A very small restaurant offering casual Kyoto food with only one table and about 12 counter seats. It is located on the third floor of a “multi-tenant building” near Shinbashi and Ginza. The Obanzai(Kyoto daily family dishes) lined up on the counter made me drool hungrily while waiting for my friends to arrive. Other customers all ordered from the a la carte but we decided to go for the 5000yen omakase(chef’s choice) dinner course and let the okami(madam chef who is from Kyoto apparently) decide for us.
Obanzai moriawase(assorted): (anti-clockwise from bottom left)Unohara, squid, shirataki and mentaiko, cha-mame beans, potato salad, turnip, Koyadoufu, and marinated sanma in the middle. The picture shows portion for 3 people.
Clear soup with yuba(tofu skin) and matsutake mushroom.
Sashimi(for 3 people): Hirame(bottom left), himedaikon(little radish, eat with miso), octopus(eat with sudachi and salt), Aji coated in sesame seed(at the back).
Wakasagi tempura and sweet corn kakiage(round fritter) in curry flavour. Grilled Onigiri(rice is flavoured) and Kenchinjiru(miso soup with root vegetables).
This is a side order not included in the course. Deep-fried crab meat potato salad.
Buri daikon(Buri and raddish simmerered in sweet soy sauce) is a side order also. Dessert included in the course is fruit.
Everything is absolutely delicious. Kyoto food gives the impression of very mild and light taste but the food served here all had strong flavour, which I actually prefer. The ingredients used are of good quality and you can really tell the attention paid to the detail in making each dish. The obanzai is reheated before serving which is important for me to enjoy it fully. The madam chef behind the counter was working non-stop throughout the night but whenever she had a moment she would smile at us and ask if everything was alright, so even though we did have to wait quite a bit for each course, we didn’t really mind. The restaurant is not non-smoking which is really a shame though…must remember to book the table away from the counter seats next time. Including a drink, side order(which proved to be too much and we were all bursting-full at the end…), about 7000yen per person.
Menu(J): 1, 2.
くいもんや す多ち/すだち (Kuimonya Sudachi)
Add: 3F, 8-5-15, Ginza, Chuo-ku
Tel: 03-5568-3321
From 5250yen lunch course. Umeshu(Sour plum wine) included in the course. Fig with goma(sesame) sauce, ginnan(ginkgo nuts), hamo no ko(roe of hamo) inside the orange leave, satoimo(taro), suzuki(eat with green sauce), anago sushi. The last three items are warm.
Hamo and atsuage. I’ve tried hamo a few times before and I never thought it was anything special, but after trying the hamo in this restaurant, I realised I just never had a good one before!
Makogarei and Maguro. Eat with either ponzu or soy sauce. The brown-ish cube is kanten jelly with seeds.
Aubergine and pumpkin takiawase. It is so simple but so delicious.
Fried ayu was great but the fried pepper, edamame and corn were truly outstanding.
Maitake mushroom takikomi gohan. Miso soup with winter melon.
Kyohou grape jelly. So nice!
The food might look ordinary and sound simple but the quality is just fantastic. At first the pace of delivery of each course was a bit too fast - we were busy chatting - but I told the staff to slow down a bit and it was fine. The lady in kimono was very friendly. Two of us shared a small bottle of nihonshu(1000yen) she recommended which was very nice. I went for lunch on a Saturday and only booked the day before but I had no problem getting a private room on the first floor. On the way to the bathroom(only on second and third floor), we saw that while the tables are only partitioned with screens, they look very comfortable with sunlight coming through the windows. Nice place to have a relaxing holiday lunch~
赤寶亭 (Sekihoutei)
Add:3-1-14, Jingumae, Shibuya-ku
Tel: 03-5474-6889
I like eating unagi in winter months cos it is much fattier, but seeing lots of pictures of unagi on the day of douyo no ushi(土用の丑) makes me crave for it too. The old building of this unagi restaurant is so gorgeous that it alone is worth a visit. Booking is absolutely necessary and although there were only two of us, we got the private room all to ourselves. Unajuu(unagi on rice in a bento box) is not cheap - a bit more than 4000yen(there is service charge) and soup is not included. But the quality is really high and I love the sauce which is not sweet like the usual kind. Location is convenient - easily accessible from Akihabara or Ochanomizu.
明神下 神田川本店 (Myoujinshita Kandagawa)
Add: 2-5-11 Soto-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku
Tel: 03-3251-5031
Lunch was too good(see tag) so we decided to come back for dinner. This time we let the restaurant decide the menu and the wine for us with a budget of 20,000yen per person. Money well spent! The quality surpassed all our expectations. First amuse is the same as last time. The second is a cold amuse with prawn, saltwort(veggy underneath) and ricotta cheese.
We were a group of 8 and I am not sure if it was difficult for the kitchen to have everyone served the same thing at the same time, or maybe they just wanted to let us try more things, each course came in two varieties and we just shared in pairs.
Cold appetizer 1: Tomato soup. There is mozzarella cheese, tomato sorbet, tomato jelly, crab meat and dried tomato in it.
Cold appetizer 2: Hon-maguro(tuna) tataki salad.
Warm appetizer 1: Foie gras and fig tart in Marsala sauce.
Warm appetizer 2: Abalone saute.
Ayu pasta. Ikasumi(squid ink) pasta.
Main 1: Baby goat from Hokkaido.
Main 2: Igor pork. Not sure about the name. Similar to Iberico pork apparently but I haven’t had Iberico pork tasting this good.
Chocolate. Passion fruit.
