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Tokyo

Haruka Murooka

Haruka Murooka

Featuring the finest-quality fruits in gorgeous and tasty creations that will take your breath away, Haruka Murooka is a dessert restaurant where everything is made right before your eyes by a chef who is surprisingly not overly obsessed with sweets. Perhaps that is the reason for the sweet success of her incredibly creative and broadly appealing cuisine.

Nogizaka is a somewhat quieter and calmer neighborhood than the adjacent Aoyama or Roppongi. Just a four-minute walk from the station, Haruka Murooka can be found on the first floor of a brand-new designer building. A large arrangement by dried flower artist Tomoko Sugimoto adorns the front door, and a combination of fresh and dried flowers in the interior creates a gentle, comfortable atmosphere that makes you want to visit time and again. The chef’s first name, Haruka, combines the Japanese characters for spring and aroma and is an essential element of the restaurant concept. We experience the cycle of seasons throughout each year of our lives, and that special, fleeting moment when we are greeted with the sweet aroma of spring brings much excitement and joy. Chef Murooka’s philosophy is about allowing guests to experience that instant with her unique style of expression. The restaurant’s flower-like logo was designed by the chef’s husband, illustrator Ryota Watanabe.

Six inviting captain’s chairs line the counter of colorful Belgian Bealstone set in marble. Looking closely, you can see an array of stones scattered throughout the smooth stone material, creating a subtle and charming atmosphere. The curves throughout the space create a sense of luxury and femininity. The trays and cutlery are made from recycled mixed timber by iwagaku in Shizuoka Prefecture, and as a sign of the times, each table setting includes a timber smartphone stand and a small wooden cube with a menu QR code. From here, you can witness the process of the dishes coming together and smell the tantalizing aromas that burst forth when the oven door opens to reveal some freshly baked creations.

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CUISINE

Gorgeous and tasty creations

In the course of nine dishes, Japan's outstanding fruit produce is on full display, sublimated through Murooka’s highly honed sensibility. She takes great pride in driving every part of the process, from produce selection to plating. She opens the course with neutral flavors, then moves to refreshing, followed by savory dishes, offering a change of pace and an element of surprise, before returning to the world of sweets with deeply satisfying and familiar flavors. All are accompanied by personal explanations by the chef that reveal her love for the ingredients and passion for this work. The course includes some performance elements and flows with delightful modulation. Guests may be perplexed by the idea of a dessert course and unsure of when to visit, but rest assured, this is a dessert-forward course including other dishes, so lunch and dinner both work perfectly. The opening dish of Mt. Fuji Foothills IDEBOKU Milk features Shizuoka Asagiri Highlands milk in gelato and a milk pudding. Seemingly simple, it is so gratifying to taste these gentle flavors; a dash of olive oil and a pinch of salt make the milk’s sweetness pop. Satoshi Sugie made the glassware that carries this dessert especially to evoke fresh air, water and pasture.

From this point forward, it is all about seasonality. Cocomeru is a summery plate showcasing the wonderful affinity of coconut for watermelon. Another dish served on Satomi Noda tableware highlights the umami and fragrance of tangy Kawachi Bankan citrus served with lemongrass foam and a roasted almond blancmange. These dishes make way for salty-savory bites, like a two-tone chilled asparagus soup and just-baked Kitaakari potato focaccia with corn. An enduring signature since 2020, “Water Cacao” is a palate cleanser served mid-meal. It features an impossibly thin tuille of cacao pulp and cacao mass. Appearing from beneath the chocolate foam is coffee granité using dark-roast Colombian beans. Next is a chocolate gelato made with water, not milk, and a gelée, all accented by crunchy roasted cacao nibs. The drinkable cacao has incredible clarity and exhibits the product’s fruity flavor and delicious acidity – it is chocolate for grown-ups!

From May to June only, a stunning mango crepe dish using Toki no Shizuku Miyazaki Prefecture mangos includes black tea gelée and coconut meringue. There is not a single drop of fresh cream in the whole dish. A honeydew melon variety called Kaminari inspired a creation like a creaming melon soda called Melon Déclinaison. The French word refers to changing of form. It is used in cuisine to describe a dish presenting one ingredient in various ways; in this case, melon appears as sorbet, jelly and pannacotta, among others, for fascinating texture sensations. You may also enjoy churros prepared à la minute and an incredible herbaceous mille-feuille pastry.

INGREDIENTS
The fruits that form the centerpiece of each sweet creation are sourced directly from producers around Japan. Wakayama’s Kuramitsu Farm provides citrus varieties and Nanko Ume plums, and a distinctively late-ripening, sweet citrus called Kawachi Bankan comes from Hiroshima’s Kajiya Farm. Other items include a special watermelon named Anmitsu Hime (Sugar Princess) from Takashima Farm in Ibaraki, Toki no Shizuku mangos from Miyazaki, Kaminari melons from Yamaichi Farm, Ibaraki Prefecture, and a delicious selection of herbs from Nagano grower Yurara. Murooka considers visits to the producing regions essential, making regular trips with industry colleagues to producers in Ibaraki and surrounding areas.

In addition to exquisite fruit, Murooka is a passionate proponent of IDEBOKU milk delivered from the Asagiri Highlands of Shizuoka Prefecture, as it contains few additives. The eggs she uses come in two varieties: one with a prominent yolky flavor and another with a gentler taste derived from chickens raised on rice.

Haruka Murooka cuisine #0
Haruka Murooka cuisine #1

CHEF

Haruka Murooka

Haruka Murooka is from Shizuoka Prefecture. She was born in 1982 and has always enjoyed crafting things with her hands. She credits her sculptor father for her ability to create three-dimensional objects and her painter mother for her ingenious use of colors. Having initially joined a talent agency engaging in various projects for three years after high school, Murooka took up office work. But a part-time job as a kitchen hand launched her into the culinary world. First learning French cuisine, those around her were struck by her skillful hands, urging her to become a pâtissier. She learned Italian dolce and restaurant desserts at Riviera Aoyama, going on to become chef pâtissier there. During this time, Murooka was already holding collaborative dessert course events with JULIA’s Chef Motohashi and Chef Tamura of Mr. CHEESECAKE. After further wielding her talents at Ginza's Ristorante Otto, Daikanyama’s WAJO and Kaoru Hiroo, the chef went independent with her eponymous restaurant in 2024. Despite a hectic schedule, Murooka never fails to make time to visit the producers, without whom none of this would be possible.

VISION
Murooka’s vision is twofold: to get her dessert course restaurant into a steady groove and to someday open a baked goods shop. She wants as many people as possible to taste her signature sweet — stollen. She would also love to participate in some of the food events that organizers regularly offer her. While she prepares everything single-handedly now, Murooka has her sights on training future artisans.

ALCOHOL

A personal love for a tipple is behind the outstanding champagne and wine list rivaling some of Tokyo's best French restaurants. Murooka places great importance on the dessert and alcohol pairing course, the contents of which are confirmed every week with both sommeliers. The prestigious lineup is joined by popular hard-to-find labels like Niigata's Cave D’Occi and the fledgling 7C seven cedars winery in Yamanashi Prefecture. Along the counter wall is an array of libations made at mitosaya distillery in Daita, Chiba Prefecture, using fruits and botanicals sourced in its environs. When paired with Murooka's desserts, the elements of the cuisine and alcohol play off each other for a sublime flavor experience. Murooka finds great joy in the endless possibilities such combinations present. Take the strawberry dessert with lavender gin, for example; it is not a formula of addition—the appeal is exponential.

Course

Sep, Oct and Jan
Haruka Murooka dessert full course with non-alcohol pairing Sep. - Oct. 2024 & Jan. 2025
  • The price includes our booking fee of ¥8,000
  • The price includes our booking fee of ¥8,000
¥31,000
¥31,000
Reservation Request
Sep, Oct and Jan
Haruka Murooka dessert full course with alcohol pairing Sep. - Oct. 2024 & Jan. 2025
  • The price includes our booking fee of ¥8,000
  • The price includes our booking fee of ¥8,000
¥36,500
¥36,500
Reservation Request
Nov and Dec
Haruka Murooka dessert full course with non-alcohol pairing Nov. - Dec.
  • The price includes our booking fee of ¥8,000
  • The price includes our booking fee of ¥8,000
¥32,000
¥32,000
Reservation Request
Nov and Dec
Haruka Murooka dessert full course with alcohol pairing Nov. - Dec.
  • The price includes our booking fee of ¥8,000
  • The price includes our booking fee of ¥8,000
¥38,000
¥38,000
Reservation Request

Tokyo

Haruka Murooka

Haruka Murooka

PRICE
¥31,000
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CHILD
12
& UP
VEGAN
WELCOME
LUNCH
OPEN
MIN GUESTS
1
PERSON
~
GENRE
Dessert Dining, Nishiazabu
ADDRESS
1F, Address: Japan, 〒107-0062 Tokyo, Minato City, Minamiaoyama, 1 Chome−21−9
OPEN
Mon and Fri: 3PM and 6:30PM, Sat and Sun: 12PM, 3:30PM, 7:30PM
CLOSED
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
URL
NA
PHONE
NA

RESERVATION

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