Iconic
Impress your date—or marry her—at Terence Conran’s signature Tokyo restaurant

Photos courtesy of Hiramatsu

Iconic embodies everything that people either admire or despise about Terence Conran’s restaurants. Dishes like spaghettini with langoustines, roasted minced lamb pie with truffle sauce, and roast duck are, depending on your outlook, either welcome examples of classic European fare or ordinary versions of tired comfort food. Similarly, the bright, spacious interior, with its clean lines and plush furnishings, can strike diners as refreshingly contemporary or needlessly chic. In both instances, we’re among the former.

Situated in Ginza’s spanking new Velvia-kan complex, Iconic greets diners with a classy open bar area. Next door, the large main dining room is a celebration of comfort, with an impressive amount of breathing room between the tables and staff that prowl the room like they’ve been at it for years.

Our only quibble with the interior was that the grand wall-to-wall window is covered by a diaphanous white curtain—what a tease. The staff explained that this focuses attention on the interior, and on that point we can’t complain. Iconic’s eye-catching circular logo graces everything from the plush carpets to the teacups, while heavy linens and Christofle flatware lend a serious air to the proceedings. The centerpiece is a circular banquette divided into several seating areas—designed, we are told, by Sir Terence himself—and the entire room is lorded over by a mural of a fierce-looking woman striking various dramatic poses. Somehow, it all works.

So much for the space; how’s the food? Unpretentious in preparation and presentation, and brimming with top-quality ingredients, the menu earns our rave. Lunch sets begin at a reasonable (for Ginza) ¥1,800, while dinner prix fixe menus start from ¥8,400. In the evening, an affordable “vegetarian course,” which includes salad, soup, risotto and vegetables, sells for ¥4,500.

The assortment of five appetizers that comes with the pasta lunch set (¥3,500) looked too good to pass up, so we plumped for the four-course meal. The prettily arranged starters included an intensely flavored asparagus puree, sprinkled with truffles; Atlantic salmon given a touch of extravagance by a dollop of herbed cream cheese; a half moon-shaped crostini topped with a cube of foie gras on one side and a compote of apple and raisin on the other; and a wedge of bacon-and-spinach quiche that was just as it should be—buttery and eggy.

The quiche and salad set, meanwhile, started with a robust minestrone that reminded us why the name translates as “big soup.” Its extreme hotness, though, led us to wonder if it had been nuked just prior to serving. We were a bit apprehensive about the main dishes—surely, the portions would be diminutive. But the “Greedy Salad” lived up to its name, with olives, radicchio, haricot vert, hard-boiled egg, and wedges of potato and tomato in a basil vinaigrette. The quiche, served warm, was actually larger than some pizzas we’ve had in Japan, and agreeably filling.

The staff timed our meal perfectly, and when we got our check we found that we hadn’t been charged for our second glass of Rully Folie 2002, a crisp white that went especially well with the lighter appetizers. If Sir Terence was trying to buy our vote, he needn’t have bothered: he won us over as soon as we walked into his dining room.

Ginza Velvia Kan 9F, 2-4-6 Ginza, Chuo-ku. Tel: 03-3562-7500. Open (dining) Mon-Sat 11:30am-2:30pm (LO) and 6-10pm (LO), Sun and hols 11:30am-2:30pm (LO) and 6-9pm (LO); (bar) Mon-Sat 11am-10pm (LO), Sun and hols 11am-9pm (LO). Nearest stn: Ginza or Ginza-Itchome.

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