たもいやんせ (Tamoiyanse)

Posted on June 27, 07 by seat

宮崎綾地鶏骨付もも焼き。
An izakaya offering regional Kyushu food and many different kinds of shochu from Kyushu.
Charcoal-grilled Miyazaki chicken thigh.

黒豚とんこつ煮。若竹煮。
Simmered pork belly and ribs of “black pig”, a specialty of Kagoshima. This is so good! The soft meat slid right off the bones. The sauce is sweet.
Simmered bamboo shoot.

豚飯。冷や汁。
Pork rice. Hiyajiru – cold, soybean paste soup with dried bonito, sesame and other ingredients poured over rice(and tofu in this case). Both are good~

Shared between 2 people with 2 shochu, about 6600yen. Slightly expensive but the environment is clean and comfortable(except for the tobacco). Nearest station is “Shinsen” but less than 15 mins walk from Shibuya station.

たもいやんせ (Tamoiyanse)
Add: 10-10 Shinsencho, Shibuya-ku
Tel: 03-3461-4333

Le jeu de l’assiette (ル・ジュー・ドゥ・ラシエット)

Posted on May 19, 07 by seat

The toy-like(^^;;;) chandelier is from Venice apparently.

Cute glass beads on the table. We pretended to play chess with them…

Deco Boco(citrus fruit) sorbet with champagne poured on top. Yum! But later found out that this little cocktail costs 1500yen.

アスパラガスの冷製クルヴェットグリーズのジュレを添えて。
食感の違う葉野菜のミルフィーユホッキ貝とそのヴィネグレット。
Asparagus with jelly and sauce made from small prawn. This is very delicious!
Mille-feuille of vegetables, hokkigai(surf clam) and vinaigrette. Mille-feuille…is just a few slices of vegetables placed on top of each other. Tasty though. The clams are sweet.

スズキのポワレ豚の背脂風味人参ソース。
シャラン産鴨もも肉のソテー白と赤のソース。
Sea bass with “pork back fat” and carrot sauce. The “pork back fat” is the thin slice on top of the fish. It is not oily at all and goes well with the fish. The carrot sauce is very good too.
Duck thigh saute, white and red sauce. Red sauce is beet, white sauce is onion. Somehow the way the duck is cooked reminds me of Cantonese grilled duck…I was not the only one craving rice, my friend said the duck should be served on a donburi. ^^;; Nice dish that goes with wine though.

苺のリゾット。
”インカのめざめ”のミルクレープとオリーブオイルのグラス。
Strawberry risotto. Strangely nostalgic…
“Awakening of Inca”(just potato ^^;;) milk crepe and olive oil ice-cream – it really tastes like olive oil!
The desserts are so interesting…

Lunch course we had was 5500yen. Service charge is 10%. Everything in the pictures are included for one person.

This restaurant is fairly new but the servers are veterans from other famous restaurants apparently, and they are indeed very good – helpful, funny, smiling the whole time.
Menu: 1, 2, 3.
Le jeu de l’assiette

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

Il Pleut Sur La Seine （イル・プルー・シュル・ラ・セーヌ）

Posted on March 5, 07 by seat

Mille-feuille is not bad.
Il Pleut Sur La Seine

Château Restaurant Joël Robuchon

Posted on February 4, 07 by seat

Restaurant is on the second floor of the gorgeous “château”.

We couldn’t decide for a long time but finally opted for the more luxurious 12,000yen lunch course. The cheaper one is 7000yen.
Amuse-bouche is a spoonful of carrot jelly, blood orange sorbet and coriander foam.

特選生雲丹甲殻類のジュレになめらかなカリフラワーのクレーム。
Uni and crustacean(prawn or crab?) jelly with cauliflower cream. A big chunk of fresh uni at the bottom which is super sweet. A memorable dish!

季節のキノコ活帆立貝と合わせ、生姜の香るキノコのブイヨンを注いで。
Mushroom and scallop, with hot bouillon soup of mushroom and ginger poured (by the server).

