Monthly Archive: March 2007 [26]
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March 31, 2007
La Coquillage (ル・コキヤージュ)
ル ミディ（アンチョビのガレット）： アンチョビ・ツナ・小エビ・トマト・ブラックオリーブ・玉子・グルリエールチーズ。
Le Midi(Anchovy galette): Buckwheat crepe with anchovy, tuna, prawn, tomato, black olives, egg and cheese. It is very tasty! Very big too. Lunch is 980yen, comes with dessert(bavarois with orange sauce - a bit bland) and coffee.
La Coquillage
Comments(3) [ good cheap eats | 飯田橋・神楽坂 ]
おかむら
とんかつ定食、８７０円。
Tonkatsu(Pork cutlet) set lunch. Quite oily and pork is thin and dry. Maybe should have ordered one rank higher...
おかむら
Comments(0) [ 飯田橋・神楽坂 ]
やっこ鮨
メジマグロと金目鯛の２種丼、１０００円。
Meji-maguro(young tuna) and Kinmedai rice bowl. Normal.
Comments(0) [ 飯田橋・神楽坂 ]
March 29, 2007
L'OSIER (ロオジエ)
オリーブとそば粉のパン、さつまいものパン。
8000yen lunch course.
Olive and soba flour bread. Satsuma-imo potato bread. Bread are from Maison Kayser.
ウズラの卵、白アスパラのスープにグリーンアスパラのムース。
オマール海老のロワイヤル 軽やかなカリフラワーのムース コキヤージュとグレープフルーツのヴィネグレット。
Amuse-bouche: Quail egg, white asparagus soup and green asparagus mousse.
Appetizer: Lobster Royale, cauliflower mousse, coquillage(clams?) and grapefruit vinaigrette. Curry flavoured chip on top.
白インゲン豆のスープ 鶏レバーのガトー トリュフのシャンティ。
Kidney bean soup, chicken liver gateau and Chantilly truffle. The soup was poured before served(pic here).
More bread. Salted brioche, fig bread and small baguette.
ラングスティーヌのポワレ パルメザンのリゾット ハーブのジュレ。
チョコレートのエスプーマ。クレームブリュレ。
Main: Langoustine with parmesan risotto and herb jelly.
Pre-dessert: Chocolate espuma(means foam in Spanish) and little creme brulee. Top view here.
コーヒーとチョコレートのコンビネーション 2種類の香りのクルスティアン。
Lots of sweets on the table while you wait for the main dessert...
Dessert: Combination of chocolate and coffee. Inside is chocolate cake, chocolate mousse and coffee mousse. The chips on top are choclate and caramel flavour.
Petit fours wagon...
You can order as much as you like...
The kind of famous and prestigious "grand maison" that everyone knows. My first time here and I was really excited about it. But let me just say it first: the food is good, but it is not that mind-blowingly impressive. The lobster royale is the highlight of the whole meal for me. The dessert is a bit disappointing. The petit fours wagon is very exciting and fun but all the sweets taste cheap. ^^;;; Atmosphere is fantastic. So fantastic that we stayed for 4 hours...the staff are efficient and professional, not exactly warm and welcoming but they make you very comfortable. Strange though that there were 10 of us, but the butter and the candies were all in 4 sets. Also we wanted to take the leftover sweets home but they would only give us 3 paper bags...why so stingy??
My friend's blog entry here. Much nicer pictures than mine.
Menu here and here.
My not so great pictures of the interior: 1, 2, 3.
L'OSIER
Comments(5) [ french food | 新橋・銀座・日本橋 ]
March 27, 2007
洋食 GOTOO
昔懐かしナポリタン、９００円。カキフライ（３個）、６００円。
Old fashioned "Spaghetti Naporitan". Ingredients are bacon, ham, onion, bell pepper, mushroom. Sauce is tomato ketchup. I seldom order this even though every yoshoku place has it on the menu. But it is quite nice once in a while~. Fried oysters are very good too.
洋食 GOTOO
Comments(2) [ good cheap eats | 大塚・茗荷谷・後楽園 ]
Bengal Cafe (ベンガルカフェ)
サモサ。マトンカレーとナン。
Samosa, mutton curry, naan. 1500yen. Samosa is good. The rest is okay. The naan is strong with butter. I only ordered naan but the cook said there was leftover rice so he just added it for free. He also said there was a leftover egg so he put into the mutton curry as well....other than the samosa everything tasted very "leftover" actually...^^;;;;
Bengal Cafe
Comments(1) [ 池袋 ]
南北亭
カシューナッツと鶏肉炒め定食、７５０円。
Stir-fried cashew nuts and chicken lunch set. Slightly oily but huge portion and very cheap.
