La Rochelle – Minami Aoyama – Iron Chef Sakai’s French, Japanese fine dining establishment

If you have ever watched Iron Chef, you will know the name Hiroyuki Sakai – Iron Chef French. He was a formidable challenge to any person seeking the the crown, with his impressive win rate. As a young person, I was always impressed by his French inspired Japanese cuisine. As a lucky adult, I can also see just how much love and attention he put into his food and his staff. La Rochelle in Minami Aoyama is the place to experience fine dining.

It’s highly recommended that you book in advance, before visiting this establishment via their website.

Aoyama is the place to be for fine dining establishments and anything vogue.

La Rochelle is nestled within a former church building. The building is beautifully lit up with a grand walkway with miniature lights and lush greenery. (We brought our two year old with us and although it’s usually not the norm, they were quite accommodating of our child.)

On being greeted and ushered into the grand restaurant hall, we realised that we were the only family dining at the establishment that night. A Sunday night. It was a tad sad and disappointing, because the venue, food and staff were excellent. (Though, I can understand the price is very off putting.)

We had a fantastic array of food presenting to us, one after the other, in an orderly fashion. The food was a delicious, had excellent textures and we were wowed by the amazing French inspired cooking techniques on Japanese ingredients. The whole course was 16,500 yen per adult. (There is the option to swap the lamb for beef for a little extra.)

I loved all the dishes! I really liked the kingfish dish, because it came with a opulent pumpkin sauce with beautifully seasoned Japanese vegetables.

Although the servers had limited English and we had imperfect Japanese, we managed to communicate fine. The menu only had Japanese and French on it. (Just be mindful as this isn’t a place for English-only speakers.)

A brilliant fine dining establishment for the best of the best

At the end of the meal, we were treated to an all-you-eat dessert plate. We could pick as many and whatever we wanted. Plus, they happily provided us some tea and decaf coffee to finish off the experience.

As we left, we were given a special cake to take home and a card and photo. It was such a special experience and we loved it heaps.

I have been lucky enough to eat at both Iron Japanese and Iron Chef Chinese’s restaurant at Kaishoku Michiba and Shisen Hanten. La Rochelle was definitely the most expensive of the three. You’ll find that lunch is usually a quarter of the price of dinner, yet still more affordable than places that offer similar experiences with English-menus, and all are geared towards Japanese customers.

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