BOLT

Bolt prides itself on authentic French cooking, but that doesn’t divorce its menu from being unmistakably native to Tokyo, just like its owner-chef, Takahiro Nakada. After working at famed French restaurants Mardi Gras in Ginza and L’Esprit Mitani in Ebisu, Chef Nakada set out for Burgundy, France, where he continued his training in the Michelin-starred Le Madeleine and Au Crieur de Vin. Returning to work in an izakaya in Tokyo, he honed his skills to adapt classic dishes suited to Japanese tastes — stewed offal, simmered root vegetables — into original French cuisine at Bolt, which he opened in 2017. The hand-written menu loosely employs French and Japanese, expressing each dish’s core while mirroring Chef Nakada’s personal style — professionalism and skill dressed in down-to-earth denim. Bolt also has an excellent beverage list that extends well into its food; the restaurant incorporates wine in almost every dish. Signature dishes include braised bone-in lamb, wine-pickled salmon caviar on toast, and a simmered veal kidney “kinpira” (usually julienned and simmered vegetables) that beautifully displays the chef’s mastery by using two, sometimes contradictory, techniques to create a unified original dish. Michelin Guide: 2021 - Bib Gourmand