南北亭
Comments(0) [ 池袋 ]
March 25, 2007
Restaurant JOEL (ジョエル)
フォアグラとレンズ豆のムース ポルト酒を煮詰めたソース添え。
ガレット ド クラプ(身と味噌のムース＆殻と味噌のスープ)。
Lunch course consisting of 2 appetizers, main dish and dessert is 4200yen.
Foie gras and lentil mousse, with port wine sauce.
Crab galette(crab meat and crab miso mousse + crab shell and crab miso soup).
These two appetizers are absolutely amazing!! I want to eat them again~
仔羊、ブラックオリーブとタイムのソース。
デザートの盛り合わせ。
Lamb with black olive and Thyme sauce. Tender meat, tasty sauce.
My friend's dessert plate. Gateau chocolat, pudding and tarte tartan.
イチゴのグラタン、イチゴのシャーベットとピスタチオのビスキュイ添え。
きんかんのパイ焼き、バニラアイス添え。
Another friend's strawberry gratin with strawberry sorbet and pistachio biscuit. This is very good.
I had the warm kinkan(small orange) pie with vanilla ice-cream.
I have been here before. To tell the truth, last time I wasn't too impressed with the food I ordered except the dessert. However, my friends who ordered different appetizers and main dishes, gave me a bite of each to try and they all tasted good. So perhaps it really depends on your choice of the menu.
I decided to give it another try before the restaurant closed down and moved to Midtown(The restaurant will change its name to "cuisine francaise JJ". The chef and the staff will not change but the price probably will).
To avoid getting the wrong thing again(especially I was bringing a friend from overseas visiting Tokyo for a few days...), I did my homework - checking food blogs, asking friends who have eaten there recently. The menu shouldn't change so much within the week and whola, there they are, the two appetizers that my friends highly recommended and I was dying to try. They don't disappoint! I only regret that it wasn't dinner as dinner course is twice the price of lunch, but the portion is double! I can eat 5 portions of that crab galette~~
The manager remembered me from my last visit, he even remembered what I had ordered last time! I wanted to try the new dessert this time and asked my friend to give me a little bit of her gateau chocolat cos I really liked it. The manger heard that and immediately gave me a whole piece for free....yes!! ^^;; Upon leaving the restaurant, the manager said, "See you in Roppongi!!" so I guess there will be a 3rd visit...
Comments(4) [ my favourites | french food ]
March 23, 2007
魚遊膳 開華亭
うなぎ蒲焼の柳川風、さつま揚げ、竹の子土佐煮、８９０円。
Unagi with egg, Yanagawa-styled. Comes with satsuma-age(fish cake), and bamboo shoots with bonito flakes. Quite good~. Also comes with free Japanese plum wine even on a weekday.
開華亭
Comments(2) [ 池袋 ]
鉄板 Diner JAKEN
牛ステーキセット、８８０円。
Beef steak lunch. Meat is quite dry. Lunch menu has choices like hamburger, chicken steak and okonomiyaki which look better.
鉄板 Diner JAKEN
Comments(0) [ 池袋 ]
Thai Restaurant PIRABKAO (ピラブカウ)
タイ焼きダックチャーシュー丼、７００円。
Thai grilled duck on rice. It is no good...just like last time.
PIRABKAO
Comments(2) [ 池袋 ]
March 22, 2007
Bistro Bourgogne （ビストロ ブルゴーニュ）
殻付きカキ。にんじんのムースとウニのコンソメゼリーよせ。
Argh very ugly photos because of the yellow lighting~
Oysters are raw but slightly warm.
Carrot mousse and uni with consomme jelly.
鴨胸肉の燻製とフォアグラ、さといものテリーヌ、モザイク仕立て。
コック・オ・ヴァン（鶏もも肉の赤ワイン煮込み） ブルゴーニュ風。
Smoked duck breast, foie gras and satoimo(taro potato) terrine.
Coq au vin: chicken thigh simmered in red wine sauce.