The Italian wine chosen by the sommelier was amazing, especially the white wine in the picture. We had sparkling wine, white wine, red wine(two different kinds of red? Too drunk by the end to remember….). This time we sat in the main dining room with very romantic Japanese-style decor. A truly wonderful experience! My crappy writing can’t possibly convey how great this restaurant is!
btw, I thought it would be hard for my friends who were visiting this place for the first time to locate the entrance in the dark but the tiny sign was lit at night so it was in fact easier to spot.
More pics from my friend’s review here(J).
Ristorante La Barrique Tokyo (リストランテ ラ・バリック トウキョウ)
Add: 2-12-2 Suido, Bunkyo-ku
Tel: 03-3943-4928
Lunch at this hidden and a bit out-of-the-way Italian restaurant. It is very near to Edogawabashi station and the exact location is not that difficult to find, but even you are right in front of it, you will stil hesitate if it is the right place cos the front just looks like somebody’s house and the tiny sign is impossible to spot. In fact, the building used to be the owner’s house.
This is the waiting room. We booked the private room on the second floor(used to be the study room) but the main dining room is beautifully decorated with Japanese-style screens made from paper and wood. We had the 4500yen lunch course(plus service charge 10%).
Amuse is warm mini bread with pickled cabbage and ham.
Second amuse(?). White asparagus sorbet, uni and consomme jelly.
ミントの香るトリッパのトマト煮 グラタン仕立て。
Trippa in tomato stew, gratin style. Baroro.
ホワイトアスパラガスと燻製した生ハムのスパゲッティ。
馬ヒレ肉のロースト バローロソース。
White asparagus and smoked ham spaghetti.
Roasted horse meat in Barolo sauce. The yellow cubes on the side is polenta.
Chocolate creme brulee. Grappa.
Every single course was absolutely delicious. You just can’t imagine from the rather boring looks that the taste can be so good. The pasta looks like an ordinary carbonara, and the trippa looks like what you can get in bistro or even yoshoku places, but once you put them in your mouth, you are in for a surprise - they are nothing short of impressive. The horse meat is highly recommended by my friend who is a regular customer of this restaurant - unbelievably tender meat with very delicious sauce made from Barolo wine. To go with the meat, I also had a glass of Barolo which is amazing - completely wiped out my not-so-pleasant image of Italian wine. Apparently it is supposed to be really luxurious wine…of course I had never heard of it until that day. ^^;;; I don’t recall having an Italian meal that is so refined(not that I have been to that many Italian restaurants!). I had sparkling wine, red wine, grappa(included in lunch), and also coffee at the end - about 8000yen in total.
Lunch menu here.
More pics from my friend’s review here(J).
Ristorante La Barrique Tokyo (リストランテ ラ・バリック トウキョウ)
Add: 2-12-2 Suido, Bunkyo-ku
Tel: 03-3943-4928
最初の一皿。空豆のスフレ風オムレツ アロマフレスカ風。
From the 14,500yen dinner course.
Amuse is anago with a super-thin slice of potato chip on top.
Soramame(broad bean) souffle-style omelette. Fluffy omelette stuffed with lots of soramame. The sauce is a bit carbonara-ish. Very nice!
蛍烏賊のグラタン仕立て。冷たいスープを少し。
Hotaru-ika(tiny squid) in gratin style. There are white asparagus and karasumi(squid ink) risotto at the bottom.
Cold uni soup.
赤座海老のリゾット。春キャベツとイベリコ豚のキタッラ。
Akaza-ebi(langoustine) risotto. Delicious!
Chitarra with spring cabbage and Iberico pork. A bit yakisoba-ish(^^;;) but nice.
平鱸の”アルサーレ”春の香り。
Hirasuzuki(a kind of seabass) “Al Sale”(encrusted in salt). Comes with grilled white asparagus and sansai(mountain vegetables) tempura. The soup has strong butter taste. I love this dish!
柑橘のシャーベット。
Citrus sorbet is so sour that my friend actually choked on it. ^^;;
フォルマッジョを詰めた仔牛のコトレッタ。野菜(赤茄子)のココット。
Cotoletta with formaggio cheese stuffed inside. Takenoko(bamboo shoot) on the side is very sweet. Aka-nasu(a kind of aubergine） in a Cocotte that also comes with the main dish is unbelievably juicy and full of flavours…actually it left a deeper impression than the main dish itself(which is by no means bad, just a bit predictable).
Dessert is “eat as much as you like”(^^;;). There were altogether 5 choices and we ordered one of each to share(we were a group of 4). We liked the strawberry soup with cotton candy the most so we asked for one more of that too….
Can’t remember the exact names of the desserts…left pic is cheese pudding, right is chocolate mousse.
Mango pudding. Also petit fours and a selection of coffee and tea to choose from.
The food is of course good, and even though I am no wine expert, I must mention that this is one of the few Italian restaurants offering wine in glasses that I actually think is delicious and end up drinking more than I should.
Seriously I believe this restaurant(and its sister restaurant Casa Vinitalia) casts a “forget-the-time” spell on customers…The first time I visited, I missed the last train and had to crash at my friend’s place at the end. The second time I forgot the time again and had to dash to Azabu-Juban station with a full stomach and a blurry head in 5 mins(takes more than 10 mins to walk normally) to make the last train. And this time I specifically warned my friends beforehand: “Let’s watch the time and get our butt out of the restaurant before the last train.” I could NOT believe it when my friend took a look at her watch and announced that it was already midnight. I missed the last train again!!! Four hours, in a blink! Evil restaurants trying to hypnotize their customers with enchanting ambience should be banned. How nasty of them to offer free second helpings of desserts too. I ended up taking a taxi home…
Menu: 1, 2.
Aroma Fresca (アロマフレスカ)
Add: 1-7-31, Minami-azabu, Minato-ku
Tel: 03-5439-4010
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