Category Archives: 04:Other Cuisines

My Le@Kamata (ミ・レイ＠蒲田)

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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.
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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.
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ベトナム風水餃子。 海老せんべい。
Vietnamese dumplings(some sausage on top). Prawn crackers.
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ベトナム風お好み焼き。 サンドイッチ（焼豚）。
Vietnamese okonomiyaki. Pork sandwich.
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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.
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蟹とトマトのビーフン。 鶏肉のフォー。
Prawn and tomato flat rice noodles.
Chicken Pho.
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牛肉団子のフーティウ。揚げバナナ。
Beef balls noodles. Fried banana.
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060220 193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.

I was very impressed with the food on my previous visits(see tag) 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

赤ちょうちん＠新宿御苑前 (Akachochin)

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Party at a place specialised in raw horumon(or motsu, i.e. giblets).
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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.
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ハラミ刺し。 シビレの塩焼き。
Harami sashi(raw beef diaphragm). Grilled shibire(lymph gland) with salt.
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豆腐サラダ。 センマイ刺し。
Tofu salad. Senmai sashi(raw beef stomach).
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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.
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ガツネギ合い。 タン塩。
Beef stomach(hard parts) and leek. Grilled beef tongue with salt.
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060130 141（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

VILAMOURA (ヴィラモウラ)

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キノコのガーリックソテー卵とじ。
タラとジャガイモのコロッケ。
Portugese dinner!
Sauteed mushroom and egg with garlic.
Cod and potato croquette.
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コリアンダーとパルミジャーノチーズのサラダ。
バカリャウとポテトのクリーム煮、グラタン仕立て。
Coriander and Parmigiano cheese salad.
Bacalhau and potato cream gratin.
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小魚と野菜の南蛮漬け、エスカベッシュ。
アサリと豚ロースのソテー　アレンテージョ風。
Pickerel and vegetables Escabeche.
Clam and sauteed pork loin meat, Alentejo style.
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ココット煮込みの温野菜。
焼きたてチーズパン（ポンジケイジョ）。
Vegetables in Cocotte.
Freshly baked cheese bread – Pão de queijo.
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鴨のブイヨンで炊き上げた鴨ごはん。
Duck rice cooked from duck bouillon.
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ヴィラモウラ風魚介のカタプラーナ、(ワタリガ二・アサリ・ヤリイカ・エビ・タコ) トマトスープ。
残ったスープをリゾットに　リゾットライス。
Seafood Cataplana(crab, clam, squid, prawn, octopus). Tomato soup based.
Risotto is added into the leftover soup.
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ハーブティー。 ポルトガルプリン。
Herb tea. Pudding.
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060202 041エッグタルト。 チョコレートムース。
Portugese egg tart. Chocolate mousse.

I was not too excited at first about dining in a Portugese restaurant cos the very few times I had Portugese food, they were not very memorable experience. But this place turned out to be much much better than I expected. The food is simple but very delicious. Heavy use of garlic and coriander in almost all the dishes. Cod seems to be a common ingredient. I absolutely love the “fluffy” croquette and duck rice. The pork is a bit hard but the clam and the tomato sauce are very tasty. The Cataplana is a must try. The risotto is slightly salty but very good still. The desserts are not bad but nothing special. 6 of us shared all the food and we had about 2 drinks each(champagne and wine included), came to about 4000yen each – such good value!!
VILAMOURA

RELLENO SUGAWARA (ルエノ・スガワラ)

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カニと野菜の包み揚げ”クラブポットスティッカー”、レモンとショウユのソース。
Dinner at a restaurant serving California cuisine(The name card says “Tokyo Internation Cuisine”). Very tiny place at the basement, basic decor and very quiet – could be a little claustrophobic at first. Check out the interior here.
The little samosa(potato as stuffing I think) and prawn are complementary appetizer which is nice. Two of us chose from the a la carte menu and shared 1 appetizer, 1 risotto and two meat dishes. The service staff offered to split the dishes for us, so all the pictures are half portion, except the risotto which we had to cut it ourself.
Crispy fried crab pot stickers on chopped vegetables salad. Simple but quite good.
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ロンバルディア産タレッジオチーズのリゾットケーキと小海老のソテー、温製チェリートマトのサルサ。
Lombardia taleggio cheese risotto cakes with sauteed shrimp, oregano and hot plum tomatoes salsa. Risotto cake…is just risotto. Quite spicy. Portion tiny.
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霧島産”ＳＰＦ”ポークとピックルスにしたピメント、スペイン産バルディオンブルーチーズと赤ワインソース。
メキシカンスタイル仔羊のストロガノフと緑トマトのソテー、ハラペーニョチリクリーム添え。
Chargrilled SPF Kirishima pork with pickled pimientos, and Spanish Valdeon blue cheese and red wine sauce. The pork is okay, love the blue cheese.
Mexican lamb stroganoff with pan-fried green tomatoes, tortillas salad with jalapeno cream. Very spicy and a little salty. We both craved rice while eating this. The meat is tender.
We didn’t order dessert because the friend who told me about this place said the dessert is expensive(800yen~) and very small portion so not so worth it. With a glass of champagne, it is 5000yen per person. The food is not bad, though taste-wise the food doesn’t leave much impression on me. The dinner menu has rather limited choices: 1, 2.
RELLENO SUGAWARA

Prik (プリック)

