
Tapas molecular bar is wonderful in making you think of the cuisine from outside the ordinary. You are transported over 2 hours through 15 small plates on a wonderful journey thru a magical, culinary land. The dishes we had were not as they seemed. Forest, Prawn Cocktail, Penne, Benedict, Cigar, Fois Gras, Onsen Tamago, Cappuccino, Grouper, Guinea Fowl, Wagyu, Japanese breakfast with Rice, Natto and Nori. Walnut, Cheesecake, After Eight. An interesting tapestry with no common element other than to delight and entertain. 63 degrees Celcius and a measuring tape were used a lot as well as dry ice, a pair of pliers, a mini martini shaker and breathing. Now imagine balancing listening to instructions, taking shots and enjoying the meal and you get a picture of the whirlwind experience. All told, very enjoyable and I would do it again, the trick being landing one of the eight seats.

Just came back from here and it was a wonderful experience. Nothing is as it seems and I was genuinely and pleasantly tricked by the courses. The chefs prepare the courses in front of you and are genuinely friendly and interactive.
First class food, prepared in a fun and entertaining way.
Good value too for a restaurant of this calibre. I paid double in Melbourne for a similar standard molecular restaurant.

The most creative tasting menu I have ever had! There were so many unique tasting surprises — meaning what you see is not what you get. Clever use of ingredients and amazing presentation! They deserve more than one Michelin star! I thought the food tasted better than some of the three Michelin star restaurants in the US that I have been to. The chef from Hong Kong was a sweetheart and he was so nice and fun to talk to. This is a must for your trip to Tokyo! It will be worth it!

Tapas is an 8 person bar (actually they will take up to 12 with one group but they prefer and generally only book until 8). It’s small, intimate so that everyone has a front row, interactive, often amazing, frequently surprising, Michelin stared, culinary theater that is Molecular Gastronomy.
I might dare to say Tapas served up my favorite meal in Japan (sorry Kaisei…) and likely made one of the most entertaining activities as well. I LOVE science and food so Molecular Gastronomy is something that has totally excited me since I learned it existed. However, I’ve generally only had meals that use a few of the techniques in a normalish dish and generally when I’ve been in a city that has amazing Molecular chefs they always have tasting menus that can’t always accommodate our dietary preferences or they have no availability and I usually have to opt to dine elsewhere. While planning our trip to Japan we read about Tapas and we contacted them and they were very willing to accommodate me with a vegetarian tasting menu on the dates we wanted. Reservations well in advance are pretty critical here — they only take 8 people twice a day (3 on weekends with a lunch sitting). They made us send copies of our foreign credit cards to them to secure our reservation along with a signed declaration saying we’ll pay the full amount even if we didn’t show.
Tapas is a theater with a lot of attention in all the little details. From the oshibori which were pellets that looked like antacids that we rehydrated with mini beakers of oil infused water. To a total surprise menu (I won’t even say in the event it’s recycled) to the special things they did to someone having a birthday with us.
The food was a delight. You watch it made in front of you which is magical and it’s all a little interactive when it’s time to dig in. Each dish was delight after delight and everyone was smiling ear to ear pretty much the whole time. One of my favorites was a cigar of pulled pork I believe served with edible ash in a crystal ash tray. You watch them sit in a smokey dome for a while before service and you get the essence of smoked meat when you go to eat your cigar (which totally looks like a cigar burning away in it’s ash tray when you get it). The ash is like a dry dip/​sauce for the roll that’s like an amazing taquito meets wonderfully smoked meat with an asian spin. Another favorite was breakfast for dessert. Even after cutting into my fake poached egg I would have sworn up and down it was a well executed poach egg but it was mango inside of some kind of almond based white gelly pouch (wow… I can’t sell it as I don’t have the vocabulary… but believe me it was awesome and I’ll try to get my photos up here too).
It’s expensive 15,000 Yen for the 16 courses and most of the drinks are about 2,500 Yen or a wine paring is 10,000 yen per person and then there is a 15% surcharge and tax… But, this is a fairly unique, exclusive experience in on the 38^th floor of the Mandarin Oriental overlooking the skyline of Tokyo and that maybe shouldn’t be a surprise.