PAUL BOCUSE

This an excellent place for lunch, the smoked salmon starter was superb, the main course of duck breast was delicious, and the creme brulee was great too. Service was very efficient and friendly.an excellent value for money!

Visited May 2024

I am an unabashed lover of Japanese food and was very much looking forward to my 6-day visit to Yokohama/ Tokyo. So, I was a tad disappointed when a friend whom I hadn't seen for ages invited me for lunch to her favourite French restaurant named after the father of the Nouvelle Cuisine. It is sai...d that Paul Bocuse himself designed the Ginza bistrot. She needn't have made reservations as there were only a few tables occupied. We went for the lunch menu, opting for the pumpkin soup as our entree, and pork cuts on endives as our main course. For dessert, she had steamed chestnuts on a gelee of something and I had the famous creme brulee. We washed this all down with Perrier (wine is prohibitively expensive in Japan!). On reading the two reviews about this restaurant, I can honestly say that the food was quite good (perhaps because we did not order a la carte). Pumpkins are in season, and the soup was delicious: creamy and a bit sweet. The main course was good...nothing extraordinary, except for the endive which must cost a fortune in Japan! What I enjoyed most was the creme brulee: just right, not cloyingly sweet with a nicely burnt topping. Perhaps, the best part of the meal was my friend's company...and the welcome view (though a teeny one) of the palace moat between the tall buildings.

Visited November 2018

We visited The Paul Bocuse Brasserie on GINZA Tokyo at the Gate Ginzas 10th Floor after having made reservations weeks in advance. While entering the brasserie we noticed there were almost no customers .... a huge surprise as the website and on line booking suggested to make reservations afar in adv...ance. We were seated far from the Open Kitchen which raised our suspicion since the Bocuse tradition honors to see how the food is prepared THIS IS WHY THE KITCHEN IS OPEN and visible from the restaurant. We then asked for the card and got the drink card. We ordered a Mimosa, Brut vin and apple juice (for my daughter) that was straight from the bottle of a super market. The waiter did not speak English or French and our Japanese is poor. Although the menus are in Japanese and French. The waiter did not recognize the ordered dishes from French. From 8 Starters about 3 were unavailable the waiter just told us "SOLD OUT" and from the 6 main courses on the menu another 3 were unavailable so NO escargots, No scallops, No Quenelle de Poisson and No Nooit de St Jacques for us! Why did we book this restaurant? Well "Paul Bocuse"! When the dishes came to the table the Onion Soup and the ordered FAMOUS truffle soup at 3500 JPY about 35 USD were over salted and there was NO TRUFFLE in the soup at all, THIS WAS NOT THE SIGNATURE TRUFFLE SOUP OF PAUL BOCUSE! The main dishes did not contain any vegetables and they could not be ordered from the menu. The Entrecote Grillee was a disgrace, hard to swallow and the fries were cold. We returned our food to the kitchen and said we wanted to complain the waiter then took all our plates and looked at us like I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. The older Manager in black suit arrived at our table but also he did not speak one word English and did not understand what Pepper or Salt means. We then waited 30 minutes for our dessert. Since we wanted to leave this place that had nothing to do with Bocuse and is a disgrace to his name and fame, I walked away from our table to inspect the kitchen to see why it took them so long. Guess my surprise: the 3 Japanese cooks were CLEANING the kitchen and not working on our desert at all! When I looked at them through the glass they saw me and started to finish our desserts that were mainly taken from the FRIDGE and thus not fresh but PRE-prepared! Bocuse? The Creme Brûlée was freezing cold...I left the CHOCOLATE dessert and my wife the Apple pie on our plates and we paid the bill: 23,972 JPY INCLUDING TAX At the exit I wrote "VERY DISAPPOINTING" on the payment slip. But of course nobody noticed.... If you are from Europe or the US and have any idea what the name Paul Bocuse means please do NOT visit this Brasserie you will be greatly disappointed!

Visited February 2018

It was the menu of the lunch which was ordinary if it came with a lunch after a long absence. It is first salmon Mali where one dish is common. It is any lacking dish which is not devised. Maine is chicken of the curry sauce. This was a dish disappointed at slightly, too. I fell all too soon in a du...ll restaurant. I would do it how ❓ The dessert was creme brulee, but this was half-finished fried addition and subtraction, too. I fell all too soon in the restaurant only for the name.

Visited August 2015