穴子天せいろ、１５７０円。Lots of varieties of soba in the menu, want to go back and try the others too.
越前おろしそば、７００円。Got attracted by the name “soba cafe” and thought it was a girly trendy place…turned out to be a small bland soba place with only businessmen who were all smoking…though the madam was nice and shifted me to a corner with less smoke.
I arrived at the restaurant precisely at 11:30am when it just opened, and there was already a guy waiting outside…unbelievable. Appetizer: chicken liver mousse. It is huge, especially the big pile of the marinated carrot salad. The mousse is nicer with bread so I ate half of the baguette too. I was 50% full by the time I finished the appetizer(the carrot!), and by that time the restaurant was full with customers.
The main dish looks familiar? Lamb in white wine stew - exactly the same dish as the one I had in the restaurant “LE MOGADOR” next door. There were 6 choices for the main dish, the others were pan-fried fish, pork sausage, chicken confit, beef steak and tripe stew…all of them sound predictable and not appealing at all. Believing that different chefs will make the same dish differently, I decided to give it a try…..but I was so wrong. It turned out to be very similar to the lamb stew I had the other day - similar tomato-based sauce, even the side vegetables were the same!! Though this time the sauce was much thicker. Maybe simple bistro menu are just similar everywhere and I was expecting too much? ^^;; I felt so tired of the taste halfway through and didn’t want to eat it anymore, but I forced myself to finish most of it. And I made a terrible mistake in ordering the dessert sampler at the beginning…the sampler turned out to be a lot! The chocolate terrine was really nice, mocha and caramel ice-cream were good, pear tart was alright and I just couldn’t finish the tarte tartan. All together it was 1880yen….it is so cheap! ^^; I couldn’t resist and asked the waitor if this restaurant is related to the restaurant next door. He said the two restaurants are under the same management(oh right!!) but the chefs decide their own menu and cook in their own style. I told him I had the same lamb stew in the restaurant next door and it tasted pretty much the same, but he said the chef in the other restaurant prefers more “dry” taste while the chef in this restaurant prefers “sweet” taste. I think the other one is better. Anyway, “mission completed”!! ^^;;
PAS MAL
I was completely obsessed and decided to go to the other French restaurant as well on the next day…..but it was fully booked for a lunch party!!! Ah~~damn!!!! ^^;;; So I ended up walking back all the way to the station and went to this soba place. I was very pissed off and my reasoning snapped and I ordered the most expensive and the most fattening thing on the menu - pork cutlet with rice and soba set, 1100yen. The pork was alright, but I chose “cold” soba instead of “hot” soup soba, expecting “cold” means room temperature, but it was seriously cold, like just taken out from the fridge….Anyway, I am going to eat in that other French restaurant one day no matter how many times I need to try, you watch me!!! ^^;;
I was desperately craving some French food so I decided to drop by this area which is kinda sad with nothing around but shabby shops and offices, but on the same location there are two popular French restaurants right next to each other, which both provide cheap but down-to-earth French food. It is a bit of a walk from the station so I have been lazy and haven’t tried them yet even though they are convenient for me to go for lunch on work days. But I had no luck on my first try….I went early, well before noon, but by the time I arrived at this restaurant it was already full!! What?! But there is the other target restaurant next door….it was completely dark and apparently closed….but I checked on the internet beforehand and it should be open on that day!! Damn they changed the day they close. -o-;;; So I had no choice but went to the not-very-appealing Italian nearby, Il Mio, in the previous entry, which turned out to be very bad….I was so pissed off that I tried again on the next day, and thank god both two French restaurants were open and not yet full. I chose to go to this one first. It is very cheap!! Appetizer or main dish alone is 700yen. Two dishes is 1200yen. Plus dessert is 200yen. Of course I went for full course, plus coffee which is another 200yen.
中トロのマリネローズマリー風味。仔羊の白ワイン煮。
Marinated tuna(toro) with rosemary. Gosh it is such a big plate! Very fresh and nice. Lamb white wine stew, meat is soft and tender. I think this place is great cos the taste is not salty and oily - somehow cheap bistros always tend to be too salty and heavy.
栗のタルト。Chestnut tart. I saw the chef taking the tart out from the refrigerator and warming it in the microwave….err…^^;; Not too much taste but at least it is not too sweet. There is only the chef doing everything - preparing the food, bring the food, pouring water, turning away customers when the place was full, answering the phone and doing bookings….but he seemed to be all cool and calm, very impressive.
LE MOGADOR
Spaghetti with squid and broccoli in white wine sauce(completely tasteless and horrible), comes with tuna salad(the tuna is too sweetened, quite gross) and tiramisu and coffee, 1000yen. Then I never meant to go to this restaurant in the first place - see later entry for why.
Pasta was ravioli, both the sauce and the stuffing were made of prawn and crab, and the pasta seemed to be made of whole-grain, looked brown and had a slightly rough texture, which I really liked! The sauce was slightly salty but also very nice. The waitor brought a sample plate of different pasta for me to choose, most of them were in shapes that I had never seen! Dessert plate was apple tart, pudding and pineapple ice, tasted so-so. I went on a weekday lunch, and there were only me and 4 other customers…maybe because the restaurant is in a rather quiet area, quite far to walk even from the nearest station.
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