豚のロティー と豚の煮込み。
オレンジのクレームブリュレ 胡椒風味のクレームグラッセ。
Pork Roti and pork stewed in tomato.
Orange creme brulee with pepper ice-cream. Pepper ice-cream really has lots of pepper...interesting.
Dinner course is about 3900yen. Food is mediocre. Would be acceptable if it were 1000yen cheaper.
Bistro Bourgogne
Comments(4) [ french food | 麻布・六本木・赤坂 ]
March 20, 2007
紀の善
くずもち。 あわぜんざい。
From a couple of visits.
Kuzu-mochi - made from kudzu starch, with kinako(soy bean) powder on top. Very nice!
Awa-zenzai - millet and red bean paste, served hot. Good but not quite sticky enough.
くりしるこ（栗の餡）。玉子ぞうに。
Kuri(chestnut) shiruko . Instead of the usual red bean paste, chestnut paste is used. It is so delicious! Eaten with toasted mochi. Served hot.
Ozoni with egg. Can't see from picture but mochi, kamaboko, somen are hidden under the egg. The clear dashi is light with very nice yuzu fragrance. This is not sweet.
栗ぜんざい。
Kuri-zenzai: Chestnut, grilled mochi and red bean paste. Good!
Past entry: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
紀の善
Comments(6) [ japanese sweets | 飯田橋・神楽坂 ]
March 18, 2007
ミ・レイ＠蒲田
魚、肉、海老の生春巻き。 パパイヤのサラダ。
Dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant.
3 types of spring roll: fish, pork and prawn.
Papaya salad.
揚げ春巻き。 海老のココナッツジュース蒸し。
Fried spring roll.
Prawn steamed in coconut juice.
ベトナム風水餃子。 海老せんべい。
Vietnamese dumplings(some sausage on top). Prawn crackers.
ベトナム風お好み焼き。 サンドイッチ（焼豚）。
Vietnamese okonomiyaki. Pork sandwich.
魚のあんかけ。 鶏のレモングラス炒め。
Fish with sweet ketchup-ish sauce. Chicken with lemon grass.
蟹とトマトのビーフン。 鶏肉のフォー。
Prawn and tomato flat rice noodles.
Chicken Pho.
牛肉団子のフーティウ。揚げバナナ。
Beef balls noodles. Fried banana.
バナナぜんざい。 ベトナム風おしるこ。仙草ゼリーとドライフルーツのチェーとバジルシードのチェー。
Banana zenzai(not really zenzai). Vietnamese oshiruko(not really oshiruko). Sensou(Chinese mesona) jelly. Dried fruit che. Basil seed che. Actually they all have similar ingredients(coconut milk, jelly, tapioca etc.) and similar taste.
Past entries: 1, 2. I was very impressed with the food on my first visit to this Vietnamese place but I think the quality has dropped somewhat. It is still good and cheap(all that food shared between 6 people and lots of drinks - 4000yen per person), but then the location is inconvenient so....
ミ・レイ
Comments(2) [ other cuisines ]
March 16, 2007
すみた＠十条
天ざる、１０００円。かしわおろしぶっかけ（温）、７４０円。
Very famous shop for Sanuki(讃岐) udon - thick, firm and chewy type from Kagawa Prefecture. I visited twice and had the cold zaru udon with tempura, and the hot soup udon with Kashiwa(chicken) tempura and grated radish. Both are very good but I prefer the cold udon which has a firmer texture. The shop is very tiny and always very crowded.
すみた
Comments(4) [ good cheap eats ]
とんかつ 田
ロースカツ定食。カキフライ。
Fried pork loin lunch set. Fried oyster. Not too oily, very good. The shop is clean too.
とんかつ 田
Comments(6) [ other areas in tokyo ]
Saigon Restaurant (サイゴン レストラン)
カレーライス、７８０円。ベトナムコーヒー、＋１００円。
Chicken curry rice is good. Lots of carrots. Vietnamese coffee is a little weak.
Saigon Restaurant
Comments(2) [ 池袋 ]
March 14, 2007
Lachérir (ラシェリール)
なめらかな卵、コンソメ、うずらの卵。
Dinner course 6800yen.
Amuse-bouche: Bottom layer is egg, topped with consomme jelly and half-cooked quail egg.
ノルウェーサーモンと冬野菜のモザイク。
イサキのポワレ、菜の花のソースで。
Norway salmon and winter vegetable "mosaic". Beautiful and delicious.
