KEI Collection PARIS

Despite its name, KEI Collection PARIS is very much a Tokyo address, perched on the 49th floor of Toranomon Hills Station Tower. Paris is where its founder, Kei Kobayashi, made his reputation. Born in Nagano, he spent years in French kitchens, including Alain Ducasse's Plaza Athénée, before his own restaurant earned three Michelin stars in 2020. Back in Japan, he has taken a more relaxed approach to fine dining, albeit at a considerably greater altitude.

Kobayashi calls his Tokyo creation a playground for adults. Fortunately, the toys are rather sophisticated. Instead of a prescribed tasting menu, guests choose freely from an inventive à la carte selection, with the kitchen now led by chef Tomonari Okubo. A crisp monaka wafer stamped with the KEI logo conceals smoked salmon, salmon roe and remarkably sweet potatoes aged for two years. Wagyu is cooked with meticulous precision over Japanese charcoal. French technique meets Japanese ingredients and an almost obsessive attention to heat, all without the solemnity that can occasionally accompany expensive dinners.

Designer Ryu Kosaka has given the restaurant an equally distinctive character. Curving walls and ceilings recall the folds of theatre curtains, pendant lights cast a warm glow over dark surfaces, and an open kitchen brings movement to the room. Beyond the enormous windows, Tokyo spreads out in every direction. Arrive around sunset and the view changes almost by the minute, from a hazy expanse of rooftops to an extraordinary concentration of city lights.

The atmosphere is polished, cosmopolitan and pleasantly lively. For a drink afterwards, the rooftop terrace beside an infinity pool offers another perspective on the city, with imaginative cocktails and considerably fewer distractions from the menu. This is an occasion restaurant, with prices to match, and its character owes more to contemporary Tokyo glamour than traditional Japanese intimacy. Come hungry, dress for the evening and leave some time for the bar. Having travelled this far above Tokyo, it would be a shame to hurry back down.