Order the three dishes one hotel gave the whole of Japan
Doria, Napolitan, pudding a la mode
Hotel New Grand opened on 1 December 1927 and is the origin of three staples of Japanese yoshoku: seafood doria, spaghetti Napolitan and pudding a la mode. All three are still served at the hotel's ground-floor coffee house, The Cafe.
Why it's unique
Three dishes now eaten across Japan were invented in this one hotel, and each has a specific cause. The Swiss first head chef Saly Weil improvised the doria around 1930 for an unwell guest who wanted something easy to swallow. The second head chef Irie Shigetada built the Napolitan during the Occupation after watching GIs eat boiled spaghetti tossed with ketchup. The pastry chef created pudding a la mode to impress American officers' wives.
You can order all three originals at one table. The original Napolitan is made with fresh and puréed tomato, not ketchup, which is exactly what every later version gets wrong.
Before you go
Prices include tax and service: seafood doria 3,289 yen, spaghetti Napolitan 2,340 yen, pudding a la mode 2,024 yen. The pudding's excessive presentation is the original design brief, not an accident.
MacArthur used the hotel as his first headquarters in 1945, but his suite is a bookable guest room rather than an exhibit, so non-guests should settle for the 1927 lobby and the grand staircase. For the cheaper ketchup version that actually spread, pair this with Center Grill in Noge on the same day.