伊勢廣京橋本店 (Isehiro)

Posted on July 27, 08 by seat

(May 1, 2008)
Famous yakitori place offering yakitori rice bowl at lunch time. The kitchen is partitioned with windows so the smoke(scary amount of it) won’t touch you even if you sit at the counter(though you still smell a bit afterwards).

手羽、￥６００。
Chicken broth. Side order “Teba”(chicken wing).

焼き鳥丼(５本：ささみ、皮身、もも肉、肝、団子)、￥１８００。
焼き鳥丼(４本：ささみ、皮身、もも肉、団子)、￥１５００。
My 5-skewers yakitori-don on the left: sasami(chicken breast), skin, thigh, liver, and meat ball. My friend’s 4-skewers yakitori-don doesn’t include liver. My favourites are skin and thigh!

(Oct 20, 2004)
焼き鳥丼（４本：ささみ、葱巻き、だんご、もも肉）、鶏のスープが付いて、１５００円。
Yakitori rice bowl. Delicious!

伊勢廣京橋本店(Isehiro)
Add: 1-5-4, Kyoubashi, Chuo-ku
Tel: 03-3281-5864

おの寺 (Onodera)

Posted on July 4, 08 by seat

太刀魚と春玉葱、スプラウトのサラダ仕立て。
Tachiuo(scabbard fish), onion and sprout salad.

活〆花おこぜ（花虎魚）、穴子のお造り。
鰯つみれ椀　九条葱、茗荷。
Hana-okoze and anago sashimi.
Iwashi(sardine) tsumire with spring onion and myoga.

焼筍。いとより、筍、天豆の海老あんかけ。
Grilled takenoko(bamboo shoot). It is seasoned with dashi.
Itoyori, bamboo shoot, soramame(broad bean) and prawn in ankake(starchy sauce).

天然たらの芽フライ。あさりと筍、生のりの茶碗蒸し。
Fried taranome(buds of Aralia). Has a slightly bitter taste but very delicious.
Asari(clam) and bamboo shoot and fresh seaweed chawanmushi.

筍とわらびの炊き込みご飯、味噌汁。
Takikomi gohan with bamboo shoot and warabi. Very delicious!

There is only one dinner course which is 6800yen. Menu(J) here.

Very good washoku place on the 4th floor of an uncharacteristic building at Kagurazaka. Small restaurant with only one semi-private zashiki, and about 6 counter seats. The chef is still quite young I think. Even though he was so busy cooking everything by himself, he still managed to throw a joke or two at us – funny guy! The food is nice and the atmosphere is casual and relaxing.

おの寺 (Onodera)
Add: 4F, 2-3 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku
Tel: 03-3260-2066

I got to Kagurazaka a bit early and had a nice ice-cream at Gelateria Theobroma. 630yen for two flavours. I had Marron and bitter chocolate. The price is for take-out. There are a few chairs and a small table next to the door where you can sit and eat the take-out ice-cream, but if you want to sit inside at the cafe space, you need to pay 100yen more.

こんや (Konya)

Posted on June 12, 08 by seat

This izakaya is opened by four chefs who all own their own restaurants in the same area. Though not them but someone else is cooking in this place. The front door looks like someone’s apartment! It was a dinner party and we had the 4000yen dinner course, plus endless additional orders from the a la carte menu cos we were all pigs. Buri and radish is complimentary appetizer.

お造り(ヤリイカ、平目、メジ鮪)。塩漬けレバ刺。
Sashimi(Yari-ika, hirame, mejimaguro). Salt-pickled raw liver.

女のだし巻玉子。（男のだし巻玉子。）セロリのはちみつ味噌漬け。
Female version dashi-maki tamago(Japanese rolled omelette), which tasted the same as the male version, only sweeter.
Celery pickled in honey and miso. (Pic shows only the messy leftover ^^;;)

スモークチキンときのこのサラダ。
本鱒（ます）の石狩鍋仕立て（味噌）。
Smoked chicken and mushroom salad.
Honmasu salmon Ishikari-nabe(miso based). Very fatty salmon very good!

太刀魚の変わり揚げ。
大山地鶏の炭火焼き：もも荒塩焼（柚子胡椒）、つくねタレ焼き、ササミ焼き（わさびと梅じそ）。
Somen-coated fried Tachiuo(Scabbard fish).
Charcoal-grilled chicken: thigh with yuzu-kosho, Tsukune with sauce(comes with raw egg too), sasami-yaki(chicken breast) with wasabi and umejiso(sour plum and shiso).

白ばい貝の海女さん煮（a la carte）。
穴子と里芋の柚子あんかけ（a la carte）。
Simmered shellfish.
Anago and satoimo(taro) in Yuzu ankake(starchy) sauce.

洋風まるごとトマト煮おでん(a la carte)。
カキの天ぷら海苔あんかけ（a la carte）。
Western style whole tomato oden.
Oyster tempura in seaweed ankake sauce.

こんやまぜごはん(味噌汁付き)。
Pickles and rice. Comes with miso soup.

酒盗チャーハン(a la carte)。本日のデザート：柚子大福、ガトーショコラ。
Fried rice with “shutou”(salted bonito guts). Dessert from the course: gateau chocolat and Yuzu Daifuku.

The food is generally good in a standard izakaya sort of way. A bit salty to keep you drinking. Maybe not a reliable reference since I went with a huge group but (a lot of) food+drink is about 8000yen.
Menu(J): 1, 2.

