In this guide
Quintessence (Kantessansu)
Founded in 2006, Quintessence is a Michelin Green Star as well as a three‑Michelin‑star Japanese-French fusion restaurant in Shinagawa, Japan. Securing a reservation is notoriously difficult, and CNN has listed it among Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants. Head chef Shuzo Kishida is from Aichi Prefecture; he trained at L’Astrance in Paris and studied French culinary arts.
In 2019, Quintessence’s cuisine was featured in the Japanese TV drama Grand Maison Tokyo. The production team consulted Chef Shuzo Kishida on the design of the menu items served in the drama’s titular restaurant.
Everything the restaurant does is focused on serving guests the best dish of the day. The chef team selects premium products and ingredients from regions around the world, paying meticulous attention to preparation. The restaurant respects each ingredient’s maturity, as well as the amount of heat used in cooking.
A hallmark of Quintessence is its “cuisson”—the art of using fire in cooking—which Chef Kishida learned at the (now) three‑Michelin‑star restaurant L’Astrance in Paris. For example, the kitchen uses a unique low-temperature, long-time roasting process to draw out delicate flavors from top-quality meat. Although time-consuming, they do not hesitate to employ this method to serve guests at their very best. This is one of the main reasons the restaurant offers a single “menu carte blanche” to guests.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRTh455wdTw
Restaurant Information
- Style: French Cuisine
- Address: 141-0001 Shinagawa-Ku Kitashinagawa 6-7-29 Garden City Shinagawa Gotenyama 1F
- Telephone: +81-3-6277-0090
- Private room: Available for 4–6 people
Opening Hours
- Dinner: 17:00–23:30 (L.O. 20:30)
- Closed: Sundays and Holidays
Menus
- Dinner: “One course of choice” — 12 dishes including 4 desserts
- Until December 29, 2021: ¥29,150 / person (tax included)
- From January 7, 2022: ¥31,350 / person (tax included)
- Dinner: Quintessence omakase menu — ¥34,500
The lunch and dinner menus are “menu carte blanche” (Chef’s selected menu), based on fresh seasonal products available at the market. The menu changes day to day.
Typical Dishes
The seven-course lunch menu and 13-course dinner menu change constantly, but diners might enjoy goat’s milk bavarois with lily bulb, sea salt and olive oil; crisp pan-fried amadai (tilefish); or chestnut crème brûlée.
Chef
Chef Shuzo Kishida is one of the most talented modern French chefs in Japan. He spent five years learning French cuisine in France from 2000, strongly influenced by his mentor, Chef Pascal Barbot of L’Astrance in Paris, and rose to sous-chef the following year. After returning to Japan, he opened Quintessence in 2005 to great acclaim. In 2013, he became the sole owner and moved the restaurant to its current location in the Shinagawa district.
