Brand cafes and restaurants are common in Tokyo and almost every luxury or fashion brand has a F&B establishment within their flagship store. This culture extends to automobile brands like Mercedes or cosmetic brands like Shiseido. If this happens in Singapore, we would brush it off as overpriced substandard food with a famous name and maybe label it as being a gimmick, but in Tokyo these brand name F&B establishments actually serve good food and delivers the whole package with ambiance, service and anything you can dream of.

I decided to try Bulgari along Ginza because the high floor with high ceilings looks like the kind of ambiance I would enjoy, and the food has been rated 1 star by the Michelin Guide Tokyo. This is an Italian restaurant (why of course, since Bulgari is an Italian brand to begin) but with inclusion of Japanese ingredients.

I like how they serve lunch even on Sunday and I went with the ¥8000 course lunch. A few appetizers were served before the lunch course commenced.

Salmon roe on fish cracker

Burrata

Carrot

Lobster with chicory and apple vinegar

Semolina linguine with scallop and arugula

Cream was below the linguine and when mixed together it becomes a nice green sauce. Otherwise, the rocket could be eaten like crispy chips.

Grilled pork with Jerusalem artichoke and mushroom 

For the first time, I actually REALLY liked the pork main course. The pork was so tender, juicy and sans any pungent porky smell/taste. The sides were good too.

Chestnut panna cotta with lemon cream and coffee ice cream

The petit fours were surprisingly good too. I usually don’t hold high hopes for petit fours. Perhaps having to live up to the Bulgari name worked to keep standards high here.

I thought the food was pretty good and the ambiance was lovely too.

Bulgari Il Ristorante
9F, Bulgari Ginza Tower, 2-7-12 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo