Afternoon Tea at Ekki Bar & Grill / エキ・バー＆グリルのアフタヌーンティー

Afternoon Tea at Ekki Bar & Grill in the Four Seasons Hotel Marunouchi
フォーシーズンズホテル丸の内にあるエキ・バー＆グリルのアフタヌーンティー

Our afternoon tea adventure is still going and this time, it's not one of the top 5 in Tokyo, however we wanted to try the unique afternoon tea available at the Ekki Bar & Grill in the Four Seasons Hotel Marunouchi, which is supposed to be connected to Tokyo station.
But Tokyo station is pretty big and easy to get lost unless you really know where to get out, so we walked overground to be safe.

It's about 10 minutes from Tokyo station and the sign and gate is recognizable.

By the gate, there's a menu stand.
When we got there was around 2:10PM and a staff was changing the menu into afternoon tea menu; we missed to see the lunch menu.

The menu stand outside was a bit dirty and I wondered if anybody would clean it frequently.

Going through the chic dark gray gate, there're 2 hotel staffs and welcomed us in English and asked if we're looking for something so my husband said we had booked afternoon tea at 2:30PM.
One of them escorted to the elevator and pressed the button to go up to the 7th floor.
She said, "Have a good day." when the door was closing.

At 2:15PM, we're at the 7th floor where the afternoon tea is served in a cafe space called "Ekki Bar & Grill."
We're told to wait till 2:30PM and sat on sofas nearby in the lounge where some people were discussing their wedding plans and having business meeting.

"Ekki" is named after the location.
Eki in Japanese means station and it's in front of Tokyo station and you can see trains and bullet trains (in reflection as they don't run on the regular rails) from the lounge space and also the Ekki Bar & Grill.

This is the view from the lounge where we're waiting to be called.

So many trains were running.
The white building in the middle is Kitte, a shopping mall opened on March 21, 2013 and it's built on the place where the central office of Japan Post Office was and the name "Kitte" was chosen for the meaning of stamps (as it was post office) and "kite," which means "please come and visit" in Japanese.

On the right, the brown building is Tokyo station.

At 2:30PM sharp, one of the staffs came and guided us to a table near the windows, where we pretty much had the same view; trains running in the middle, Kitte and Tokyo station on the right, and Tokyo International Forum.

The table was set already before we went in.
This may be the reason that they didn't let anybody into the Ekki Bar & Grill before the afternoon tea time started.

I realized they played R&B music with voice (not instrumental) in the lounge and this Ekki Bar & Grill, which was unique.

We got a jar of strawberry jam respectively provided on the white plate.

Strawberries were from Wakayama prefecture and it's like real strawberries were in the jar with Four Seasons Hotel label.

3 types of honey were set in the middle to share.

This is the menu.
It's hard to see what's written as the letters were silver.

So here's another shot.

This is the afternoon tea menu.

This is the drink menu.
You can choose any kind from 30 items and order stop was at 4:30PM they said.

Soon after we sat, seasonal smoothie was served as we had booked this premium afternoon tea set when my husband reserved.

It was a thick mango smoothie.

When we're almost done with smoothie, a staff came and took our drink order.
My first drink was "Tropical Orange" which is a flavored tea.

Like the name, this tea had orange and mango-ish flavor.

This is the afternoon tea set. 
As you can see, it's not set on high tea stand.

Here're the detailed photos and names.

Rice Paper Rolls with Spiced Snow Crab and Vegetables
スパイスを効かせたアラスカ産ズワイ蟹と野菜の生春巻き

It was a tiny rice paper roll and veggies were fresh.
However, the crab was covered and mixed with mayo so all I tasted was mayo (it's mainly because I hate mayo).

Brioche with Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese
スモークサーモンとキュウリとディルクリームチーズのブリオッシュサンド

Brioche was sweet and yellowish bread.Salmon was good quality so that it didn't have fishy smell.

Truffle Popcorns
トリュフポップコーン

When I tried this popcorn, I didn't taste much truffle.
Yet I had this popcorn after eating sweets, then somehow I could taste truffle flavor more clearly.

These burgers, quiches, bruschettas were on a warm plate to keep them delicious.

Mini Wagyu Burger Spring Cabbage and Sauerkraut with foir gras
春キャベツのサワークラウトとパストラミのフォアグラ和牛ミニバーガー

I don't like foie gras, so after first bite, I took out the rest of foie gras and it tasted much better to be honest.
Patty was beef 100% and it's cooked medium.

Bruschetta with Brandade and Semi-dried Tomato
真鱈のブランダードブルスケッタ　セミドライトマト添え

I didn't know it was white fish and thought it was mashed potato with some salt.
Bread was crispy and it's about the size of pinky finger.

Sakura Shrimp and Asparagus Quiche
駿河湾産桜海老とアスパラガスのキッシュ

The pie crust was really thin and crispy.
Sakura shrimp was crispy and asparagus was half cooked and half raw so it had different texture in the soft and flabby egg.

2 kinds of scones.
Home-made Scones with Clotted Cream - Vanilla and Cranberry & Orange -
自家製スコーン2種　バニラとオレンジクランベリー風味　クロテッドクリームで

Orange & cranberry scone.
It's supposed to be orange and cranberry but I could only taste cranberry, no orange.
Scone was pretty small.