Pan-fried isaki(grunt fish) with rape blossom sauce.
鶉のフォワグラ詰めロースト。
ココナツミルクバジルシード入りコーヒーゼリー。
Roasted quail stuffed with foie gras. There is a layer of cabbage between the foie gras and the quail.
Coffee jelly with coconut milk and basil seed. Very strong alcohol taste, very good!
クレームキャラメルとマスカルポーネのアイスクリーム。
Creme caramel and mascarpone ice-cream. The dessert is absolutely heaven.
Taste-wise probably a bit lacking in impact but no disappointing factors. Fish and meat dishes are a bit on the salty side. Desserts are wonderful. Bread is piping hot and keeps coming. Good service too. Location maybe a little hard to find and a little far from the nearest station.
Lachérir
Comments(5) [ french food | 白金・三田 ]
March 11, 2007
おでん処 こなから＠御茶ノ水
Oden dinner! Very popular place, all counter seats and must reserve. You can only stay for 2 hours. Opens at 6pm which is too early for us so we booked for the second round from 8:30pm. 2 hours is quite enough for oden as the food comes quickly, though some of the stuff have run out already when we got there.
カキおでん。
はんぺん、いわしつみれ、さつ栗さん（さつま芋と栗）、さと丸さん（里芋とえび芋）。
Oyster oden.
Hanpen(bottom left), sardine tsumire(bottom right), satsuma taro and chestnut(top right), sato taro and ebi taro(top left). All are tasty! Especially love the oyster and the sweet chestnut one.
だいこん、餅きんちゃく、かぼ丸さん（かぼちゃ）、椎茸しんじょう、京がんも。
あんこ玉さん。
Clockwise from 12 o'clock: Daikon(radish), Mochi-kinchaku(Rice cake wrapped in tofu pouch. Standard oden but very nice!), pumpkin(with raisins in it!!!!), shiitake mushroom shinjo(also fish cake but has more fine and smooth texture), Kyo-gamo(Kyoto-style tofu patties with bits of vegetable).
Red bean cake, which is not sweet but savoury!! Very nice~.
ごまだれ ごますり 出世 うどん。
おこげさん（米）。
Sesame udon. You ground the sesame yourself, add it into the sweet miso sauce, mix it and pour it over the udon.
Grilled rice ball, slight salty, strong yukari(red shiso) taste.
Except the udon which is 1000yen, everything else is 300yen a piece. Maybe a little upscale for an oden place, but the atmosphere is casual and the madam is friendly and patient in explaining the menu. Half of the stuff are standard oden, but many are original in this shop. Not in pictures but fish roll with burdock root（こぼう天） is very good too.
Menu 1, 2. There is one more non-oden menu which I didn't take picture of.
こなから
Comments(4) [ my favourites | japanese food | 本郷・根津・湯島・上野 ]
March 08, 2007
Pain D'artisan Nicolas
Nicolas is an unusual bakery which used to be this shabby and ugly little shop with no air-conditioning and dauntingly far from the city, yet it managed to attract fans from all over the country. I have visited a few times before, thanks to friends with cars. Now it has moved from the very obscure location to an American-ish mall, still not any closer to Tokyo. And to my mild disgust, the shop is right next to a massive supermarket, which has its own bakery too...
Used to be takeout only, but now they have a few tables and you can order drinks from the counter. The croissant, teriyaki chicken bread with mustard, and cheese bread were all freshly baked and still hot, which made us grateful for the eat-in space. Bought loads to take home too.
Past entry here.
Nicolas
Comments(10) [ bakeries ]
Zopf
Back to this bakery which is absolutely lovely but unfortunately a tad too far from the city to visit often. The 1st floor bakery is always packed with people.
本日のオススメ： お魚のポワレ（金目鯛を使って焦がしバターとローストアーモンドの香ばしいソースで）。パンの盛り合わせとスープ付きで、１４００円。
Late lunch at the cafe on the 2nd floor.
Today menu: Pan-fried Kinmedai(Alfonsino), with burnt butter and roasted almond sauce. 1400yen set comes with a variety of bread and mushroom soup.
For take-away: Apple tart. Carrot and pork sandwich. Pepper pork and pineapple sandwich.
Needless to say, everything is delicious. Loved the apple tart!