宇和島産真鯛特選カラスミと共にグラチネして、ヴァンジョンヌ風味のサバイヨンを添えて。
Gratiner of red seabream and karasumi, with sabayon(foamy sauce made from egg). The crispy layer of “gratin” tastes of cheese, very nice!
Bread are all great, with many different kinds to choose from. I like the basil(green one) and the little croissant with anchovy the most.

仔羊パストラル風にローストし、ハーブのサラダを添えて。
Roasted baby lamb Pastoral style, with herb salad. Perfectly cooked, very tender and juicy. The black bits are truffle.
Avant dessert: Coffee jelly with amaretto and cocoa.

洋梨のスープ仕立てスフレを浮かべてアプリコット風味のソルベと共に。
Marron souffle in pear soup, with apricot sorbet. This is so good! I tried a bit of my friend’s chocolate mousse but I like the souffle more.

The whole course is perfect. Just 100% PERFECT!! Every dish delicious without exceptions. I am seldom impressed by the fish course in French restaurants but I love the way they cook the fish. The lamb is easily one of the best(if not the best) I have ever eaten. Gosh I can see myself comparing lamb chops in other restaurants to this one from now onwards…

Service is very professional but not snobby. The interior is gorgeous of course. Unfortunately we were a big group and had to sit at the table right in the middle, which made us feel a little “exposed”. The sofa seats next to the windows look much more comfortable~. Ladies get free French bread with nuts and dried fruits as souvenirs.
Joël Robuchon

Don Ciccio （ドンチッチョ）

Posted on February 1, 07 by seat

岩手短角牛のカルパッチョ。
Shorthorn beef carpaccio.

仔牛トリッパと茄子とアーモンド煮”シチリア風”。
”シラクーサ風”赤ピーマンと茄子のカラマリ、トマトソース。
Sicilian-style beef tripe and aubergine with almond.
Calamari alla Siracusana. “Calamari” is ring-shaped pasta that looks like squid ring. Red bell pepper and aubergine in tomato sauce.

白金豚ラグーとブロンテ産アーモンドのフジッリ。
”シチリア名物”イワシとウイキョウのカサレッチ。
Fusilli with Platinum pork ragu sauce and almond.
Casarecci with fennel and sardine. Traditional Sicilian dish.

白魚のスパゲッティーニ。
岩手骨付白金豚の香草炭火焼き。
Spaghetti with Bianchetti(tiny white fish which are spawn of sardines or anchovies, not sure which).
Charcoal grilled Platinum bone-in pork with herb.

大山地鶏と干しイチジクの”ウブリアカ”。
“Daisen” chicken and dried fig. Sweet sauce.
Right pic is my share of the 2 meat dishes.

あさりと仔羊リドヴォーのリングイネ。
大山地鶏とカボチャのヴェスヴォオ、クリームソース。
All four of us didn’t feel quite enough….so after the main dishes we ordered some more pasta. The last two pasta were both 1.5 portion, while the ones before were all single portion.
Linguine with vongole(clam) and “ris de veau”(Lamb sweetbreads).
Vesuvio(pasta that looks like Mount Vesuvius? Just guessing…) with “Daisen” chicken and pumpkin in cream sauce.

Zuppa Inglese. Semifreddo.

Strawberry tiramisu. Gateau chocolat.

A famous Italian restaurant that closed down last year and re-opened with a new name. Many loyal fans apparently, one of them being my friend who tried the new place and said it was just as good as the old one. Already an impossible-to-book restaurant and you can only book two weeks in advance. Location is a bit inconvenient – quite far from both Shibuya and Omotesando station.

The food is great. All the pasta are very simple. Light and simple sauce with not much ingredients, but perfect al dente. Actually at first I thought the pasta were a little unimpressive (I love fancy sauces and fancy ingredients…) but the amazing thing was that I craved the simple, comforting taste immediately again. The pasta are not homemade though. The main dishes are pretty normal, especially the staff-recommended pork. Chicken in fig sauce is nicer.

