Breakfast Buffet at French Kitchen, Grand Hyatt Tokyo
Translated from my original Japanese post (2020). 日本語の原文を読む →
Salut! It's Yoko.
It's 7 am as I write this. What time do you get up on your days off?!
...Is anyone sleeping in until noon fairly often?
Yep, you're my people, lol.
I'm a night owl and that was often me too, but starting the work week was hard,
and my productivity dropped, so I started to feel I was wasting my life.
Lately I've been training to become a morning person!
After trying lots of things, I realized that making plans to meet someone gets me out of bed, so I force myself to schedule them.
So yesterday I half-forcibly invited a friend who'd slept only three hours after a year-end party,
and we came to the Grand Hyatt at 7 am on a Friday for the breakfast buffet!
I've been to lots of buffets, and French Kitchen is one I love so much that it's in my
personal top 3 buffets!
Heading to the 2nd floor of the Grand Hyatt Tokyo in Roppongi
French Kitchen is on the 2nd floor of the Grand Hyatt in Roppongi,
which is connected to Roppongi Hills.
From the Hibiya Line, take the exit toward Roppongi Hills, ride the long escalator up,
enter Hills through the entrance with the Starbucks, walk about a minute, and you'll see an escalator on your right. Go down and you reach the Grand Hyatt entrance.
It was close to Christmas, so there was a Christmas tree in the Grand Hyatt lobby.
It was still dark before dawn, but it sparkled beautifully!
Arriving at French Kitchen
The breakfast buffet at French Kitchen doesn't normally take reservations,
but for the 7:00 am and 9:00 am seatings only, you can book through the French Kitchen page on Ikyu Restaurant.
I couldn't choose our seats and was a bit worried, but we got an enclosed sofa seat near the buffet, which was great!
Even with hotel guests, it's pretty empty at 7 am on a weekday, lol.
You can see the whole room nicely and it feels open.
As the name French Kitchen suggests, the breakfast buffet is based on French cuisine,
and you can watch the cooking in the open kitchen.
Salad and fruit corner
The photo came out blurry, lol
Cucumber and celery smoothie, apple, banana, mandarin orange, pineapple, grapes, kiwi, strawberries
Mango chia seed pudding, turmeric latte, sweet potato paste
Goji berries, pumpkin seeds, soy milk, skim milk, milk
I should have gone for the mango chia seed pudding first! It disappeared quickly, wasn't refilled, and I missed out.
If you love mango, get there early.
Bread and Danish
There was also one gluten-free bread.
I like that there are touches of Japan, like the yuzu flavor.
Japanese dishes, plus ham and cheese
There's also a good selection of classic Japanese dishes like kinpira gobo (braised burdock root) and tamagoyaki (rolled omelet).
Hijiki seaweed, kinpira, chilled tofu, tamagoyaki, a premium Yakult, muesli, yogurt with berry sauce, yogurt with tropical sauce, salad
At the back are smoked salmon and a huge variety of cheeses!!
The Japanese food is solid too, but in this area the cheese is the real target. Few places offer such variety.
The smoked salmon is great as well!
Hot Western dishes
This is my top recommended zone.
It isn't in the photo, but if you talk to the chef in the kitchen, they'll slice jambon blanc (cooked ham) for you,
and they'll make egg dishes to order too.
Besides the classics like omelets with your choice of fillings and fried eggs,
the list of things you can order is impressive: white omelets made with only egg whites, eggs Benedict, French toast, pancakes, waffles...
What I ate at French Kitchen
Grilled salmon, kinpira, hijiki, tamagoyaki and kale salad.
Oh no, looking at it now, the plating is sloppy, lol.
My friend's plate has such dimension and looks beautiful.
Adding height with things like muesli and avocado really pulls it together.
My omelet. Filled with bacon, onion, tomato, spinach and cheese!
I got greedy with three sauces: ketchup, cheese and salsa.
I had hash browns and eggplant alongside it.
And bread and so on.
The strawberries in the fruit corner looked imported,
but the strawberries on this pie were probably Japanese and sweet! Recommended.
I forgot to take photos, but there were also freshly squeezed orange juice, grapefruit juice, vegetable juice and coconut juice.
When you sit down they ask whether you want coffee or tea, and they can also make lattes and so on, plus put them in a to-go cup,
so apparently the insider move is to ask for one on your way out and take it with you.
Sadly I was too full this time to order one, so next time...!
We ate to our heart's content for three hours, chatted, and then headed off to work.
A year-end buffet instead of a year-end party works for me!!
On the way out, the Grand Hyatt Christmas tree lit by the morning sun was beautiful.
I think the quality and service rank among the top one or two hotel buffets in Tokyo, so please give it a try!
French Kitchen
French Kitchen (Ikyu Restaurant)
Grand Hyatt Tokyo 2F, 6-10-3 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0032
6:30-21:30
03-4333-8781
