Disclaimer: In exchange for a hosted stay, I am writing this review of the InterContinental Osaka.
As I happened to be in Osaka for an unrelated article, I was invited to see what the InterContinental Osaka, and its one Michelin star restaurant Pierre were all about.
Location
The way I choose locations for places with which I lack familiarity, I work backwards from check-out day. In this case, I had to get to Osaka Kansai International Airport (KIX), and did not want to transfer trains with my luggage. Much like Tokyo, Osaka makes it easy to get between its airports, and many railway stations.
To wit, the InterContinental Osaka is right by JR Osaka station, from which there are both trains (including standard issue rail, and the airport express Haruka), and the slightly more comfortable airport bus. In fact, once you exit JR Osaka station, look for the pedestrian bridge to Grand Front shopping center; you can traverse that first building of the mall to reach the second building of that mall, which is where both the inside and main entrance of the hotel can be found.
It’s also very close to Umeda station, which serves the Hankyu, Hanshin, and Midosuji line of the Osaka Metro.
Finally, for those of you wondering if the hotel has direct bullet train (shinkansen) access…no. However, JR Osaka is a four minute — and very frequent — train ride from JR Shin Osaka station, which is where you’d use the bullet train.
First Impressions & Check-in
Firstly, don’t forget to flash your IHG membership if you have it!
Coming from the port city of Kobe, it was a quick and easy trip to JR Osaka station. I followed the hotel signs in the Grand Front shopping complex to reach the inner hotel entrance, which is close to a Zara Home store. A bellhop kindly took my bags, which happened to beat me in the “race” to my room.
Reception is on the 20th floor. For those of you who have read some of my other reviews, you’d know that I’m no fan of the two-part check-in; that is, having to take the elevator somewhere first, and then another elevator to the room. I suppose the other side would say that it whittles down foot traffic, but that all depends on what else the hotel offers, no?….
I guess a small contingent could go up there solely for the views.
Kimura san at the front desk helped me sort out my stay, and was personable, too. As I speak some Japanese, we had an amusing chat summarizing various western Japanese dialects.
She also handed me a sheet informing me of various services and meal options.
Being steeped in some Japanese pop culture from the 80s and earlier, I had a couple of unusual questions for their concierge (namely, where is that Colonel Sanders statue?). Even if it’s final home — Sumiyoshi Shrine, worth a visit on its own merit — no longer had it visible, the walk was a healthy one.
To access all rooms, a key card swipe in the elevator is required. At first, I thought it was silly to have to do that that when all guests already have to transit the lobby, but knowing that the room elevators are across from publicly accessible places to eat, I had to give in.
By the way, I really wish that the hotel turned off the piped-in music. It’s unnecessary, and takes away from the tranquility of its location above the hubbub.
Room
I was presented with a Premium King Room, which had some neat views of the Osaka train station area, and its iconic red Ferris wheel.
As was expected in a Japanese hotel room, it looked very clean, even as if it had been a model room for people on a tour.
The marble shower and bath were in great shape — fyi, the two bath salts available were sandalwood and cherry blossom — and room amenities included a toothbrush, hair brush, comb, hair dryer, and iron that could’ve used some work. One major flaw, though, was the door to the Toto, err toilet. It really should have been a sliding door. Instead, it got in the way of getting to the rest of the bathroom.
Fortunately, the bed was among the most comfortable I’ve ever stayed in, but to be candid, that aspect seems to be consistent throughout Japan.
Perhaps most importantly, it was quiet, and the wi-fi was obedient.
By the way, the InterContinental Osaka has a Club Lounge, too. I didn’t get to visit, but reading more about it, there’s a wonderful bonus for users: after 5:30pm daily, no one under 12 is admitted. The lounge offers breakfast, afternoon tea, champagne and cocktails, and a night cap, which runs from 7:30pm-10:30pm.
Amenities
The property has a swimming pool, 24-hour gym, spa — called MEGURI — and onsen (hot springs). They’re all on the 4th floor, which is accessible by the ground floor elevator.
Photography isn’t allowed in any of them, so the hotel provided the following germane photos.
When I went to take a peek at the workout area/pool, a nice woman named Terhi gave me a small tour.
Dining
Excluding room service, there are five food/drink choices at the hotel.
Stressed is in the ground floor lobby, and serves tea, coffee, and pastries.
3-60 is part of the 20th floor main lobby, and has drinks and small bites.
Then, there are the three I was able to try; in order, they are NOKA Roast & Grill adee, and Pierre.
NOKA Roast & Grill
NOKA Roast & Grill, or simply NOKA, is the buffet restaurant at the property. Breakfast is all buffet with a small menu of egg dishes, but lunch and dinner are à la carte with appetizer buffets.
