Ode

The ode referenced in the name of this restaurant has two parts — its dishes are at once a poetic celebration of fine Japanese produce, and elegant French gastronomy. The chef and owner Yusuke Namai shifted the focus of his life from the musical to the culinary arts in 1995. Now at the helm of his own French restaurant in Hiroo — to the south of Shibuya and east of Ebisu — he serves up some of the most inventive modernist cuisine in Tokyo, with a Michelin star for his troubles. With the slate gray walls and achromatic color palette, you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for a contemporary art gallery. In a way it is. His innovative, modernist French cuisine has more than just a touch of the avant garde: black fish offal meringue shattered into fragments and arranged around a Pacific saury confit, drinks mixed in laboratory flasks, a thin fried fritter of sweet potato on top of foie gras, and the crowning touch: an amuse bouche called “Dragon Ball,” inspired by the anime and manga of the same name. Nine such dishes feature on the lunch menu, and thirteen on the dinner menu. The open plan dining area has a great sense of space, with the three-sided counter offering a great view of the culinary wizardry going on at the center.