Vanilla scone

I could see vanilla beans but it tasted like regular scones served at any other hotels.
Clotted cream, strawberry jam, and 3 kinds of honey.
I liked acacia honey (the clear honey in the middle) the best among 3 kinds.

Raspberry “Churros” with Raspberry Dip
ラズベリーチュロス　ラズベリーディップを添えて

Churro had pink sugar over it (but it's hard to see in the photo).
Churro was crispy but also dry inside, so it's not as good as Disney's.
With the raspberry dip, it tasted better as it added some moist and smooth texture to the dried churro.

Grand Marnier Panna Cotta
グランマルニエ風味のパンナコッタ

Panna cotta was really smooth and the texture was soft.
Fruits were melon, pineapple, and something else.

Lemon and Lime Tart
レモンとライムのタルト

There's a lime skin in the middle of the lemon mousse.
The tart tasted pretty sour and full of lemon, no lime, maybe on the skin topping.

Brown Sugar and Sweet Bean Cake
黒糖と色々な豆のケーキ

Japanese menu says it uses various kinds of beans.
I recognized it's sweet red beans and black bean.
As it uses brown sugar, it tasted close to Japanese confectionery and it's sweet and moist.

Roll Cake of the Season
季節のロールケーキ

I have no idea what kind of fruit it was as it only tasted like regular custard cream inside.

It tasted fine but I just didn't recognize what fruit it was.

Maybe the topping (raspberry) meant "season"?

I ordered my second drink between the cakes and you can see the white cup in the photo above behind the roll cake.

My second drink was Valrohna "Caraibe" 66%, Chocolate.

It was a hot chocolate with 66% cacao so it wasn't that sweet but to go well with afternoon tea set, drink can be bitter than hot chocolate that I'm used to.

A piece of marshmallow was on the spoon so I could put it in and let it melt.

With a marshmallow, it got a little bit sweeter.

My third drink was Four Seasons Iced Tea (オリジナルアイスティー on the Japanese menu).

It tasted like black tea but smelled like lemon grass and it was refreshing.

I liked it without gum syrup.

To my surprise, they use ice cubes made with black tea and after minutes, this iced tea didn't get thin and it tasted as good as it's served.

My fourth (and the last) drink was Matcha powdered tea.

It came in a Japanese style bowl and made fresh so that I could see bubble.
And this bowl was warm, too.
When I sipped it all, I could see a little chunk of powder as the menu says it's Matcha powdered tea.

The bowl has an interesting design on the other side.

I'd never had powdered tea in any other hotel and I liked this green tea a lot.
The portion was just right, not too much or not too small to enjoy the bitter tea.


<Personal Evaluation>
View: 2 out of 5
Looking at another buildings, trains, and rails was a little bit boring and nothing was special as it's located on the 7th floor which isn't high.
But there might not be any other place where you can have this view and that makes this place extraordinary.
Just my personal opinion is that not to have nice view (greens, skyscraper, or some gardens) was a little bit off since there's nothing to see except the foods and teas.

Food: 3.5 out of 5
It's a mix of salty and sweet foods and everything was pretty good except foie gras.
The reason we ordered this version was to try the smoothie and popcorn so that I left foie gras out of the burger after having one bite.
Sweets were relatively smaller to compare with other places but it's nice to try things little by little especially if there's a heavy item like burger.
Churros was interesting and this is another reason why we came here to have afternoon tea.

Tea: 3 out of 5
They had 30 kinds of tea and not only English teas, they had Japanese teas like Matcha (green tea) I had, also hot chocolate.
Having ordinary tea selections besides unusual ones (Match powdered tea, flavor tea, and hot chocolate) are nice since I didn't get tired of choosing only from black teas.

Service: 4 out of 5
They looked through all the customers and asked if we wanted to another drink when they saw our cup was empty or almost gone.
And a staff asked if everything was ok when he's taking away empty plates and tea sets.

However, it's hard to tell who was waiter or waitresses since they wore similar uniforms for the Ekki Bar & Grill and ordinary hotel staffs.

If you like trains, this would be interesting but if not, the view isn't excellent.
They played R&B music in the Ekki and the lounge so it's not like other hotels we've been to.
I liked the music itself but just it's awkward to listen to it while having "afternoon tea."
But on the other hand, the afternoon tea set wasn't on high tea set, so it's considered as "modern" or "new."

They are capable of modifying some menu upon request.
If you have food restriction, it'd be better contact them beforehand as they take reservations.

Fee: 4,200 JPY (tax included) + 15% service charge = 4,830 JPY
There's a different set available for 3,900 JPY which comes with regular burger (without foie gras) and no seasonal smoothie or no truffle popcorn.


Ekki Bar&Grill  エキ・バー＆グリル
7F, Pacific Century Place Marunouchi
1-11-1, Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
東京都千代田区丸の内1-11-1
パシフィック・センチュリー・プレイス丸の内 7F

Open
2:00PM - 5:00PM on weedays
2:30PM - 5:00PM on weekdays