Past entries: 1, 2, 3, 4.
UPDATES!!
1950yen lunch set including dessert and drink.
コテキーノ。
Homemade sausage in soramame sauce.
パンペルデュ。
Side order not included in the lunch set: "Pain Perdu" - literally "lost bread" - was a simple breakfast of day-old French bread dredged in beaten eggs and pan-fried in butter(copied from internet).
Comments(4) [ bakeries ]
March 06, 2007
Tateru Yoshino Shiba Park Hotel (タテル ヨシノ)
3675yen lunch course. This place is inside a hotel. At first I thought it was a modern hotel, but turned out it was a little old. We went on a Sunday lunch and there were families eating lunch there - very casual.
雲丹のフランとかぼちゃの泡雪。
Amuse bouche: Maguro tartare rolled in aubergine.
Uni flan and pumpkin "awayuki"(probably meaning it is like snow, i.e. light and foamy).
喜界島産コバトのロティ、ポトフ仕立て。 温かい林檎タルトキャラメルのアイス。
Baby pigeon roti in pot-au-feu.
warm apple tart and caramel ice-cream.
Quite good quality food for the price. Especially love the pigeon meat which is very tender. The server told us that the pink olive-shape thing was pigeon's heart, but it tasted like egg with egg yolk inside....I grabbed the waiter again and he said it was egg afterall(^^;;;). Forgot whether he said it was pigeon egg or quail egg.
Menu: 1, 2, 3.
Tateru Yoshino
Comments(14) [ my favourites | french food ]
March 05, 2007
こんがりパンや＠要町
スイートポテトパン。ゆず。
Sweet potato bread. Yuzu and cottage cheese bread.
Such a cute bakery! Like someone's house. Once you open the door, the bell rings and the madam will come out to greet you. The bread are displayed in the genkan space so you can't really go inside. Taste-wise very simple and neighbourhood bakery sort of feel.
こんがりパンや
Comments(7) [ bakeries ]
炙焼 キンペイ
日光豚の天然塩炒め、１０００円。
Stir-fried Nikko pork natural salt. No good. The waitress recommended me Today's lunch which was broiled fish, but I wasn't in the mood for fish....should have listened to her cos the fish looked much better.
I was in front of the shop, the sign with its name was there, I could see people eating inside through the window, but I just couldn't find the entrance for a long time.....turned out that the big obscured glass was a sliding door. ^^;;
炙焼 キンペイ
Comments(1) [ 池袋 ]
串こう
ミックスフライ定食（海老、白身魚、串揚げ４本）、８００円。
Fried prawn, fried fish, and 4 kushiage(skewered and deep-fried) - quail eggs, tsukune, mushroom, stuffed bell pepper with minced meat. Very oily and thick coating...no good.
串こう
Comments(0) [ 池袋 ]
March 02, 2007
赤ちょうちん＠新宿御苑前
Party at a place specialised in raw horumon(or motsu, i.e. giblets).
お通し（キムチともやし）。 モツ盛り合わせ。
Kimchi and beansprout. Assorted motsu with sesame oil.
ハラミ刺し。 シビレの塩焼き。
Harami sashi(raw beef diaphragm). Grilled shibire(lymph gland) with salt.
豆腐サラダ。 センマイ刺し。
Tofu salad. Senmai sashi(raw beef stomach).
レバ刺し。 焼きの盛り合わせ ミックス焼き。
Raw liver. Assorted grilled motsu with sauce.
ガツネギ合い。 タン塩。
Beef stomach(hard parts) and leek. Grilled beef tongue with salt.
（辛と普通）牛テールスープ。 仔袋ニラ炒め。
Ox tail soup(both regular and spicy).
Stir-fried kobukuro(my god I just realise this is uterus....) and Chinese chives.
Very good food, if you can stomach raw giblets. No unpleasant smell at all since they are so fresh and seasoned well. Particularly liked the assorted motsu, harami, shibire and the tail soup.
Unfortunately the would-be-great dinner ended with an unhappy incident that, despite we had ordered tail soup enough for everyone in advance, the restaurant told us it was sold out. They managed to deliver the last two bowls of the tail soup, but they were to be shared between 15 people! I had a spoon of each and some people didn't get to eat it at all. Everyone was really looking forward to it so it was really disappointing. So make sure you order early!
赤ちょうちん