こんや (Konya)
Add: 2-22-10, Ebisu, Shibuya-ku
Tel: 03-5423-5820

銀座あさみ(Ginza Asami)

Posted on May 28, 08 by seat

籠入り弁当。

水菜と油揚げの煮浸し。鯛にゅうめん。
Mizuna and aburaage. This is warm.
Tai(Sea bream) Nyumen. Nyumen is hot soumen.

鯛茶漬け。
Tai chatsuke(rice in tea broth).

Dessert is sakura-mochi.

3500yen lunch including a two-layered bento, Tai Chatuske, two side dishes and a dessert. You can order the bento and Tai Chatsuke on its own for 2500yen and 1500yen respectively. Reservation is absolutely necessary – you need to decide what to order when you reserve. There are about 10 counter seats(where we sat), and a few private rooms inside. The counter seats are a bit cramped and I couldn’t see much of what the chef was doing anyway so the private rooms might be a better idea. When we arrived at around 12 noon, the first round of customers were just leaving…which means that they must have started around 11:30am when the restaurant just opened and finished in 30 mins? Maybe they just had the Tai-chatsuke. The restaurant was fully booked from 12 and when we were leaving at around 2pm, the third round of customers started to come….seems like the rather obscure location doesn’t dampen its popularity.

The food is absolutely delicious. Surprisingly strong seasoning for its Kyoto origin – but not overly strong. The highlight is definitely the Tai Chatsuke. First you eat some rice with the tai sashimi and the sesame seed sauce(made with nuts too), and then you pour the tea to make chatsuke. The sesame seed sauce is quite salty so pour a bit at a time. The thick slices of Tai are fresh and delicious to be eaten as sashimi, but when they are slightly cooked by the hot tea and eaten with rice and the sauce, they are even more heavenly. Rice is refillable.

銀座あさみ(Ginza Asami)
Add: 8-16-6 Ginza, Chuo-ku (closer to Shinbashi or Shiodome)
Tel: 03-5565-1606

天ぷら深町(Tempura Fukamachi)

Posted on May 26, 08 by seat

特製かき揚天丼、￥２１００。

Tempura restaurant which is quite expensive at night, but at lunch time, other than the tempura set(tempura and rice come separately) and tempura full courses with prices ranging from 5000yen to 7000yen, a more purse-friendly option of 2100yen kakiage-tendon(very delicious) is also available. The content of the tendon changes with seasons – when we went there were asparagus, soramame, small prawn, scallop etc. in it. The chef used to work in the famous tempura restaurant in Yamonoue hotel which I have tried before and is a big fan. Reservation at lunch is only possible if you order the more expensive set/course. I went without reservation on a weekday, arriving at around 12:30pm and it wasn’t so full. But while we were eating people kept coming in and just before 13pm, the place was packed. It is a small restaurant with mainly counter seats but there are also two tables for two.
Lunch menu(J) here.

天ぷら深町
Add: 2-5-2, Kyobashi, Chuo-ku
Tel: 03-5250-8777

てんぷらと和食山の上ホテル(Tempura Yamanoue)

Posted on May 14, 08 by seat

天丼、￥３３６０。
Tendon: prawn, kakiage with prawn, fish and shishitou pepper.

Very famous tempura restaurant inside Hilltop Hotel. It was a bit of a quest to find the entrance…I went to the annex building, couldn’t find it, got out, went into the main building, couldn’t find it, got out, followed the tempura-ish smell and finally found the small sign leading to the hidden entrance outside the hotel building. ^^;;

かき揚げ天丼、￥２８８７。穴子天丼、￥３４６５。
Kakiage-tendon. Anago tendon.

野菜天丼、￥２８８７。天丼、￥３３６０。
Took a friend there and I had Yasai Tendon and she had Tendon. The prices include 5% tax and 10% service charge(even at lunch time!).

The sauce is this restaurant’s original and you can choose between “amakuchi”(甘口) and “karakuchi”(辛口). The staff said they are just the same sauce – “karakuchi” is just less sweet than “amakuchi”. I personally prefer karakuchi.

Probably the most “elegant” tendon I have ever had. All the tendon I had before felt cheap in comparison…both taste-wise and price-wise. ^^;;;

There are other lunch menu such as Ebi(prawn) Tendon, a luxurious Iki-Ebi Tendon which has a whooping price tag of 5040yen(plus tax and SC of course). Tempura full courses are also available at lunch time. Seating includes counter, tables, and zashiki.

Lunch menu(J): 1, 2.

山の上ホテル
 Hilltop Hotel/Yamanoue Hotel(English available)
There is also a Roppongi branch inside Tokyo Midtown.

S club

Posted on May 12, 08 by seat

A members-only restaurant for employees of S coporation. The price is almost half of what you usually pay for the quality. Right pic is scallop flan with sea urchin. Yum!

Fish is mebaru in katsuobushi sauce.

Little soft octopus.

You can eat the beef and asparagus with any combinations of chopped onion, ponzu, soy sauce, wasabi, and three different kinds of salt. As it turns out, salt+wasabi is the best.

Left pic is leaner fillet, right pic is more fatty loin meat. The garlic is some special species grown by S corporation apparently – it is much larger than usual garlic. The beef is served one piece by one piece.

The leftover meat is used to make fried rice.

Cheese cake and earl grey ice-cream.