While Le Pristine Antwerp takes its inspiration from both Herman’s birthplace, Zeeland, the Netherlands, and the Milanese fashion scene, Le Pristine Tokyo marries the chef’s storied background with his discovery and love for Japanese ingredients. This is evident through the eclectic but brilliant menu that chef served us when we visited the restaurant in early March 2024. Over six savoury courses and three desserts, Herman showcased signature dishes that helped him earn three Michelin stars at his family’s (now closed) restaurant Oud Sluis back in 2006—interspersed with new recipes showcasing Japanese gourmet products.

Le Pristine Tokyo is presented as a casual fine dining restaurant, one in which you would feel equally comfortable in a T-shirt and (designer) jeans as you would your best cocktail dress and bespoke suit. Entering, you are greeted with an upbeat, fun playlist dominated by R&B hits from different decades. A large open kitchen takes up one side of the restaurant, giving almost every diner a view of their meal being prepared.

The most notable design element, which also features in the Antwerp branch are melted disco balls that hang from columns around the restaurant. These artworks are a creation named Quelle Fete by design collective Rotganzen and are indicative of the chef’s joie de vivre and sense of style and humour. 

We began our meal with a small cold dish that showcased local produce marvellously—an ice cold Hyogo oyster nestled under a rose Champagne granita, accented with verbena and wasabi. The flavours were clean and subtle which allowed the fabulously fresh oyster to shine.

We then enjoyed one of Herman’s signatures, his Pizzette, which here in Tokyo is layered with bluefin tuna, wasabi, and stracciatella, flavoured with Tomasu soy sauce. This was a lovely and highly umami way to reference sushi through a beloved signature format that provided a great textural contrast when eaten—the combination of the crunchy bread and soft sensual tuna was highly satisfying.

The third bite was a delicately composed plate featuring horsehair crab with Hamachi (yellowtail) and pistachio, mikan and black radish. We very much enjoyed the balance between the unctuousness of the crab and the acidity in the sauce—a vinaigrette of soy and sushi vinegar and herbs with olive oil mixed with trout roe. 

This was followed by another artfully composed seafood dish—these last two dishes truly showing off Herman’s fine-dining chops. A beautiful crudo combining Botan ebi and amaebi was dressed with a simple vinaigrette, and surrounded by thin semi-circles of baby radish and okahijiki, a plant that’s delicately salty with a taste reminiscent of seaweed. This was then topped with a generous portion of creme fraiche and caviar. Raw prawns, creme fraiche and caviar have always been a winning combination that magically brings together the sweetness of the shrimps, the briny saltiness of the roe, with the slightly acidic cream folding everything together to create a perfect bite. 

The next course, albeit tiny, was our favourite of the evening, and another dish that wonderfully showcased Japanese ingredients alongside Herman’s decades of elevated European cookery. This was a vin jaune custard, a gorgeously soft and subtly sour ode to chawanmushi, served with sweet Japanese blue mussels and even sweeter local uni, perked up with a subtle pickled brunoise of celery and tomato. The mussel sauce, which was the underlying foundation for the dish, came from a recipe from Herman’s father. 

This diminutive stunner was followed by Herman’s signature seafood orecchiette—elevated comfort food at its best. Japanese scallops, Asari clams, and New Zealand langoustines cooked together with the ear-shaped pasta and served in a sauce of nduja from Hokkaido and topped with a mussel foam. This is the kind of dish that we are sure will create a regular returning crowd among Tokyo foodies.

Our final savoury course was served in two parts. The larger was a Shingen chicken “Navarin” in which the breast had been poached and then seared or roasted until the skin was crisp; this was served with morels that had been stuffed with a farce of chicken thigh and goose liver, dressed with a rich sauce also made with goose liver. This was accompanied by a “Caesar salad”, a deboned chicken thigh sandwiched between baby romaine lettuce leaves, miso yuzu dressing, croutons, and barilotto cheese.

Moving into sweets, we got to try three great dishes. First up was a light, delicate and aromatic vanilla cremeux with a Japanese strawberry sorbet, fresh Japanese pink and white strawberries, and strawberry meringue. 

The second dessert was the showstopper and the dessert that we had been looking forward to the whole meal, Herman’s signature vanilla ice cream “a la minute”. Freshly churned vanilla ice cream—by churning it a la minute it has the texture of a soft serve—is dusted with cacao powder and then finished tableside through a generous serving of chocolate sauce and nuts. We love how freshly churned ice cream and gourmet soft serves have been having their moment worldwide and this version is one of the best we’ve encountered. 

To end the night, we shared another Le Pristine classic, what Herman calls his collapsed tiramisu: coffee ice cream with coffee sabayon, meringue discs, chocolate, freshly grated tonka bean and an amaretto-coffee sabayon.

An 86-seater, Le Pristine Tokyo may be one of the larger fine-dining restaurants in Tokyo. It’s a fabulous place, with great tunes, for a fun evening out with friends, families or that special someone. While it is not Japanese, the restaurant does showcase exceptional Japanese produce and is clearly inspired by the country’s cuisine and culture. If you happen to be in the Toranomon Hills area, it’s definitely a no-brainer to book a meal here. Even if you aren’t, it’s still very much worth putting on your Tokyo hit list (and yes, we know you have one). Given Herman’s (starred) pedigree and based on what we ate and experienced there, we expect Le Pristine Tokyo to be one of those restaurants that foodies across Asia will soon be asking each other if they’ve been yet. 

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