Irreel (イレール)

Posted on June 28, 07 by seat

１０種類の野菜と地鶏ささ身のプレッセ沖縄産シークワーサーソース。
Lunch menu B, 3990yen.
Presser of 10 kinds of vegetables and chicken breast meat in Okinawa shikuwasa(Okinawa citrus fruit) sauce. Hmm the sauce is too sweet.

マッシュルームの温かいフラン。春キャベツのスープ。
Mushroom flan. Red wine sauce and truffle bits on top. The sauce is like demi-glace, a bit yoshoku-feel but delicious.
Spring cabbage soup. With quite strong pepper and shiso in it. Very washoku-feel…but I like it.

シャラン産鴨胸肉のロースト　コリアンダー風味　干しイチジクのピューレ添え。
Roasted duck breast, with coriander and dried fig puree. This is very very delicious!! But…only one slice!?! ^^;;;
Warm banana pie and Earl grey ice-cream. A bit normal.

Have been to this place 3, 4 years ago and have forgotten what I ate EXCEPT the main dish which was soft and juicy beef steak with cheese on top – absolutely amazing and impossible to forget. This time again, the main dish is the most delicious. The interior is renovated and much more stylish than before. I still remember last time the fire alarm went off and didn’t stop for a loooooong time while the customers continued eating…^^;;

There were actually 3 different appetizers and 3 different desserts available, but because we were a big group of 8, we weren’t allowed to choose. So the staff simply decided who was going to get what. A bad arrangement cos people tend to wish they had someone else’s food. ^^;;

Lunch menu(J) here.
Irreel
Add: ABC ANNEX building 3F, 3-29-16 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku
Tel: 03-5475-6127

たもいやんせ (Tamoiyanse)

Posted on June 27, 07 by seat

宮崎綾地鶏骨付もも焼き。
An izakaya offering regional Kyushu food and many different kinds of shochu from Kyushu.
Charcoal-grilled Miyazaki chicken thigh.

黒豚とんこつ煮。若竹煮。
Simmered pork belly and ribs of “black pig”, a specialty of Kagoshima. This is so good! The soft meat slid right off the bones. The sauce is sweet.
Simmered bamboo shoot.

豚飯。冷や汁。
Pork rice. Hiyajiru – cold, soybean paste soup with dried bonito, sesame and other ingredients poured over rice(and tofu in this case). Both are good~

Shared between 2 people with 2 shochu, about 6600yen. Slightly expensive but the environment is clean and comfortable(except for the tobacco). Nearest station is “Shinsen” but less than 15 mins walk from Shibuya station.

たもいやんせ (Tamoiyanse)
Add: 10-10 Shinsencho, Shibuya-ku
Tel: 03-3461-4333

CICADA (シカダ)

Posted on June 25, 07 by seat

モロッコ風クラブケーキ。カラマリロースト、プロシュートと香草パン粉詰。
Spicy moroccan crab cakes. Roasted Calamari stuffed with prosciutto.

ラムタジン。魚介のタジン。
Lamb tagine with cous-cous. Seafood tagine with cous-cous.

ピスタチオクレームブリュレ。ヴァローナチョコレートケーキと生チョコレートジェラート。
Super-rich and warm Valrhona 70% cocoa chocolate cake with chocolate gelato. Pistachio crème brulee.

I read a review here and got curious about this place. It looked very foreigner-oriented, having a couple of sister restaurants offering American food like hamburger so I wasn’t so sure. But I was pleasantly surprised that the food was great! Supposed to be Mediterranean cuisine: Greek, Moroccan, Portuguese, Italian etc. 2800yen lunch course includes appetizer, main dish, dessert and coffee, with tax included and no service charge for lunch, even on weekends. All the stuff we ordered were delicious – every dish of them! The portion is huge. I have never seen a creme brulee that big in a Japanese restaurant, and it is not just big but delicious and rich with pistachio flavour. The waiter came to recommend us olive oil with the bread, and he didn’t say anything about additional charge for the olive oil, fortunately I had read the review…^^;; But apart from that the staff are very friendly. English-speaking staff available.
CICADA

石丸館 (Ishimarukan)

Posted on June 23, 07 by seat

蟹のグラタン。
Crab gratin. Massive for an amuse-bouche. Generous amount of crab and vegetables~, delicious!
Bread is so-so.

