Shiseido Parlour Jiyugaoka: Waits, Limited Menu and the Room

Salut! It's Yoko, the food blogger!

On May 18, I went to Shiseido Parlour, which just opened in Jiyugaoka!

Personally, I'm thrilled that Shiseido Parlour has come to Jiyugaoka, and it feels like a long-awaited opening.

My family has been going to the Ginza Shiseido Parlour from time to time, and it's one of our favorite Western-style restaurants...!

And Jiyugaoka is the neighborhood I grew up in and love.

With its cobbled streets lined with big trees and its patisseries, the area looks almost like France, and I think Shiseido Parlour fits right in.

So today I'm reporting on the history of Shiseido Parlour, what opening day at the Jiyugaoka branch was like, and the dishes I recommend!

The History of Shiseido Parlour

When you hear Shiseido, you probably think of cosmetics, and some people may not know there's a restaurant.

But Shiseido Parlour actually has a long history: it was founded in 1902, making it a restaurant with more than a century behind it!

Its founder, Arinobu Fukuhara, was returning from the 1900 Paris World's Fair when he stopped in the United States and saw a drugstore there. Using that as a model, he installed a soda fountain in part of the Shiseido pharmacy, and that's how Shiseido Parlour began.
(A soda fountain is a counter that serves drinks and the like.)

It served Japan's first soda at the time, along with ice cream, which was still rare, and a soda water that came with a free bottle of skin lotion was apparently hugely popular with the geisha of Shimbashi.

The Ginza shop burned to the ground in the Great Kanto Earthquake, but reopened two months later (!). In 1928 it became a full-fledged restaurant, and it's now known as a pioneer of Western-style dining in Japan.

The flagship Ginza Shiseido Parlour feels more stately than the Jiyugaoka branch, a lovely space that makes you sit up straight, so if you haven't been, definitely go!

Opening Day at Shiseido Parlour Jiyugaoka

It was packed, even though it was the first day!

The wooden deck facing the street is set up for open-cafe-style dining, and it looks lovely on a sunny day.

Inside there's a restaurant and a retail corner with sweets made in the workshop downstairs.

Lunch couldn't be reserved, so I waited in a chair set out on the wooden deck.

While waiting, I got an explanation of the app.
If you sign up as a member, you can collect points.

You need to register an email address, but Wi-Fi was available.

The Jiyugaoka Menu

I snapped photos of the menu while I waited.

You can order some of the same dishes as at the Ginza flagship, and prices felt a little lower than at Ginza!

There are also dishes and cakes exclusive to Jiyugaoka, so deciding what to eat was surprisingly hard lol

Enjoying the Opening Commemorative Modern Course

After about 40 minutes my name was called and I was seated.

I'd say the dining room is around 50 square meters.

In the middle of the room there's a counter where guests sit side by side, which gives it a casual feel.

Light from the glass walls and indirect lighting make the room bright,

and it connects inside to the retail corner so you can go back and forth.

When you sit at the counter, you get a cute floral paper mat and a wet towel.

The silver cutlery was gleaming, probably brand new!

I decided on the Modern Course made for the Jiyugaoka opening.

For ¥4,000, it's a good-value course with a choice of main, a salad, consomme soup, meat croquette, a strawberry sundae and a drink.

Before I get to the food, a bit of a downer.

The restaurant was quite hectic, and service didn't seem to be running very smoothly.

Right next to the counter seats, people involved with the restaurant were exchanging business cards (it pulled me back to reality, so I'd appreciate it if they'd do that somewhere out of sight),

and here and there guests canceled their orders because the food was slow...

I had nothing planned afterward so the wait didn't bother me much,

but each dish took about 20 minutes to arrive, and it took two hours until I left. With the wait, three hours.

For anyone who ordered the course, that must have been a pretty long time.

At the counter in particular there were a lot of solo diners, and with a partition in front of you, your attention tends to focus on the meal, for better or worse.

I think it's hard to sit back and wait calmly, so they could speed up service or offer dishes that can be eaten quickly...

It's opening day, so it can't be helped to some extent, but I felt there's room for improvement here.

That said, the staff treated every guest sincerely, so I'm sure it will get better over time.

Anyway, 20 minutes after ordering, the first dish arrived: the consomme.

It's clear and sparkling.

The essence of all kinds of vegetables is packed into it and it's incredibly delicious...!

After the consomme, the meat croquette!

The meat croquette is a traditional favorite devised in 1931 by the third head chef.

The coating is very thin and crisp, and the inside is creamy, with diced ham and veal.

Then the main, the omurice (rice omelet), arrived. An even, beautiful golden color!!

The egg is set firmly on the outside and silky inside, and it blends well with the tomato-flavored chicken rice.

The omurice is fairly big, but eating it with the condiments, pickled onions, rakkyo (pickled shallots) and sweet fukujinzuke (pickled vegetables), gives it a different taste so you enjoy it to the last bite.

Finally, the strawberry sundae.

I didn't see any vanilla bean specks. It's a solid, crisp sweetness in the old-fashioned style.

I had it with hibiscus and rose hip tea.

I'd actually planned to have a parfait too, but I was full, so I paid and headed to the sweets shop.

The Cake and Sweets Shop

The retail corner was lined with showy sweets that would make great gifts.

Here are a few that caught my eye.

Drinks in cute packaging!

Hanatsubaki biscuits in a stylish metallic tin.

Shortbread made with Guerande salt and cheese powder.

The cakes are all the classics, so they're easy to choose.

Cheesecake, roll cake, mille-feuille, shortcake, opera...

Everyone likes at least one of these, right? lol

When I paid, they gave me a bag with something inside, saying it was an opening gift!

I love this kind of thing: having something to take home keeps the happy feeling going.

Inside the bag were two cute boxes designed like playing cards, holding ganache sweets coated in cocoa crunch.

I'm eating them right now as I write this lol

Whether you're enjoying carefully made Western-style dishes or buying a Jiyugaoka souvenir...

this is a place that's sure to become a favorite of the ladies of Jiyugaoka.

The wait will probably stay long for a while, but I think things will settle down after a bit.

Lunch can't be reserved, so go early, or call ahead to check how busy it is.

That's my report on Shiseido Parlour Jiyugaoka!

See you next time. Au revoir!

Shiseido Parlour Jiyugaoka
quaranta1966 1F, 1-4-10 Jiyugaoka, Meguro-ku, Tokyo
11:00-21:00 (last order 20:00; cafe last order 20:30)
Closed: Mondays (open on public holidays), New Year holidays
03-3718-7620