韓国家庭料理アレンモク (Arenmoku)

Posted on October 11, 07 by seat

海鮮ネギチヂミ、￥１５００。
Chijimi: Korean pancake with seafood and spring onion.

Free appetizers.

ポッサム（小）、￥３０００。チャプチェ、￥２０００。
Possamu: Pickles and pork wrapped in cabbage.
Chapuche: Stir-fried bean-starch vermicelli and vegetables

ユッケ。アンコウチム、￥３０００。
Yukke: Korean tartare beef served with sweet soy sauce and egg yolk.
Anko-chimu: Anko(Angler-fish/Monkfish) with spicy sauce.

Chijimi was delicious, Yukke and Chapuche were good but nothing special, the most expensive Possamu and Anko-chimu – both recommended by the restaurant staff – were no good. 3 of us shared all the food, 2 beers, 1 tea and 1 makkori(Korean rice wine), it came up to 5000yen per person…quite expensive!
アレンモク (Arenmoku)
Add: 2-2-8 Ueno, Taito-ku
Tel: 03-3839-1472

味ちゃん２号店 (Korean Kitchen Macchan 2)

Posted on October 1, 07 by seat

サンギョプサル（２人前）。
Samgyeopsal(Pork belly).

ジャンボデジカルビ（２人前）。
Janbodeji karubi(Pork karubi).

ユッケジャンクッパ。ジャガイモチヂミ。
Yukkejan Kuppa(Rice and vegetables in spicy soup). Potato chijimi(Korean pancake) – it reminds me of hash brown!

Some friends took me to this popular Korean BBQ place in Shinokubo, which is like a Korean town with many eateries and shops. We went to the branch which is right next to the original shop. We booked in advance so didn’t have to wait. And thank god for that – look at all those people without reservations waiting outside! There is a time limit of two hours, which is more than enough to stuff our faces with yummy food. Everything we ordered was so nice, but the best was definitely the pork belly. It was surprisingly not that greasy, just like my friends assured me before we went. The hot plate is slanted so all the oil drips down into a bowl. You are not supposed to grill the meat yourself – the staff will do everything for you. The lettuce and other green veggy are for wrapping the meat, and you can have as many servings as you want. Service is not like smiley or friendly but they are efficient and you get what you want quickly, like water and extra servings of veggy. Most importantly this place is cheap!! We ate like pigs, and including drinks it was only about 2700yen per person. Definitely want to go back again.
味ちゃん２号店 (Korean Kitchen Macchan 2)
Add: 2-32-3, Okubo, Shinjuku-ku
Tel: 03-5272-3022

Italian Dining Ventaglio(Mandarin Oriental Tokyo)

Posted on September 27, 07 by seat

From the 5000yen dinner buffet. Everything is from the buffet except the pasta which you pick from 2 choices and they bring to you from the kitchen. I was a bit shocked that they brought us the pasta while we were just starting our appetizers… Anyway, the food is mediocre at best. Most of the appetizers are strong with herb(as mentioned in the homepage). The cooked meat are slightly better.
Italian Dining Ventaglio

New York Grill (Park Hyatt Tokyo)

Posted on September 12, 07 by seat

Weekend brunch buffet, 6200yen. Includes a glass of sparkling wine.

Salmon mousse and other appetizer from the buffet.

More appetizers.

You get a variety of main dishes to choose from. I had the roasted Australian baby lamb, with spicy minced lamb meat. The meat was very tender and perfectly cooked but it was just simple grilled lamb that I got tired of it after finishing one slice(there were three thick slices!) I wish there were some sauce or spice to go with it.

I thought I didn’t have space for desserts…but I was wrong. Three of us clean-swept the dessert bar.

The restaurant is on the 52th floor of Park Hyatt. Too bad it was raining that day otherwise the view would be stunning.

I’m not a big fan of buffet but this place is nice! Food is good, and the atmosphere is relaxing. If you don’t order extra drinks, your bill will be less than 7000yen.
New York Grill (English review here)

Yakiniku Jambo (焼肉ジャンボ＠篠崎)

Posted on July 2, 07 by seat

たんの赤ワイン煮。キムチ盛り合わせ。
Cow tongue simmered in red wine. Free appetizer. Very good!
Assorted kimchi.

レバ刺し。ハツ塩。
Liver. Heart.

たん塩。ユッケ。
Cow tongue. Yukke – Korean version of Steak Tartare.

ろんぼそ、うわみすじ、ロースのどれか、、、
Ronboso? Uwamisuji? Ro-su?

サガリとシンシン。芯ロース。
Sagari and Shin-shin. Shin ro-su.

ミスジとサブトン。
他は三角カルビとささみカルビも頼んだ。
Misuji and sabuton.

野菜スープ、和牛ビーフカレー、オムライス。
Vegetables soup. Beef curry rice and omurice.

The beef are all fantastic! Absolutely fresh, tender and juicy. The owner is so proud of the beef’s high quality that he kept giving us instructions:

“Don’t grill more than 3 seconds each side!!”
“Taste better to eat it raw!!”
“You are over-grilling!!”
“STOP grilling!!”…..etc.
The 3-second window was too short for me to take any pictures of the beef on the grill…Also not sure if it is intentional but the grill is set to very weak fire that there is not much smoke coming out of it and there is no need for ventilators at all(there isn’t one). For the seasoning, it is better to order the simple “salt” instead of “tare” sauce, which is a bit too sweet. Yukke is also too sweet. The owner-recommended omurice and curry are all too sweet-tasting as well. Vegetable soup tastes like instant soup so not so recommended. Five of shared all the food. There were 4 more plates not on pictures(they all look the same bloody meat anyway ^^;;), all of us had rice, 1-2 beers each, came up to about 7000yen per person. Not super cheap but good value considering the quality. Though the place is quite far from central Tokyo, and from the train station it is more than 20 mins walk.

焼肉ジャンボ＠篠崎 (Yakiniku Jambo)
Add: 4-13-19 Shinozaki, Edogawaku
Tel: 03-3679-8929

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

HongCho ぶるだっく (HongCho Booldak)

Posted on May 8, 07 by seat

ぶるだっく：蒸した鶏もも肉をオリジナルソースで直火焼きした夜の定番メニュー。
Dinner at a chain restaurant from Korea.
Booldak: Steamed chicken grilled with original sauce. The dish that is also the restaurant’s name. Very very spicy!! But the chicken is soft and juicy, and the sauce is addictive. The original spicy version is only available at dinner time – at lunch time it is a milder version.

ぶるでじ：豚三段バラ肉をオリジナルソースで直火焼きした。
包み野菜の盛り合わせ。
Pork belly meat grilled in original sauce. Sweeter and milder than Booldak. The meat is a bit hard.
Fresh vegetables to wrap around the meat which makes it less spicy.

ケランチム：イカ、エビなどが入った、具だくさんの豆乳玉子スプ。
ヌルンジ：おこげスープ。
Squid and prawn soup with egg tofu. Very good!
Rice soup is mostly tasteless water with very little rice.
Two people, two drinks, 4800yen.
ＨｏｎｇＣｈｏぶるだっく