ローストキチンサラダ。ブイヤベース。
I suppose this is the appetizer course. Two big pieces of roasted chicken and salad. Simple but good.
Main course is Bouillabaisse. Two types of fish, scallop, and fish cake….again big portion and tasty.

Mango ice-cream. Mango mousse cake and a big and super yummy strawberry~

There was a blackboard with the prices of different lunch courses ranging from 3500yen to 10,000yen. We weren’t shown the lunch menu(maybe there wasn’t one), we weren’t asked about which course we wanted, and we weren’t told about what kind of food was coming…the chef only came to take our drink order, and some 15 mins later we just started eating. Somehow the atmosphere made us feel comfortable enough to leave everything to the chef, who is probably over 60s(?) and talks to you as if he knows you since you were a baby. ^^;;

There was an old lady(over 80s?) eating a full course by herself, and two ladies who seemed to be regulars and their main dishes were different from ours. Apparently they had told the chef in advance that they didn’t want fish for their main course and they had pork instead…which looked really good.

Well it was a relief that our lunch was the cheapest 3500yen and not the 10,000yen one. Amazing value considering the quality and the quantity you get. Only shame is that the wine is pretty bad…glass wine is cheap, about 800yen, but it tastes like it should be used for cooking(though I am no wine expert). Will come back again, and must not forget to request for meat!!

石丸館 (Ishimarukan)
Add: 2F, 2-15-6, Kamimeguro, Meguro-ku
Tel: 03-3716-3113

七條(Shichijo)

Posted on June 19, 07 by seat

豚肩ロース、カレーソース、￥１０００。
ホロホロ鳥のパン粉焼き悪魔風、￥１０００。
From many lunches.
Pork shoulder loin in curry sauce. So-so.
Grilled guinea fowl with breadcrumb, “devil-style”(curry taste ^^;;;). Very good!

活〆穴子フライタルタルソース添え、￥１２００。
メンチカツ、￥８００。
Fried anago tartare sauce. It is massive!! Very good.
Menchi-katsu. Juicy inside and crispy outside.

若鶏むね肉のソテー、マッシュルームエストラゴン風味、￥１０００。
仏産鴨のロースト、粒マスタードソース、￥１０００。
Chicken breast saute, mushroom sauce. Too healthy-tasting for me…
Roasted duck with mustard sauce. Okay.

ミックスフライタルタルソース添え、￥１３００。
若鶏とアサリのソテー、バジル風味ピペラド添え、￥１０００。
Mixed fried shrimp/scallop/crab cream croquette. Good.
Chicken and clam saute, basil sauce. Good.

仏産鶏の香草パン焼き青豆ブレゼ添え、￥１０００。
仔羊のロースト、キノコ添え、バジルソース、￥１０００。
Grilled chicken with breadcrumb, green beans brasier. Very good.
Roated lamb with mushroom and basil sauce. Bad.

和牛スネ肉のビール煮、￥１０００。ミックスフライ（海老、帆立貝、牡蠣）、￥１３００。ウニのコンソメゼリー寄せ、根セロリのピュレ添え、￥１３００。
Beef beer-stew. Mixed fried(shrimp/scallop/oyster). Uni with consomme jelly(from dinner menu).

Long queue on weekday lunch time! Must go no later than 11:30am when it opens for lunch. For weekend lunch and dinner, you can reserve in advance.

Yoshoku-style deep-fried stuff are all good, the two grilled chicken with breadcrumb are good, but big chunks of red meat(pork, lamb, and duck also) are not so recommended…usually too rare and impossible to cut or chew despite its softness, UNLESS it is made into a stew like the beef(see tag), which is only available at night and weekends. Weekday lunch menu usually has 3 deep-fried seafood sets(Mixed-fry, Fried Anago, Fried prawn), 1 meat cutlet choice(A lunch), 1 bistro-style meat choice(B lunch), and beef curry. Lunch A and B change everyday.

