4 prices for the Unaju: 1300, 1600, 2000, 2500yen. The difference is the size of the unagi. Had the 1600yen one which is quite small. Unagi likely not grilled upon order cos it came too quickly and wasn’t hot. The rice underneath was quite soggy. This place is famous for having been visited by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
たつみや
Lunch at a luxurious “Grand Maison”(I wonder if this is a Japanese term?). 8000yen lunch course.
殻入りスクランブルエッグ キャビアと雲丹のハーモニー。
小笠原産 海亀のコンソメスープ（＋１９００円）。
Scrambled egg stuffed in eggshell with caviar and sea urchin. Maybe a little too filling for a starter.
Ogasawara green sea turtle consomme soup(+1900yen). This is a chef’s specialty that my friend requested to add to the course. Nice smell. Particular taste. Good for skin apparently.
手長海老と冬のきのこ カネロニ仕立て。
狩猟鴨のビトック サルミソース。
Cannellonis of scamp and mushrooms. The sauce is made from prawn. Quite good.
“Bitoke” of hunted bird with salmis sauce. If I had known that Bitoke meant hamburger I would have chosen a different course. ^^;; The paste on the side is chestnut.
5 different wagon desserts for you to choose. Normally they don’t serve “a bit of everything”, but the restaurant was quite empty that day so they made an exception. Mango mousse is nice.
This week’s lunch menu here.
Apicius
カキとほうれん草のガーリックソーススパゲッティ＋トマトソースで煮込んだソーセージのラグーソーススバゲッティ、１２６０円。
Oyster and spinach garlic sauce + sausage in tomato ragu sauce. Comes with salad, bread and coffee. Just your regular pasta lunch.
La Porta Felice
うな重（上）、２８００円。香物・肝吸い付き。
Unaju – eel on rice in a box. Comes with veggy pickles and kimosui(a clear soup made from eel livers). My gosh the unagi is so nice! Very soft and fatty. The sauce is light and elegant in taste. Unagi is usually preferred to eat in summer because it is nutritious hence provides strength to beat “summer weariness”, but as the lady staff was telling other customers, Unagi is the most delicious in winter because it has the most fat. This place is very famous – established in 1908. I sat in a small room next to the genkan, but I think there is zashiki(tatami-floored room) inside. Whether you have reserved or not, they will only start preparing the unagi after you sit down, so even at lunch time, prepare for a 40~50 mins wait. I wasn’t prepared and almost fainted from hunger, no kidding. But it is really worth it!
石ばし
いそゆきそば、７５０円。
Soba in beaten egg. Never had this before! It is quite nice. The egg sauce is not seasoned so you dip the soba into the tsuyu sauce before you eat.
池の端 藪蕎麦
レバーペースト、豚のリエット。カリフラワーのスープ。
Dinner at a recently opened Sicilian restaurant, which is about 10 mins walk from Shibuya station. Dinner course is 6000yen.
Liver paste and pork rillette. Cauliflower “soup”(more like paste). Bread is warm and soft.
１０皿の前菜。
10 appetizers to share between 2 people.
Left pic: octopus and salmon and fruit(top left); beef neck meat with herb and almond and cheese; pork and tuna paste; squid and prawn(bottom left); porcini; spicy aubergine.
Right pic: aubergine layered with cheese; maguro(tuna) veggy roll with bell pepper paste.
手打ちのタリオリーニ ムール貝のラグー シシリア産マグロのからすみ添え。
Left pic: baked mussels; tripe and leek.
Right pic: one pasta from the menu of 4 choices. I picked the homemade tagliolini in ragu of mussel, topped with Sicilian tuna karasumi. The portion is for 2 to share.
リングイネ 魚介たっぷりのシシリア風ペスカトーレ。
窒息鴨のロースト ちょっと甘めのシシリア産マルサラソース。
House speciality Linguine seafood Pescatora is prefixed. Also for 2.
My main dish from the menu(6 choices) – Roasted duck in sweet Marsala Wine Sauce. This is for 1 person. The madam said the portion for the meat is the biggest from the top of the menu and gets smaller as you go down the list. Mine is right at the bottom and is supposed to be the “smallest”.
デザートの盛り合わせ。
Dessert plate for 1: passion fruit sorbet and pineapple; pistachio roll cake with lemon cream; raspberry Tiramisu; panna Cotta.
For herb tea, you pick the tea leaves and mix it any way you like. I had a bit of everything.
For 6000yen it is amazing how much food they are giving you. After the appetizers, most people will probably be 80% full already. Even a big eater like me had difficulty finishing the main dish and the dessert. (In fact I couldn’t eat breakfast and lunch the next day…) The very friendly madam told me that there was a customer who got mad about the crazy portion, stormed into the kitchen and shouted at the chef: “How can you expect me to finish all that food?!”. ^^;;; Apparently the chef learned cooking in Sicily for 3 years and the experience of being welcomed with good food that just kept coming and coming even though he could eat no more, made him decide to do the same to his customers. ^^;;; Taste-wise, it is quite good but not exceptional. The nicest is the meat dish – the duck is tender and the sauce is sweet and wonderful. A shame that I was so full by that time that I couldn’t really enjoy it. Linguine is cooked al dente but otherwise the pasta dishes are a bit normal. The madam asked us if we wanted smaller portions for the pasta, but my friend is a big pasta lover so we said no. Hmm, the best solution is probably to request for smaller portions of the dozens of appetizers. Some of them taste rather similar anyway. It is course-only for now but the madam said a la carte menu will be available soon.
Menu(J): 1, 2.
Archimede
もりワンタン、７５０円。味付け玉子、１００円。
Tsukemen(called mori-soba in this shop) with wonton and seasoned egg. Also a slice of pork at the bottom. Wonton is good but pork and egg are so-so. The noodles are cold by default, but you can also choose hot noodles for Tsukemen, which is probably a better idea in this weather. This shop is a branch of the very popular Taishoken in Higashi-Ikebukuro.
南池袋 大勝軒