Category Archives: 02:神宮前・青山・広尾

川上庵 青山店 (Kawakamian Aoyama)

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060805 034.jpg海鮮と野菜の掻き揚げ天せいろ、１３００円。
I was attracted by the stylish front door when I walked past, so decided to give it a try. Soba with seafood and vegetables kakiage(like tempura, but ingredients are cut into small pieces and deep-fried with batter slightly thicker than the usual tempura). The ingredients were prawns, small shrimps, mushrooms, pumpkin, carrot and burdock root. When it came out, it looked so good that I took loads of pictures, adjusting the angle and stuff…but it tasted no good!! ^^;;; The kakiage looked big but most of it was batter and the whole thing fell apart on the first bite. The soba had no soba taste or smell, and some of it was stuck together and hard…. A disappointment!
川上庵(Kawakamian Aoyama)

正 GOKAKU

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１８９０のランチコース。
野菜小鉢３品： モロヘイヤ ポン酢、つるむらさき お浸し、 いちじく胡麻だれかけ。
野菜料理： 旬の野菜 フリッター、沖縄の塩とレモンで。
A stylish Japanese place specialised in vegetables. For the 1890yen lunch course, you can choose 3 out of 5 options for the appetizer and choose 1 from the 2 options for the main. Unfortunately most of the names of the vegetables were something that I never heard of…I picked Mulukhiya in ponzu(top one), malabar spinach(bottom left, funny sticky texture) and the safe option “fig with sesame sauce”(bottom right). All were very good! I liked mulukhiya the most, juicy and sweet. For the main, I chose the vegetables fritter. It included, okra, babycorn, green beans, zucchini, green pepper, onion and sweet potato. The batter was thin and light, and the vegetables were very sweet.
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小さなおかず： 冬瓜のあんかけ。
しまい： 減農薬米釜炊きごはん、香ノ物、お椀。
小さな甘味： 杏仁豆腐。
Then came the rice, miso soup and winter melon. The dessert was almond tofu. A very satisfying lunch!
GOKAKU

Napule (ピッツェリア・トラットリア　ナプレ)

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060806 041.jpgビッツァ マルゲリータ ランチ、１４００円。 生ハムトッピング、５００円。
Margherita, and I ordered prosciutto topping. Actually the prosciutto was unnecessary…it was too much and too salty that I ended up putting it aside anyway. The tomato sauce was the sour kind, quite watery and made the pizza kinda soggy(I wonder if it is supposed to be like that?). The pizza bread itself was not bad, and big portion. I went late, avoiding the busy lunch time, but its second floor and third floor were still completely packed! Very popular so it seems. The waitresses were very friendly and the atmosphere was lively.
Napule

Good Honest Grub

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060722 004.jpgエッグズ・ベネディクト（サーモンと野菜グリル）、１４００円。Finally found a place that does egg benedict and someone willing to go with me! I was going to order 3 eggs, but the waitress said that would be too much, so I just got salmon and grilled vegetables and gave up spinach, but it turned out to be not that big afterall. Taste-wise….also pretty normal? The muffins, the eggs and the grilled vegetables were probably pre-made? Not that fresh, not that hot. Salad was not included and only grilled potatoes, a bit bland to finish. Hmm.
Good Honest Grub

Lauburu (ローブリュー)

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田舎風パテ（写真は半分）。
A country-style French restaurant specialised in pork. Reviews on the internet are always full of gasps on how huge how massive the portions are, so I was really looking forward to get totally stuffed. 2 of us decided to share just one appetizer and two main courses, and desserts later.
Appetizer: country-style pate. The picture is half portion. To be honest I was a bit shocked how thin it was…I needn’t to have worried at all, I could easily finish one portion myself. Anyway, it was good, liver and meat and fat all in good balance. Unfortunately the baguette they served was unbelievably hard and dry and impossible to eat…hmm. The snack was fried pork skin, didn’t dare eating too much even though it was good with wine(^^;).
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岩手白金豚骨付きロースのグリエ。沖豚すね肉のコンフィ。
Pork rib roast was wonderful! Very juicy and tender. It was over 3400yen, definitely not cheap, and the portion was supposed to be large, so I was a bit disappointed when it came out “normal size”. The pork knuckle confit was about 2800yen, and it was just as I pictured it, very huge! But then the center bone was big, and most of the edible part was all fats with very little meat, my friend didn’t want to eat the fats part so basically I had to finish it…err…I was not that full and I do like fatty pork, but meatless plain fats always get me a little sick(^^;;).
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ガトーバスク、クリームブリュレ。
Gateau basque, a bit old and stale…hmm. Creme brulee is very simple but very good! With a glass of wine each, it was 6000yen per person.

Restaurant hAru(ハル)

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プルーンのベーコン巻き。レンズ豆とインゲン豆のサラダ、トマトのアンショワード。
The cheapest “Today’s lunch” is 2500yen, every dish is prefixed except the dessert, and that day’s main fish was fish. Prune and bacon roll. Lentil and kidney bean salad with tomato in anchovy sauce.
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セロリのスープ（？）。黒鯛のポワレ、ローリエの風味。
I heard the waitress said celery soup, but it tasted mushroom and cheese, so I probably heard wrong. ^^;; Pan-fried kurodai, with laurier(some kind of spice).

060610 088.jpgクレームダンジュ、スパイスのスープ。Creme d’anjou in spicy soup.
Everything tasted very good! 2500yen is quite cheap for a 5 course lunch.
Restaurant hAru

もくち 青山店 (Mokuchi)

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前菜。岩がき。 Appetizer. Oyster.
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お造り（４人前）。厚揚げ。Sashimi for 4. Fried tofu.
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鳥の唐揚げ黒酢ソース。桜えびかき揚げ。
Fried chicken with black vinegar sauce, this is very good! Fried sakura shrimp.
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060608 061.jpg黒はんぺん焼き。焼アボカド。いぐさ青汁鍋（１人前）。Fish pancake. Grilled avocado with dried tomato. Hotpot with pork, mizuna and tofu.
Overall the food is very basic izakaya food, not bad but a bit mediocre for the price. 4 people shared, each has 2-3 drinks, about 5000yen each.
もくち