ビーフカレー、￥９５０。メンチカツ（単品）、￥７００。
Beef curry(Y950). Menchi-katsu as a side order without rice(Y700).

Restaurant Shichijo 七條
Shougakkan Bldg.
2-3-1 Hitotsubashi
Chiyoda-ku, Japan 101-0003
03-3230-4875

さぼうるⅡ (Sabouru 2)

Posted on June 13, 07 by seat

Ground floor.

ナポリタン、￥６５０。ポークしょうが焼き、￥７５０。
50-year old cafe which is famous for its “Naporitan”. Huge mountain of thin spaghetti with a little bit of mushroom, ham and onion, stir-fried with ketchup. Nice, but need to add tabasco, add parmesan cheese, add tabasco+cheese to give it a bit of variety in taste. In my second visit, I had the pork ginger, a bit salty~.

Basement.

バジリコ、￥６５０。ミートソース、￥６５０。
“Basilico”. Good but a bit oily. I was expecting more pesto sauce…I guess a little pesto sauce was added to give it a green hue, plus two slices of basil cooked with the fried-noodle-like spaghetti.
Meat sauce spaghetti. Not bad but the sauce was only enough to eat half the mountain of the spaghetti.

ハンバーグステーキ、￥７５０。イタリアン、￥６５０。
Hamburger steak. The outside is grilled to a slight crisp and the sauce is nice, but the hamburger is grounded to a pasty texture which unfortunately I have developed a distaste for recently…
“Italian”. Just the same fried spaghetti with the minimal amount of ham, mushroom and onion. Basically “Naporitan” without the ketchup, and “Basilico” without the basil. It is so bland, I left most of it.

エビプラフ、￥８５０。
Prawn pilaf. At lunch time it is 650yen, but it is 200yen more at night for the same thing. I was a bit shocked to see the pilaf coming out from the microwave in the kitchen…and it tasted like leftover fried rice reheated in the microwave too – rice soggy and clumped up. Ihe best menu remains to be “Naporitan”. Dinner menu inlcudes all the lunch sets, plus a variety of bar snacks like pizza, sausages, cheese cake etc.

This cafe has two parts right next to each other, the food menu is only available in “2”. At lunch time, there is always a queue.
Lunch menu(J) here.
さぼうるⅡ

ろしあ亭 (Rosiatei)

Posted on June 12, 07 by seat

Lunch B: Russian salad, Borstch, beef stroganoff(beef and mushroom cream), Russian bread(not sure what so Russian about it…) and mango dessert, 1050yen. The salad and soup are nice. Bread is no good. The beef is tough and the white sauce is bland. Couldn’t finish the super sweet mango jam.

Lunch D: Russian hamburger with tomato. Had rice with it. Salad, Borstch and dessert are the same as above. I printed out a couple(from the link below) and got a free Russian tea. Instead of sugar you add blueberry jam. The hamburger is mushy paste-like type.

Special lunch for summer only(945yen). Potato salad, Borstch, blue berry juice and Russian pancake. The Borstch is not hot today…Marinated salmon is sandwiched inside the pancake with onions…tastes just so-so. I saw the cook microwave the pancake, but when it came out it was cold…why? The pita bread thingy is also cold and has nothing in it. The only thing available to put in was the salad so I stuffed in everything. The dressing in the middle has a faint taste of alcohol but basically tasteless.

Last pic on the right is Lunch E from another visit. The main is cabbage roll. The meat stuffing doesn’t taste so good… Comes with salad, soup, rice and the mango jam (which I told the madam I didn’t want it and she looked shocked…^^;;).

Recently I keep going back to the same place for lunch as long as the quality is not ridiculously bad…
Lunch menu here and here.
ろしあ亭(Rosiatei)

pig out diary

tokyo food blog

Monthly Archives: June 2007