Christmas Dinner – Salt

-Paul — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 00:56:43 +0000

Christmas day in Japan has always been a working day for me usually followed by an average meal of Sushi, Yakiniku or Izakaya, so when the idea of a flash Christmas dinner was presented to me I jumped at it.
We decided to go to a restaurant in the Shin Marunouchi Building (新丸ビレ) for our traditional Christmas Dinner.

The restaurant’s name is Salt and serves a fine selection of Modern Australian cuisine and is co-owned by Luke Mangan.

“Luke Mangan, chef, was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1970. In the 1990s, he learned from Michel Roux, three star chef in London and later went to Sydney. From 1999 to 2005, he owned Salt (the same name as the restaurant in the Shin-Marunouchi Building) in Darlinghurst. Taking advantage of his success in Darlinghurst, Mangan opened Bistro Lulu in 2000, which led to him becoming a star chef in Sydney. These two restaurants moved on, disappointing the locals, tourists to summer resorts and even Hollywood stars. In 2005, he started the Glass Brasserie restaurant with 240 seats in the renovated Hilton Hotel in Sydney. While serving as a chef at functions and interacting with celebrities throughout the world, he contributes to finding and nurturing young chefs. His energetic activities are inspiring and strengthen the partnership between Luke Mangan and PJ Group.”

The night started at the adjoining Luke Mangan Wine Bar, w.w (World Wine), with a refreshing Leffe beer.

We then proceed into a most relaxing atmosphere for a civilized 6 course Christmas dining experience. On top of the great food there is a fantastic wine list of which we had a couple of bottles of nice Australian Reds.

If your looking for a great food, great wine and a fantastic dining experience in Tokyo then you should definitely put “Salt by Luke Mangan” on the list.

What you won’t get is annoying people screaming orders into earpiece microphones, you won’t get your order served all at once covering the entire table leaving no room for your glass, you won’t get a less than classy buzzer on the table and you definitely wont see discount coupons and people splitting the bill down to the last 5 yen as you leave.

What you will get is , great food, endless warm bread rolls, your meal choices served in order and only when you are ready, a full glass at all times, proper wine glasses, cute well dressed staff serving you, staff that actually know what they are serving you, wine recommendations, and a $200+ per head bill… well worth every dollar.

Paul Hartrick » Salt

Christmas Dinner – Salt