Taking up the entire 24th floor of the Peninsula Hotel Tokyo, Peter takes full advantage of one of the city’s best assets, its skyline. With 360 degree views of this most stunning and dramatic of Asian cities it is one of the smartest and tastiest venues for fine dining and fun in town. Peter is a dining experience that must be seen and tasted in order to be able to take it all in. Thomas Jones put his senses to the test.

When designing the flagship restaurant at the Peninsula Tokyo, Canadian and United States architect and design duo Yabu Pushelberg wanted to create something very new for the city. Their desire was to experiment with design and to make it engaging and interesting with and element of surprise and illusion, so that the guest would not get the entire experience right away, but like a play in a theatre, have it unfold on stage layer by layer.

And indeed, it does unfold in stages for the guest. Exiting the private express elevator, one enters an atrium of darkness and colour with that all-pervading backdrop of city lights in the background. From the elevator, to the left is the well-stocked bar with tables, chairs and stools and the chattering hum of Tokyo’s movers and shakers at play. The bar is adorned with life-sized polished chrome trees that link the elements of nature, so important to the Japanese psyche, with the modern city.

Leading off to the right is an incline where guests enter the main dining area through a steel structure tunnel and then exit onto a stage fulfilling the designers desire to have everyone ‘arrive on stage’ without knowing it, be seen by all and ultimately be the centre of their own universe. At the back of the stage is an interactive video wall that features bubbles rising from the depths as if from some hidden scuba diver, or an exhaling school of humpbacks deep below.

The restaurant is beyond modern and is coloured in aubergine, lavender and black with lots of wood, glass and steel. Mirrors surround the pillars to create a convex fish eye view around the restaurant and out into the Tokyo night. A huge shining chandelier sits above the dining room stage and creeps around the walls like a silver filigree grape vine. Continuing the theme of theatre, Peter was designed to take advantage of the extraordinary scenery and backdrops both by day and by night. Daytime brings the sweeping views of the Imperial Gardens and Hibiya Park, while at night unique fibreglass sliding panels distort the city lights to bring an ethereal vision to the inside of the restaurant.

The kitchen is run by Chef de Cuisine Patrice Martineau formerly of London’s The Savoy Hotel and Daniel in New York. He has mastered an internationally inspired cuisine with fresh ingredients, simple preparation and healthy eating. A four course dinner of foie gras terrine, mousseline, cranberry gelee and caramalised pecan nuts; caramalised sea urchin, citrus polenta, wasabi yuzu espuma and crispy tuille; a meat course of poached herbed crusted beef brisket, pot au feu, seasonal vegetables, and tartat mushroom sabayon with a dessert of black sesame blanc manger, yuzu marmalade and miso ice cream will set you back about US$100, (plus drinks, of which the wine list is exhaustive and contains the hotel’s own brand of Champagne), but the taste sensation will leave you reeling. It’s cheap at half the price – this is Tokyo after all – and its worth every single yen.

Like both Gaddi’s restaurant and the Philippe Stark designed Felix restaurant at the Peninsula Hong Kong, Peter is named after one of the Peninsula Group’s more colourful executives Peter C Borer, who has spent over 30 years with the company and is the current Chief Operating Officer of Peninsula’s parent company. Peter seats 128 guests in the main dining area and has two semi-private and one private dining area as well as a banquet room with access to an outside terrace that can accommodate up to 60 guests. Not suggested in winter, however, for Tokyo gets mighty cold. Luckily in Japan you can still smoke inside.

This is not a stuffy hotel restaurant that stands on its food alone by any stretch of the imagination. Groovy inspired theatrics, music, colour and design all stand behind the artistry of the plate to ensure a dining experience like no other in a city that defies comparasin.

Peter
The Peninsula Tokyo
1-8-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo
Tel: +81 3 6270 2888
www.peninsula.com/Peninsula_Hotels/en/default.aspx#/Tokyo/en/Dining/Peter/

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