Never quite understood the allure of Odaiba, but I certainly understand the allure of sitting on a terrace, looking at the bay and the bridge and the other scenery (which is frankly pretty industrial, but we take what we can get, scenery-wise, here in Tokyo). The Hotel Nikko has a very civilized afternoon tea thing going on with their terrace restaurant, Veranda, in contrast to the fun-but-gaudy commercialism of most of the rest of Odaiba (I’m not saying it’s bad. I’m from New Jersey after all – never going to complain about malls).
Of course, the weather wasn’t supportive of our plans to eat outside. That reduced the available number of seats, which led to a wait (conversely, if the weather was better I think you’d expect to wait more since the view would be better). On the bright side, you can wait on comfortable hotel chairs in a little way-station just across from the restaurant, where if you squint to blur out the already-seated patrons, you’ll feel like you’re outside already.
Seated at a window table, we had a good view of the bridge and various buildings. It doesn’t look wet, but I think Hotel Nikko wouldn’t risk their customers coiffures and couture by seating anyone if there was a risk of rain. Thus we got to see empty tables, and across them The View.
The food is quite what you’d expect from a high-end Japanese hotel restaurant. At right, a very proper club sandwich, very proper in its ingredients, thin, even, pressed appearance, and lack of taste. The fries were quite good, at least.
Aaaaand the afternoon tea set. With a solid selection of cakes to share (mainly with a mango theme at the moment), plus a little sandwich and some cheese on the bottom, and a pot of tea on the side, you could be happy with this. Roll cake, fruit tart, champagne jelly, sponge cake, mousse loaf…a little of everything. Again, if you want to while away an hour just looking at the view (they also recommend drinking champagne), this is a cool way to do it.
Depending on your price tolerance, of course.
03-5500-5703