Volume 39, Number 15

Dining

Fifty Seven
A taste of Manhattan in Roppongi
by Zach Luscombe

Let me take you to a place you can spend in first class, mingle with the coolest of crowds, conduct your business in VIP-style, or romance your date in the ‘57 Room.’ On top of all that, you’ll indulge in fine cuisine from Chef Fumio Yonezawa.

Fifty Seven is a New York inspired, east meets west restaurant, offering Tokyo a new kind of dining and evening experience. Chef Yonezawa’s hard work and determination in his young career provides food from the heart, rather than from the books, and the combination of Asian and South American flavors gives your pallette an experience you’ll be sure to remember.

Fifty Seven has been rejuvenated by director Gerard Eady—service is attentive to your needs and chefs are willing to accomodate dietary requests. The menu changes on a seasonal basis and the bar offers many New York styled beverages and liquors. Selection is ample with various vodkas, gins, brandies, and whiskies. While you’re at it, start off with the Central Park made from plum liqueur, vodka, chili, and mango sauce—the spicy kick really brings out the sweet flavors. The wine list has a selection from California, South Australia, and other international locations.

For starters, the roasted beet salad made with gorgonzola, walnuts, and honey mustard sauce has a great combination of flavors; it’s a great fresh and cool dish for these warm summer evenings. I had this with another appetizer, the sweet shrimp and citrus fruit ceviche. The shrimp was lightly poached to give it a delicate texture with citrus, lemon grass, and coriander flavors. Other notable appetizers were the cajun dirty rice risotto with duck confit, and a grilled swordfish with greens in mint calamansi and black olive oil.

My entrée was the grilled lamb chops with caramel lemon confit and gorgonzola lamb. It was cooked medium rare and still makes my mouth water as I write this paragraph. Flavors were excellent and the combination of lamb and gorgonzola really tied this dish together. I highly recommend this entrée with the cauliflower and gruyere gratin as a side dish, and both paired perfectly with the Ravens Wood Cabernet. Another entrée shared at the table was fried soft shell crab on greens with a spicy mustard mango sauce. This is what I enjoy so much about South American flavors, the mixing of a little bit of spice with the sweet—a little known trick in bringing out flavors you want to accentuate. I would probably order this more for lunch than dinner and it could even be a shared appetizer for a table of four. Other great entrees were the root beer-braised short ribs, slow poached salmon with sweet paprika confit, strawberry, and tarragon, and the Yamagata fillet mignon.

Of course there had to be dessert and there is none better to go for other than cheesecake—after all, it’s New York inspired! The espresso flavored cheesecake with hazelnut sauce was delightful and you might as well add in a Bailey’s on the rocks to go with that!

Fifty Seven also comprises of a Japanese Kompa Room either for private business meetings or for the traditional group dating experience where four guys will sit down with four ladies and meet for the first time. The Belvedere VIP room may also suit your desires for an entertaining evening. Like I say, if you’re looking for a new social and dining experience in Japan, check out Fifty Seven.

For reservations at Fifty Seven call 03-5 5- 85 or see the website at www.fiftyseven.co.jp for more details.