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なまずの辛子みそ炒め、１８００円。ライス、３００円。
Dinner alone at a Thai restaurant. Fried catfish with chilli, 1800yen. SPY pink Premium wine cooler, 400yen. Plain rice 300yen. Considering the location is obscure and far from Ikebukuro station and the decor isn’t up to much, the menu is priced like a fancy upscale restaurant. The deep-fried catifsh is very dry, not a good choice, but so many different spices are used and the sauce is so full of flavours. Coconut milk is added so it is sweet too. I told the waitress that I can eat very hot food and it came very spicy. I was instantly hooked(to the sauce), had to refrain from stuffing the spice leaves into my mouth. The pink drink is only 4% alcohol, very sweet and artificial coloured/flavoured.
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シーフードの辛子みそ炒め、１８００円。
Went back again and ordered the seafood with the same sauce. There are squid, prawn, green pepper, mussel and scallop in it. Just as good as last time. Really a shame that it is so expensive, otherwise I would go back and try other things too~
プリック

七厘＠三ノ輪 (Shichi Rin)

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A rather local yakiniku restaurant recommended by a friend who is living nearby and is sort of a regular. We got to order stuff that are not on the menu(e.g. cow tongue sashimi and beef sashimi), and enjoy an incredible omakase course which allowed us to try almost everything on the menu. It is however an impossible task to translate the menu…in fact I can’t even match the name with the right picture cos they all look the same. ^^;; Basically we tried various parts of cow, both the meat and the horumon.
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キムチ盛り合わせ。牛アキレス腱ポン酢。にんにく焼き。
Assorted kimchi. Achilles tendon in ponzu. Grilled garlic.
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センマイ刺し。レバー刺し。
Cow stomach sashimi. Liver sashimi.
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牛タン刺し。牛刺し。
Cow tongue sashimi. Beef sashimi.
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幻のタン塩(ゲタ)。
From here, the meat are to be grilled. The pic on the left is some fancy cow tongue. The rest…sorry, don’t really remember.
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The umeshu here is very nice with a variety of choices – nihonshu based, shochu based, white wine based, red wine based, and house blend. I like the house blend and nihonshu based of umeshu the most. The one in the picture is just nihonshu.
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シビレ。
My favourite horumon “shibire”, it tastes like foie gras~ Takes a while to grill until it is smooth and creamy.
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The steak is nice too. The waitor cut it into pieces for us. But I prefer the fatty thin slices of beef which are just much more juicy.
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We had some additional orders which I didn’t take pictures of…btw, there were 5 of us, 4 girls and 1 guy. ^^;;;
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ユッケ。豚トロ。
Yukke – Korean version of Steak Tartare. Tontoro – fatty pork.
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Horumon also, forgot name. Hard and chewy texture.
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On the right is Kimchi fried rice.
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061206 122The usual stomach-filling carbs(though we were already very full…): Korean beef soup rice, chilled buckwheat noodles, and ramen in a hot stone bowl. I think we paid about 12,000yen each. Considering how much we ate and drank, and how amazing the quality of the meat was, not a bad deal.
My friend actually remembered the menu in Japanese and kindly sent it to me, so I just copied here.
・キムチ盛り合わせ ・牛アキレス腱ポン酢 ・にんにく焼き
・センマイ刺し ・レバー刺し ・牛タン刺し ・牛刺し
・幻のタン塩(ゲタ) ・カイノミ ・シンシン ・ホルモン ・コブクロ
・ギアラ ・コプチャン ・シビレ ・ヒレ ・トモ三角 ・ザブトン ・ツラミ
・ユッケ ・豚トロ ・ウルテ ・ハツモト ・子袋
・キムチチャーハン ・石焼ユッケジャンラーメン ・冷麺 ・カルビクッパ
七厘

MANAKAMANA (マナカマナ)

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One of my friends said this Nepal/Indian restaurant was famous but at lunch time they only do buffets(950yen), which I tried anyway. There were four different kinds of curries(chicken curry was the best), naan and saffron rice, some fried snacks and simple salad, yogurt, chai and coffee. It is really not bad for a buffet lunch. The naan were cut into small pieces so you could take a small piece at a time and wait for new ones coming out hot from the oven when the old ones got cold.
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ネパール餃子ＭＯＭＯ、４８０円。チーズナン、３５０円。
Went back for dinner. Nepal steamed dumplings “momo” – just like the chinese “sho lon po” but with lamb meat and thicker skin, quite nice though. The sauce in the middle was quite spicy. Cheese naan, very soft and the melted cheese had onion in it.
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シェフサラダ、４８０円。タンドリー スペアリブ、１３００円。
Chef’s salad. Gosh isn’t it massive for 480yen?! A bit too much dressing.
Tandoori sparerib was absolutely wonderful! I couldn’t stop munching the bones covered in chilli paste. The meat was not as soft and tender as I had hoped but the hot spicy flavour satisfied my tastebuds so no complaints.
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060925 005.jpg豚あばら肉煮込みカレー（コルマソース）、ナン付きで１２８０円。マンゴヤンラッシ、４８０円。
Back to this nice local curry place. Pork sparerib curry(Korma sauce). Mild and creamy, very nice! The naan is soft and hot from the oven as usual, very massive but so good that you can finish it in no time and want more. Mango Lassi cocktail – very sweet and quite strong in alcohol.
マナカマナ