Antica Osteria del Ponte

Antica Osteria del Ponte is the Tokyo outpost of a Milanese culinary institution, the second restaurant in Italy to receive three Michelin stars.

Its bright, gracious dining room on the 36th floor of the Marunouchi Building, overlooking the Tokyo Station area and with a view across to the Tokyo Sky Tree, is a fine place to dine indeed.

As you arrive at Antica Osteria del Ponte you will be welcomed by the sight of thousands of wine bottles which line the walls of the grand passageway leading to the airy dining rooms. Classically decorated and immediately inviting, everything down to the fine details are perfect.

Chef Ezio Santin (above) and the restaurant’s Golosi room, complete with fireplace

The restaurant’s two private dining rooms, ‘Milano’ and ‘Golosi’, offer complete privacy and silence to those wishing to do business over lunch or dinner.

Corporate entertainment is a speciality here and Francesco Tricoli, the restaurant’s General Manager, is proud to say that whether celebrating, negotiating or simply entertaining, all diners will have an experience perfectly tailored to their needs. One room holds up to six and the other 16 people and neither compromises on comfort or atmosphere.

The Golosi room has a stone fireplace and sofas next to the dining table, perhaps a perfect place for a celebration and the Milano is suited to perhaps a larger, banquet style dinner.

October 2012 is a very special time for Antica Osteria del Ponte in Tokyo. The restaurant is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its opening here in Japan and has come up with quite a way to mark the occasion.

Ezio Santin, the Italian chef who earned those Michelin stars in Milan will bring his whites and his knives to Tokyo for a two week spell in the kitchen, cooking a spectacular menu of classic Antica Osteria del Ponte dishes.

Born in 1937, Santin opened his restaurant in the Milanese suburbs in 1976 and he will be bringing all his talents and experience to Tokyo for, perhaps, the final time.

From Santin’s kitchen, a seven-course lunch and ten-course dinner will be served every day between October 10 and 24, a rare chance to eat food cooked by his hands in Tokyo.

His menu is full of seasonality and there are many stand out dishes, the philosophy of Italian food and Milanese classics running right through – pictured at the top is an Ezio Santin style fish soup.

A signature ragout made with pork, chestnut and chard may be the highlight of your meal and when served amongst dishes which include fois gras with a fig and blueberry salsa, scampi marinated with citrus fruits and a steak with a Chianti sauce, it is difficult to imagine not enjoying quite a feast for the senses.

His dishes are cooked with authentic passion and with immense pride taken in the ingredients and flavours used; celebrating Antica Osteria del Ponte’s tenth anniversary with Ezio Santin seems the perfect way to enjoy the true taste of Italian food here in Tokyo.