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
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so is this the French one you can’t get into 3 times? (maybe that guy also couldn’t get in for few times and determined to go by line up early). That’s a huge appertizer. Oh my the lamb stew look sooooo similar, with the exact same green beans and mash potatoes positioning the same way.
So they’re brother restaurants, so does that mean most of the menu taste/look similar (the chefs probably went to same school or taught by same master), only subtle chef’s decision differences? That’s a bit…”won-bun” ^^;; All the lamb stew I had ever have always look/taste different. So conclusion is, the other one is overall better?
Yeah the other one is better…not just because I ate there first, but really it tastes better. It is just amazing, how in such an obscure area, two restaurants of similar taste right next to each other, still there are so many customers flocking here to eat, even on weekdays!
Anyway, now I crave some refined delicate high-class French…^^;;
I wonder if this is some sort of business strategy that they put 2 very similar chef next to each other. ^^;; get you into one and alaso another one like it did to you. And people either prefer one or the other…^^;;