Les Alchimistes (L'Alchimiste)

This French restaurant, located right by Shirokane Tanakawa Station, has been making waves in the Tokyo food scene in recent years, due to the inventiveness and authenticity of the dishes on their menu. Chef Kenichi Yamamoto studied at Le Chateaubriand in Paris, among other top establishments, for just short of a decade before returning to Japan. Upon doing so, he scoured the length and breadth of the country to locate the best ingredients for recreating the full French haute dining experience in his homeland. The name is a reference to the cooking wizardry which he seeks to perform — equal parts science and magic — he certainly can transmute even the most commonplace of ingredients into gastronomic gold. One such gilded delicacy is the Jerusalem artichoke mousse, which has a smoky aroma that’s light on the tongue. After a refurbishment in 2018, the interior is gleaming a striking pure white — a laboratory space for culinary experimentation — disrupted by the irregular purple accents of the doors and chairs. The sommelier also happens to be the owner’s wife, and she will be on hand to provide the best possible pairings for each one of his concoctions.