Tokyo’s first taste of molecular cooking comes from the Mandarin Oriental hotel, which had its grand opening last weekend. The Tapas Molecular Bar inside the Oriental Lounge seats just six and serves twice a night, at 6pm and 8:30pm. Chef Jeff Ramsey comes from Minibar, a restaurant in Washington, DC headed by a disciple of Adria’s, Jose Ramon Andres.
Since moving to Tokyo in the fall, Ramsey has created a 25-course menu (¥8,000) that will change in part every two months. “Course” is perhaps misleading; most servings are consumed in just a mouthful or two. All, though, are intricately prepared and stunningly presented—this is art as much as science.
The opening act was one of the most bizarre: an Olive Cloud, which looked like an airy ball of dishwashing foam. In the mouth, the bubbles burst releasing a surprisingly resonant taste of olive.
Ramsey is understandably cagey about divulging his secrets, but he did have this to say about the Olive Cloud: “Tapas, in the name of our restaurant, refers only to the small portion sizes. Some people come expecting a Spanish tasting menu, so from the beginning we want to dissolve this image. Giving olives, which are often served as opening snacks in tapas restaurants, we say to the guest, ‘Here are your olives,’ and hand them only bubbles. It’s a nice ice breaker.”
Even if the joke was lost in translation, we appreciated the supreme effort of the chef taking care of the unruly trio at our end of the bar to explain the complexities of the meal in English.
Listing all 24 other dishes would lessen the element of surprise that helps make the molecular experience fun. But highlights included test-tube produced carrot caviar, an up-market take on nikujaga (traditional meat and potato comfort food), and the disconcerting marriage of foie gras with cotton candy.
Molecular cuisine is as much about disassembling (flavors, preconceptions) as it is about creating, and two particularly odd offerings were the Deconstructed Glass of Wine and the Deconstructed Zucchini, the preparation of which takes more than two hours and 25 zucchinis.
Like modern art, molecular cuisine is inspirational to some and absurd to others. Whatever your conclusion, one must wonder why it took so long to get to Tokyo. These morsels of artistry, technology and dedication were made for Japan. It won’t be long until these six seats are among the most prized in the city.