Four Seasons Tokyo at Marunounchi. It’s in the heart of the business district and it is boutique hotel with 57 rooms. This hotel is designed by Yabu Pushelberg; Andre Fu designed the hotel’s restaurant Motif. It’s chic and modern; decorated with warm, neutral tones and accents of wood. It makes you feel comfortable but it’s all luxurious.
We whisked up to the seventh floor to the hotel’s restaurant Motif for afternoon tea. Seated at lounge area of the restaurant, The hotel’s teas are by a German tea brand Ronnefeldt (this brand started in 1823).
Since it was a humid day, the staff sent out a non-alcoholic apertif – honey lemon iced tea. The ice cube is frozen sweetened lemon juice so when cube melts, the lemon flavor gets more intense. Refreshing and delicious.
We chose a sencha tea and a hibiscus blend tea to go along with our food. Both teas were wonderful in its own way. The sencha has a sweet vegetal flavor and delicate seaweed flavor so it gives it a savory, umami note. The hibiscus blend tea was wonderfully fruity, sweet with bright flavors of red berries.
Unlike most afternoon teas I’ve encountered, what I really like about Four Seasons Tokyo Marunounchi’s savory food is beyond the typical twee tea sandwiches. The plate (for each person) contains a signature Wagyu burger, pickled vegetables and ginger daikon, a small skewer of tomato with Buffalo mozzarella, and a cone of cumin and Parmesan chip and truffle popcorn.
The burger was delicious despite cooked to medium. The large, delicately thin, crispy chip was very tasty. The cumin added a nuance earthy, nutty flavors. The caprese skewer was minimalist and let the superb ingredients speak for itself.
The sweets platter is a beautiful plate of pastries that is made in house. The choux puff with cassis and violet has vibrant flavors of dark berries and just enough sweetness but the choux tasted a bit soft. The raspberry macaron was fine but I wished there was more jam filling. The meringue coated in strawberry glaze was ok. (I’m generally not a big fan of baked meringues, hence my indifference.) The plain scone, chocolate bonbon and candied orange peel dipped in chocolate were solidly good.
The Mont Blanc was my favorite dessert of the bunch. Soft, moist but dense cake topped with the sweet chestnut purée and the delicate orange flavor.
We thought that we were done with tea but there was one more thing left — the crémet d’Anjou. One of the wait staff presented us this big glass bowl of what looked like whipped cream. She tried to explained to us that there’s yogurt in this and divided the cream between the two of us in glass bowls and topped it with the fresh strawberry compote.
Still a little puzzled as to what this creamy concoction is, I took a small spoonful. When it fell on to my tongue, this cream felt like an intense cloud of sweet delicate cream just accented enough by the gently sweet berry sauce. I was so tempted to order another round of this but I know I have to hit the treadmill even harder so I resisted. (I found out eventually this is a whipped mixture of egg whites, cream cheese, strained yogurt, and local heavy cream.) I was very happy with the afternoon tea fare here in Four Seasons Tokyo Marunouchi, especially the savory course and that heavenly bowl of crémet d’Anjou.
To view more photos of this visit, please view the photo set or the gallery below:
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Information:
Four Seasons Tokyo at Marunouchi
Official Website
1-11-1 Pacific Century Place
Marunouchi
Tokyo
Tel +81 (3) 5222-7222
Map
