Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2010

It’s easy to forget that Tokyo is a harbor city. But a dinner at the Crystal Yacht Club will change that perception for good.

As you walk across the bridge from Tennozu Isle station, you’ll see the long, sleek, Italian-made yacht, the Lady Crystal, docked next to the clubhouse. The red carpet will have been rolled out. The massive engine will be softly humming. And the crew will be waiting for you to board.

Lunch cruises (100 minutes) start from ¥7,000, and dinner excursions (2.5 hours) begin from ¥14,000; both have significantly reduced prices for children. A special nighttime cruise also sets out for an hour of cocktails or wine from 9:30pm (¥4,000). The course wends its way around Tokyo Bay with romantic views of Rainbow Bridge.

If you haven’t got your sea legs yet, dinner is also served in the bayside “clubhouse”—an airy room with drapery furled like sails across the ceiling, and intimate brass candle lanterns gleaming softly from each white linen table.

The five-course dinner menu (¥7,000) offers excellent value. Chef Nonaka worked for nine years in Paris and is especially skillful with vegetables, fish and sauces. A recent dinner began with a vegetable terrine—a generous slab of garden-fresh yasai, cooked to al dente perfection, and encased in a refreshing geleé, with a few squiggles of basil anchovy sauce edging the plate.

The terrine was followed by a fine turnip soup, which led to a perfectly grilled sea bass filet with a side of ratatouille and drizzles of red beet and balsamico sauce. The meal continued with a portion of very tender braised pork, lightly dusted with roasted breadcrumbs redolent of truffle, accompanied by dabs of sherry sauce. Dessert was a caramel kirsch mousse with slices of fresh strawberry, kiwi, star fruit and orange.

As corny as it may seem, a harpist in the center of the room will intersperse the evening with soft melodies. This is done in a few Michelin-starred restaurants in Paris and, surprisingly, it works. Tensions and stress evaporate—if not from the music, then from the service, which is superb.

And if you dine on a Wednesday, you can be attended to by the trilingual conseiller, Philippe Sauzedde, who has trained his waitstaff in the French sensibility.

The wine list is very reasonably priced. A glass of the subtle, fresh white Costieres de Nimes from Languedoc is ¥800; a bottle will run ¥3,500.

If the weather is clement, you can choose to have coffee or dessert outside on the terrace overlooking the water, or even dine al fresco.