NAMIKI667 at Hyatt Centric Ginza Tokyo: The exemplar of conscientious consumption of tasty local food

NAMIKI667, a restaurant catering to Tokyo’s local products, has opened on the third floor of the newly established Hyatt Centric Ginza Tokyo.

The hotel opened on Jan 22 on the Ginza West Namiki-dori street. The street is a symbol for sophisticated adults, housing the most luxurious brand shops and classiest nightclubs. Even for Tokyoites, when you walk along this lane, it makes you feel stylish and imbues in you a sense of respect as you enjoy window shopping. To own a business in Ginza has a brand power alone, and to have it on Namiki-dori is the top-most status. Therefore, naming the restaurant in dedication to the street and address (Ginza 6-6-7), shows respect to this high-end location.

NAMIKI667 also pays respect to locally produced food. Many hotel restaurants in Japan provide carefully selected ingredients from various regions. Hotel chefs earn their wings across the globe, and they usually travel around to search for their favorite flavorings. On the other hand, NAMIKI667 Sous-Chef Toru Hirakawa says the restaurant’s emphasis is on local products for local consumption. Cutting transportation time means serving fresher ingredients on the table. Fish come from the nearby Tsukiji market, vegetables from western Tokyo, and meat also from Tokyo.

I chose from their rich a la carte menu. Even though I’ve only lived in Tokyo, local products are rare, so I wanted to try as many as I could. Hirakawa offered a small bite of gougère stuffed with quiche cream and fresh radish with anchovy sauce, paired with a glass of champagne, to whet my appetite.

The Striped Jack Carpaccio, ami amarillo, yuzu, coriander (¥2,800) is amazingly fresh, thanks to the proximity of the fish market, and the sauce is unique and refreshing. I recommend you taste each sauce separately before combining the two sauces together. You’d be surprised how each sauce’s distinctive taste complements the other.

Pot Pie Soup, Tokyo Vegetables, Shamo Chicken (¥3,200) has all the Tokyo goodies in it. The massive oven in the show kitchen has a great role in many dishes, including this item. Shamo leg is grilled at 74 degrees for four hours, and the breast at 64 degrees for an hour. Slow cooking makes the breast so tender and leg supremely juicy. You’d think they’re served as it is, but they’re cut into bite sizes and placed in consommé soup with a variety of Tokyo vegetables.

Along with oven-based specialities, nanbu tekki (ironware) is another unique item. The signature Roasted Akigawa Wagyu Beef, Tokyo Vegetables lightly smoked, Japanese straw, Okutama wasabi (¥12,500) is cooked in this traditional Japanese iron pot and then smoked with straw to add a smokey scent to it. It’s roasted medium rare, red in the center, crispy and smokey on the outside. The beef is sliced and topped with vegetables and some meat stock on the side as sauce. It’s amazingly tender, so you only need to chew on it about three times. It’s rich but not greasy, and odor-less, perhaps from drinking clear Akigawa Keikoku Valley spring water. To pair with it, a glass of red Chateau Pay La Tour is a must for wine-goers.

You may not have heard of Tokyo brand beef, but Akigawa beef is steadily gaining popularity for its perfect balance of marbling and the rarity is making it highly valuable. The original breed is from Iwate Prefecture known for Matsusaka and Yonezawa beef, but they’re raised for 20 months at Takeuchi Farm in Akiruno-shi, western Tokyo. According to the hotel marketing communications manager, Mayuko Asai, only one cow is distributed per month. Some people believe aging beef takes a few weeks, but this is also meant for distribution purposes. As a matter of fact, fresh beef gets tastier after only a day or two of aging. NAMIKI667 offers the best wagyu at its best condition. Braised Japanese Beef Cheek, Red Wine, Edo Sweet Miso bacon, mashed potato, root vegetables (¥4,500) is also a recommended main course.

Next came Japanese Kamameshi Rice, Sea bream, burdock, shiitake mushroom, mizuna (¥4,100), also cooked in a nanbu tekki pot. The mix of buttery okoge, or scorched rice, fresh fish and fresh vegetables is sublime.

For dessert, I urge you to taste Granny Smith Apple Pie tonka bean custard cream, vanilla ice cream (¥1,500) in a petite nanbu tekki cocotte. The symphony of melted vanilla ice cream and hot crispy apple pie with crumble will knock you down. The VALRHONA Manjari Chocolate Lava Cake berry compote, rum raisin ice cream (¥1,600) is also a KO treat.

A seven-meter bar counter welcomes you near the entrance of the restaurant. Happy Hour is from 5 to 7 p.m. which you can make use of while the restaurant is closed from 3 to 6 p.m. Handmade wooden chairs provide a cozy feel in the glass-windowed atmosphere and the bench seats are child-friendly. A 100-square-meter terrace overlooks Namiki-dori, perfect for the coming spring. There’s a spacious private dining room in the back of the kitchen seating up to 24, where small luxurious dinner parties or lunch meetings can be held as you gaze at a wall of framed photos of Ginza.

This is a new style restaurant that touches not only your five senses but your heart as well.

Courses start from ¥8,800.

Breakfast: 7 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Lunch: 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. (L.O. 2 p.m.)

Dinner: 6 p.m. - 10 p.m. (L.O. 9 p.m.)

For reservations, call 03-6837-1300 (10 a.m. – 10 p.m.)

Address

Hyatt Centric Ginza Tokyo 3rd floor

6-6-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 104-0061

• External Link
• https://ginzatokyo.centric.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html

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