Tabelog ratingAsador ROCA (アサドール ロカ) is a small counter run by a husband and wife, serving a single Basque-style tasting menu cooked over charcoal and wood. The chef, from Itoshima in Fukuoka, builds the monthly-changing menu around Japanese seasonal produce and Spanish technique, and from the counter you watch each course come off the grill. It was selected for Tabelog's Spanish “Tabelog 100” in 2024 and 2026.
Reviewers return again and again to the warmth of the couple. The chef's wife chooses the wines, and the all-Spanish wine pairing is widely recommended. Dishes named repeatedly include tuna rolled in a perilla leaf with anchovy, a charcoal meatball soup with chestnut and truffle, two meat courses (wagyu with horseradish, then boar, lamb or bear) and a seasonal paella with crab, firefly squid or squid. The finale, a charcoal-baked Basque cheesecake with a molten centre, appears in most reviews and is also sold separately. Diners often stay three to four hours.
Criticism is mild. A few found the cooking polished but unsurprising, “delicious but not moving”. One noted restrained seasoning and rising prices, another found individual portions small, and a summer visitor missed the wood-fire flavour. A non-drinker was refused and felt the refusal was curt, and in 2023 a foreign guest arrived to find the restaurant closed and the booking unknown.
As there is only one course, reviews quote no individual dish prices. Reviewers paid ¥14,300 for the course in 2026 and about ¥22,000 with the wine pairing; in 2024 reviewers reported about ¥20,000 with generous wine. Expect a dinner spend of roughly ¥15,000–¥22,000 per person. Lunch is no longer served.
Reviewers consistently call ten-plus courses with pairing at around ¥20,000 fair to generous. Most leave very full, and staff adjust portions or wine on request.
- Getting there: about 7 minutes' walk from Yodoyabashi Station (Keihan and subway), 8 minutes from Kitahama Station, 10 minutes from Honmachi Station. Ground floor (1F) of the Atore Sankyu Hiranomachi Building.
- Booking: walk-ins are not realistic; book by phone (06-6121-2400) weeks to a month ahead, and reconfirm directly with the restaurant rather than only through a hotel concierge.
- Alcohol is a booking condition: guests order the wine pairing or a bottle; non-drinkers are not accepted.
- Menu: one course only; any extras must be requested by phone in advance. Doors open exactly at the booked time; last entry 20:00.
- Payment: cards accepted (Visa, Mastercard, JCB, AMEX, Diners); electronic money and QR payments are not accepted. No service charge.
- Seating: counter only; no private rooms, but the restaurant can be reserved for private use.
- Smoking: fully non-smoking. Parking: none.