Tateru Yoshino Shiba Park Hotel (タテル ヨシノ)

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3675yen lunch course. This place is inside a hotel. At first I thought it was a modern hotel, but turned out it was a little old. We went on a Sunday lunch and there were families eating lunch there – very casual.
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雲丹のフランとかぼちゃの泡雪。
Amuse bouche: Maguro tartare rolled in aubergine.
Uni flan and pumpkin “awayuki”(probably meaning it is like snow, i.e. light and foamy).
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060130 035喜界島産コバトのロティ、ポトフ仕立て。 温かい林檎タルトキャラメルのアイス。
Baby pigeon roti in pot-au-feu.
warm apple tart and caramel ice-cream.

Quite good quality food for the price. Especially love the pigeon meat which is very tender. The server told us that the pink olive-shape thing was pigeon’s heart, but it tasted like egg with egg yolk inside….I grabbed the waiter again and he said it was egg afterall(^^;;;). Forgot whether he said it was pigeon egg or quail egg.
Menu: 1, 2, 3.
Tateru Yoshino

Château Restaurant Joël Robuchon

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

Aux Delices de Hongo (オ・デリス・ド・本郷)

Back again!(See tag) The same French-food-loving friend set up everything well in advance so I had been really looking forward to this meal for weeks.

060620 048.jpgMarinated salmon, with Caponata and Anchovy sauce. The salmon is fat rich and delicious enough on its own. Even better is to break the quail egg and eat the salmon with the yoke, or with the vegetables stew, or with the anchovy sauce.

060620 051.jpgWhisked fennel cream and sea urchin, bottom layer is fennel flan, the sauce on top is made from prawn heads. This is so delicious!! At first I thought sea urchin would be the main thing for this dish, but the taste and smell of the prawn is much stronger than the sea urchin. A very very heavenly dish nonetheless. In fact it is so impressive that even after many days I still crave to have it once more.

060620 057.jpgSummer organic vegetables, with summer truffle dressing. There are so many different kinds of vegetables, every single one is delicious. It is such a big plate too! Though you don’t get tired til the end.

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“Loup en croûte, sauce Choron”, a traditional dish that very few restaurants make it apparently. My friend made a special request and the chef made once before to try and this is his second attempt. Basically it is sea bass pie, sandwiched between the fish meat is scallop mousse. The Choron sauce is like hollandaise sauce, colour is pink because of the tomato puree, also added are shallot and white wine and egg yoke, the taste is slightly sour and light and matching the fish well. One slice is big and everyone was full by that time, but it was so light that everyone finished easily.

060620 069.jpgFruit salad with apple mango sorbet. Again many many different kinds of fruits and each spoon is a delight: peach sweet, rhubarb sour, medlar sour and melon sweet again…

The wine are all fantastic, especially the white, I don’t know anything about wine but the white wine I have in this restaurants are unlike anything I had before, not just a complement to the meal but outstanding on its own!

An amazing meal! Thank you Sinp-san!

Aux Delices de Hongo

bis LA BETTOLA (ビス・ラ・ベットラ)

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皮付き豚バラ肉のロースト(ポルケッタ)。
From the 2100yen lunch course. Roasted pork.
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2色のパスタ盛り合わせ: うにスパゲッティ と ポルチーニ茸ソースのリゾート。
プチデザート: ガトーショコラ。コーヒーがついて、2100円。
Sea urchin spaghetti and Risotto with Porcini sauce. Gateau chocolate.

What happened is, I couldn’t stop thinking about that sea urchin pasta I had in La Bettola, but the restaurant is just too crowded, so as an alternative I went to the branch restaurant where the apprentice of Ochiai is the chef. I went at 1pm and I still had to wait til 2pm before there was any vacancy available….crazy. But the food was just as good as the original and the environment was actually better. There was no meat dishes in the menu though – maybe we were too late?

La Bettola da Ochiai (ラ・ベットラ・ダ・オチアイ)

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コットロマーナ、サラダ添え(豚の耳、舌、足などで作った自家製煮にごり)。
穴子のグルリ、バルサミコソース、サラダ添え。
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新鮮なうにのスパゲッティ。
仔羊の香草グルリ。
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豚バラとスペアリブ、春キャベツの煮込み。
カスタードプリン。前菜+パスタ+肉料理+デザート+ドリンク、3465円。
A very popular Italian restaurant that you need to wait for months before you can book a table for dinner. So we went for lunch, in which case you go at 10 in the morning, sign up your name, and come back again at 11.30.(We ended up having breakfast in the chocolate cafe while we waited….) Well, I think it lives up to its popularity, being cheap and good-quality, though I think dinner will be even more worth it since a dinner course is only 4000yen. I had grilled anago, sea urchin cream spaghetti, grilled lamb and custard pudding. Everything is delicious!

七條 (Shichijo)

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トマトと生ハム。鴨とフォアグラのテリーヌ。
Ham and tomato. Duck and foie gras terrine.
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活うにのコンソメジュレ。えびフライ。
Sea urchin consomme jelly. Fried prawn.
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和牛ほほ肉のはちみつと赤ワイン煮。
Beef cheek in red wine and honey.
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豚ロースのグリエ 赤キャベツ添え。いちじくのタルト。
Grilled pork, with red cabbage. Fig tart.
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くるみ入りチョコレートテリーヌ。
Walnut chocolate terrine.
Food is great, not the delicate kind but huge portion and very cheap. Menu is here.