4 of us went crazy and ordered so much food, plus 2 bottles of wine and mineral water and coffee, total was about 11000yen per person.

Atmosphere was very lively and energetic. Warm decor. A little crowded perhaps. It was full when we arrived, and when we finished around 11pm, there were still customers coming in! Appetizers and pastas came fast after we ordered, but the main dishes could be a bit slow in delivery. Despite of the negative comments I have read, the service is quite good. I am not saying this because all the staff are young and good-looking guys(which is quite a sight really ^^;;), but they know the menu well and are patient to explain to us. Also willing to split each and every one of the dishes for us. Though they didn’t do the job so well…..the portion wasn’t quite even and the ingredients were simply absent in some plates….often mine for some reason. ^^;; But definitely will go back!

Menu: 1, 2, 3, 4.
Don Ciccio

Cucina Siciliana Archimede （アルキメーデ＠神泉）

Posted on January 15, 07 by seat

レバーペースト、豚のリエット。カリフラワーのスープ。
Dinner at a recently opened Sicilian restaurant, which is about 10 mins walk from Shibuya station. Dinner course is 6000yen.
Liver paste and pork rillette. Cauliflower “soup”(more like paste). Bread is warm and soft.

１０皿の前菜。
10 appetizers to share between 2 people.
Left pic: octopus and salmon and fruit(top left); beef neck meat with herb and almond and cheese; pork and tuna paste; squid and prawn(bottom left); porcini; spicy aubergine.
Right pic: aubergine layered with cheese; maguro(tuna) veggy roll with bell pepper paste.

手打ちのタリオリーニムール貝のラグーシシリア産マグロのからすみ添え。
Left pic: baked mussels; tripe and leek.
Right pic: one pasta from the menu of 4 choices. I picked the homemade tagliolini in ragu of mussel, topped with Sicilian tuna karasumi. The portion is for 2 to share.

リングイネ魚介たっぷりのシシリア風ペスカトーレ。
窒息鴨のローストちょっと甘めのシシリア産マルサラソース。
House speciality Linguine seafood Pescatora is prefixed. Also for 2.
My main dish from the menu(6 choices) – Roasted duck in sweet Marsala Wine Sauce. This is for 1 person. The madam said the portion for the meat is the biggest from the top of the menu and gets smaller as you go down the list. Mine is right at the bottom and is supposed to be the “smallest”.

デザートの盛り合わせ。
Dessert plate for 1: passion fruit sorbet and pineapple; pistachio roll cake with lemon cream; raspberry Tiramisu; panna Cotta.
For herb tea, you pick the tea leaves and mix it any way you like. I had a bit of everything.

For 6000yen it is amazing how much food they are giving you. After the appetizers, most people will probably be 80% full already. Even a big eater like me had difficulty finishing the main dish and the dessert. (In fact I couldn’t eat breakfast and lunch the next day…) The very friendly madam told me that there was a customer who got mad about the crazy portion, stormed into the kitchen and shouted at the chef: “How can you expect me to finish all that food?!”. ^^;;; Apparently the chef learned cooking in Sicily for 3 years and the experience of being welcomed with good food that just kept coming and coming even though he could eat no more, made him decide to do the same to his customers. ^^;;; Taste-wise, it is quite good but not exceptional. The nicest is the meat dish – the duck is tender and the sauce is sweet and wonderful. A shame that I was so full by that time that I couldn’t really enjoy it. Linguine is cooked al dente but otherwise the pasta dishes are a bit normal. The madam asked us if we wanted smaller portions for the pasta, but my friend is a big pasta lover so we said no. Hmm, the best solution is probably to request for smaller portions of the dozens of appetizers. Some of them taste rather similar anyway. It is course-only for now but the madam said a la carte menu will be available soon.
Menu(J): 1, 2.
Archimede