Bistro BrainStorming

What do Tottori wagyu beef and olive oil have in common? The answer is an abundance of oleic acid — the key component that gives olive oil its distinctive flavor and mouthfeel. It also happens to be what gives Tottori wagyu its wonderfully melt-in-your-mouth texture. It’s why it was chosen to be the star ingredient at Hanzomon bistro BrainStorming. Its owner and head chef, Itabashi, honed his skills at some of the most renowned French eateries in Japan, including Chez Inno in Kyobashi and Hiroo’s Michelin-starred L’Embellir. At the former, he mastered the French use of sauces, while the latter taught him how to creatively incorporate Japanese ingredients into French cuisine. BrainStorming’s menu is the culmination of both of these crucial skills — the restaurant even named for Chef Itabashi’s pondering on how to incorporate the Japanese and French culinary schools of thought into a single, perfect synthesis. The result is a restaurant offering quite unlike any other, with its dual mastery of both Eastern and Western cuisines. And diners at BrainStorming can most certainly drink to that, with a huge array of specially chosen whiskies both domestic and international.