Crony, The 2 Michelin Starred Tokyo Restaurant

CRONY

1 Chome-20-3 Higashiazabu,

Minato City, Tokyo 106-0044,

Japan

Restaurant Crony in Tokyo was founded in 2016 by Chef Michihiro Haruta and sommelier Kazutaka Ozawa who met whilst working at 3* Quintessence. The story of the restaurant is beautiful, with the name "Crony" symbolizing their journey as longtime friends and companions sharing many tea sessions. In less than 10 years, Crony has already multiple accolades, including 2 Michelin Stars as well as an impressive No. 30 on Asia's Top 50 Restaurant.

We get seated on the second floor of a very intimate dining section. The place is dark and inviting and the cuisine is refined French with Japanese influences. We start the night with a cup of savoury tea, as our server explains the meaning of Crony to us, "We start as friends, we leave as friends", she tells us.

Our menu of the night was incredibly large:

• Kyotanabe Kyoto - Yamashita san's Gyokuro "Samidori"

• Noheji Aomori - Takamatsu san's small turnip, Squid

• Tokachi Hokkaido - Kawada san's potato souffle

• Rishiri Hokkaido - Sea urchin, Pacific saury

• Oomuta Fukuoka - Omu milk products cream cheese, caviar

• Goto Nagasaki - Maguro tuna, winter melon, caviar

• Sanriku Iwate - Abalone, onion

• Shimokita Peninsula Aomori - Wild mushrooms, salmon roe, chawanmushi

• Hita Oita - Sake sourdough bread, sake lees butter

• Oshima Wakayama - Oseto fishery's Isaki, Higashi san's bell pepper

• Landes France - Pigeon, lotus root

• Ebetsu Hokkaido - Blue cheese

• Tosa Kochi - Suisho buntan, Kabosu

• Kyotanabe Kyoto - Yamashita san's Gyokuro "Samidori" hon-mirin

• Niigata - Kusano san's honey macaron

• Tosa Kochi - Sio maru salt factory's salt caramel

• Mikasa Hokkaido - Smoked madeleine

• KAOKA.co - Airy gateau au chocolat

I have been loving our culinary experience across Japan. Every where we go, we see the produce and the producer being listed. There is much pride in Japanese produce and rightfully so.

The start of the menu is a series of one bites. It was hilarious with the wait staff telling us to have each of these in one bites as they got bigger and bigger in size. At some point, I did wonder whether we were going to continue the night without cutlery, which would be a fascinating dinner in itself. But thankfully, after the series of one bites, and plenty of wet towels, our pre-mains were served with cutlery. The plating of the appetisers were absolutely spectacular. As we were going through the first 5 snacks, we were thinking to ourselves, 2 stars? This is looking like 3 stars. The flavours were fantastic and the plating was absolutely striking and memorable.

Our Bread

The bread course was one of the standouts. The chef came with a full loaf of bread and asked how much we would like to have. We ended up with a quarter each, which honestly, was probably too much. But it was smelling so amazing that we couldn't resist. The bread used Yeast no. 7 (something we learnt during our advanced sake course) coming from the institute of yeast, and is one of the most commonly used yeast for sake. The butter provided was from the Sake Lees and the Chilean wine paired with this course was an interesting wine fermented with that same no. 7 yeast. We were a little concerned about the amount of waste being generated considering each table had a fresh loaf being presented. However, that was not necessary as the remainder of the loaf was nicely packed, together with some fresh sake lees butter for us to take home as breakfast for the next day. A really beautiful touch on sustainability.

Isaki

We move on the mains and both the fish as well as the pigeon was absolutely outstanding and both very deserving to be written up separately. We start with the Isaki that is exceptionally deserving of its own picture. The fish was extremely delicate and the skin was crisp and delightful. We learnt that this is Chef's signature dish. The fish is farmed but eats only nuts and organics, which in turn produces an extremely delicate texture and sweetness that absolutely shines through. One of our favourites for the night.

Pigeon

And then a second main, which was equally stunning. This time pigeon from Landes. This was one of the best pigeons I have had in a while. Each part on the plate had different textures and it was an absolute delight. For me, my standard of how phenomenal a produce is handled, is if I want to continue eating the dish without any condiments or sauces. Both the Isaki and Pigeon fell into this category. Even without any sauces, they were brilliant on their own.

We then moved on to the desserts. For us, this was where we thought Crony had the most room to improve on. Whilst the stories was great around sustainability, the dishes didn't quite hit the spot. As we progressed through the meal, we were really looking at Crony as a huge contender as a 3 Michelin Starred restaurant. However, the desserts brought it back as a solid 2 stars. Nothing that really stood out and there was nothing that was very memorable. Perhaps just not our style to end the meal with.

The Sommelier at Crony is the co-owner and also Asia's best Sommelier for 2025, Kazutaka Ozawa. That pretty much assured us that our wine pairing for the night was going to be spectacular. And it was. No exceptionally premium pairings, only one and designed to compliment and complement the menu. We particularly enjoyed his narration of the wines. He had so much knowledge and knew exactly how he wanted to showcase the wines alongside the dishes. The wine pairing was something we truly enjoyed as part of the menu.

Booking

Reservations are available 2 months ahead and definitely required.

Accessibility

The restaurant is a 1 min walk from Akabanebashi Station.

The Damage

The Omakase menu is priced at 30800 JPY not inclusive of service charge and the wine pairing was ~ 8000 JPY, making it a total of 320 SGD per pax. Incredibly fantastic value.

Would We Recommend?

Yes! Crony has a story to tell and the meticulous skills alongside it. There is such a strong connection between French haute cuisine, Japanese mastery and sustainability. We loved the concept and would definitely visit again.