リストランテ ホンダ（Ristorante Honda ）  青山・外苑前・原宿/イタリアン（Aoyama-Gaienmae-Harajuku/Italian）

繊細さと、大胆な発想を取り入れた力強い味わいがバランス良く表現された料理を楽しめるリストランテ・ホンダがあるのは、青山のキラー通り（外苑西通り）と 246との交差点から、千駄ヶ谷方面に向かって2分弱の距離にある小さな路地。まさしく都心で働く人が、落ち着いて食事をする為に理想的なロケーション。

そんな場所にあるリストランテ・ホンダは東京のレストラン・シーン、特にイタリアンというカテゴリーの中で非常にユニークな立ち位置を確立しているレストラン。

最大の魅力は、一般的なイタリア料理、特に郷土料理などにはない繊細な味わいを、洗練されたプレゼンテーションで楽しませてくれるという事。その背景にあるのは、オーナー・シェフを務める本多哲也がイタリアで生活し、じっくりと料理を学んだ経験をもちながらも、決してイタリア料理の『原理主義者』ではないという事実。

自らがイタリアで体験し習得した事を、日本人としての感性というフィルターを通して表現する事に本多シェフはこだわり、そのプロセスにおいては必ずしも伝統的なイタリア料理にはない素材や手法を取り入れる事に躊躇しない。

その一方で、日本人が日本の食材を使って日本人の為に料理する国内完結型の、一般的に『東京イタリアン』と呼ばれる種の料理とも、本多シェフのつくる料理は一線を画す。イタリアでイタリア人の為に料理をした経験だけでなく、フランスでフランス人の為に料理をした経験も備えた本多シェフの料理に国境はない。それを証明するのが、季節毎に変わるリストランテ・ホンダのメニューに並ぶ旬な食材の数々。

『鹿島産大ハマグリのフラン、フレッシュ・フォアグラ添え、トリュフの香り』や『大分産穴子とフォアグラと茄子のミルフィーユ仕立て、バルサミコソース』等にあるように、メニューには日本の新鮮な食材と一緒に、カタカナで書かれたイタリアやフランスなどの食材や調理方法が並ぶ。

イタリア料理の本質を明確に理解しレスペクトした上で、その内側に敢えて留まることなく、如何にして本質を進化させるかを常に模索するシェフ本多の料理を、外苑前にある小さな面積を贅沢につかった空間で、心地良いサービスと共に、是非お試しあれ。

Ristorante Honda is ranked among Tokyo’s most elite restaurants, and in achieving this level of perfection has positioned itself uniquely amid the various Italian restaurants to be found on the Tokyo dining scene.

When you make your reservation here, you should not however be looking for a restaurant to where you can taste that dish you so fondly remember from your last trip to Italy, you would not find it here. Similarly, if you are looking for one of the many ubiquitous Tokyo-style Italian restaurants offering cuisine prepared by a Japanese chef using Japanese ingredients to create tastes that fit a preconceived idea of what Italian food is to the Japanese palate, this restaurant may not your best choice.

What makes this restaurant unique and enticing is the fact that owner-chef Tetsuya Honda is not at all an “Italian Culinary Fundamentalist”. There are certainly many Japanese chefs, who have worked as apprentices in Italy, and who now try to simply but faithfully to recreate what they learned. This is where Chef Honda is decidedly different. He allows to materialize in his kitchen what he learned in Italy while filtering it through his Japanese sensitivity.

However, this does not necessarily mean that he is trying to cater to the expectations of Japanese diners by simply cooking with common Japanese ingredients and methods. He is in fact, not at all hesitant to add a generous sprinkling of new and different culinary inspirations based on his diverse experience overseas to create his own style of Italian cuisine for his long list of patrons.

While he understands and respects the basics of the Italian culinary tradition, he strives to proactively advance it, rather than be introverted and simply obey it. It is fair comment to say that Chef Honda's courage is the very ingredient that makes his dishes so special. Every single dish he makes is a combined conception of his sensitivity as a Japanese together with the knowledge from the actual kitchen experience he has had not only in Italy but also in France.

This is definitely an ideal dining spot if you are an open-minded Italian food lover looking for something new and different. Ristorante Honda serving food with boldness and sensitivity perfectly balanced should not be overlooked. Reservations well in advance are highly recommended as this restaurant is no longer a very well kept secret.

The cozy space with only about 20 seats very spaciously placed is located on Gaien Nishidori, not too far away from its crossing with Aoyama Dori. If you walk from the intersection toward Olympic Stadium for just less than a couple of minutes you will find yourself on their doorstep. The restaurant is set back from the main street on the right hand side.