I tried the breakfast both mornings, getting there right after 6:30 each day, the time it opened.
Whereas the egg chef could’ve added more flavor to each dish — surprising because both shrimp and bacon were listed as possible ingredients — I found it to be quite a well-rounded buffet.
Adee
Adee is the main cocktail bar, situated on the other side of Pierre; they’re both found across from the guest room elevators.
The cityscape is cool, and naturally augmented by sunsets.
I tried Inishie umeshu, which is roughly translated as “plum wine,” and had a signature adee cocktail Kakitsubata. Kakitsubata has Amanozake nihonshu, ROKU gin, and craft gin from OKAYAMA. It is finished with yuzu, refined sugar generally used in Japanese sweets called wagashi, and egg whites.
I’m not much of a gin fan, but that umeshu was excellent.
Pierre
Pierre, which receive one Michelin star last year, is the signature hotel restaurant; its chefs avail of Japanese ingredients, and prepare them with French cooking styles. It’s open for lunch and dinner, and has an extensive wine and Champagne collection; in fact, you’ll walk by a lot of it at the entrance.
It’s an open-kitchen concept, so ogle what you’re about to — or tempted to — eat.
Everything from the service to the knowledge about each wine pairing, and of course, the platings and flavors, was top-notch. There was one minor miss in the food, but it was ultimately a trifling issue when compared with the rest of the multi-course menu.
First, I will provide a snapshot of each glass of wine that was served. It should come as no surprise that red wine hardly makes an appearance, since I rarely drink it. Nevertheless, one was served with the venison.
Now, to the food.
Dango! Dango are glutinous rice balls, often served as desserts with a sweet miso glaze.
Here, however, they’re a more savory amuse-bouche. The topmost dango was made of joshinko rice flour, and topped with a type of cassoulet, a Languedoc stew made with meat and white beans. The bottom dango had shiratama rice flour covered with seasonal sakura shrimp.
Definitely unexpected, definitely wanted seconds.
On the left, a tartlet made with benifuji salmon from Shizuoka prefecture, lime-flavored avocado, and celery purée. On the right, radishes encircle salmon rillettes and trout roe. If you’re thinking, rillettes are often served on bread….
That was a fine combination of bread and butter, indeed with the salmon rillettes, too. Given the quantity of liquor that night, you better believe that I had an excess of bread.
Raw vegetables served like a temaki, or “hand roll.”
The fish is formally known as the roughscale sole, but let’s give it the Chilean sea bass treatment and call it shark skin flounder.
In this dish, it was fried in yam batter, topped with sour green onion sauce, and prepared in a bath of tartar sauce and pea purée.
There may be wagyu in here, but the May Queen potatoes are also a highlight.
The wagyu beef cheek was stewed in red wine, and made in a piperade, a Basque sauce of tomatoes, onions, and green peppers, seasoned with Espelette peppers with garlic. May Queen potato foam and potato skin “chicharrón” on it.
I’ve been on a saffron kick since my visit to Iran last year. This dish helped to reinforce that enthusiasm.
Sawara, or Japanese Spanish mackerel, is plated with winter root vegetables and mussels. The sauce is rouille, made with red peppers, garlic, and saffron. The waiter then poured on a second, fish-based sauce.
Mmm…now why is it that none of these dishes were allowed to have encore presentations?
Neat design, no?
Ezo deer from Hokkaido — Ezo refers to the indigenous peoples from the northernmost parts of Japan — is the centerpiece of of this course. The vension is accompanied by a poivrade sauce made of the same venison jus, red wine, and gin, as well as red onion, berries, and a mostarda.
Venison is one of the rare foods that I can recall when I first tried it; since that meal roughly 28 years ago, I’ve been a big fan.
Amidst the delicious florentine and chocolate cube, the only miss of the evening was the earl grey macaron. Like I said, a trifling thing.
You had me at Valrhona. Throwing in passion fruit and hazelnut was a delightful coincidence.
Coffee foam, lemon meringue, and lemon ice cream joined the party. White chocolate powder finished it off.
After such an exquisite dinner, I had to go out for a chilly walk around the neighborhood.
Tally ’em Up
The InterContinental Osaka is a fine choice with helpful staff, very good dining options, and a key location near some of the city’s major train stations. Whereas it would be a welcome change from these two elevator properties to be able to check-in from the phone and head right to the room — to at least reduce some of the waiting time — my restful stay and excellent dinner at Pierre made up for it.
Turn down the hotel music, fix the bathroom door, and disallow non-hotel guests from using the gym. Minor complaints, but they’d go a long way.
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