御茶ノ水小川軒 (Ochanomizu Ogawaken)

Posted on March 6, 09 by seat

A really nice yoshoku(western food) place in Ochanomizu that I’ve fallen in love with recently. In my first visit when I saw the price on the menu, I thought I would try once, but probably wouldn’t come back because there are so many yoshoku places in this area that are much cheaper. But after the first taste of the curry….I was immediately addicted. I ended up trying almost everything on the menu(Not in one day!) and everything I ordered was good. There is nothing fancy about the food, just basic yoshoku that is perfectly done.

ビーフカレー￥１３６５。マカロニグラタン、￥１５７５。
Beef curry(Y1365). The curry that got me hooked. The sauce is so smooth.
Macaroni gratin(Y1575). Winter menu.

シーフードカレー、￥１４７０。
Seafood curry(1470). All the lunches come with salad and pickled vegetables.

デミカレー、￥１４７０。トリュフショコラケーキ（自家製アイス添え）、￥５２５。
Demi curry(Y1470). Truffle Chocolat Cake & storemade ice-cream(Y525).

オムライス、￥１５７５。ハヤシライス、￥１５７５。
Omelette Rice(Y1575). Hayashi Rice(Y1575).

Raisin-wich. Souvenir that everybody seems to know about.

All the above were eaten in the first floor cafe where the lunch menu is mainly curry. I then ventured down to the basement restaurant which has a different lunch menu with the main item being hamburger. Basement restaurant is smaller and is a bit more expensive than the first floor cafe. All lunches come with a salad, a small soup, rice or bread, and coffee.

デミグラスソースハンバーグステーキ（１５０ｇ）、￥１６８０。
Chopped Beef(100% wagyu) Demi-glace Sauce 150g (Y1680). Super delicious! After the curry, I got hooked to the hamburger too…..damn.

カニクリームコロッケ、￥１９９５。
Chinese cabbage and Cauliflower soup. Crabmeat Croquette(Y1995).

和風ソース　ハンバーグステーキ、￥１６８０。
Chopped Beef Soy Sauce 150g(Y1680). The soy sauce is a house blend apparently. I spread a bit of wasabi on the hamburger and add the soy sauce….very nice!

季節野菜のハンバーグステーキ、￥１８９０。
Seasonal Chopped Beef 150g(Y1890). It is just the same Chopped Beef Demi-glace Sauce, plus some sauteed seasonal vegetables on the side.

Basically everything is nice. In particular Beef curry and Chopped beef Demi-glace sauce. The service is very friendly. And they give out 200yen discount coupons so well it is not tooooooo bad. Note that Hayashi rice(very good too) is available in both 1st floor and basement and the staff said it is exactly the same thing.

First floor menu here. Basement menu can be found in the homepage.

御茶ノ水小川軒 (Ochanomizu Ogawaken )
Add: 1-9-3 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku
Tel: 03-5802-5420

大喜 (Daiki)

Posted on March 4, 09 by seat

(Sep 01, 2006)
とりそば（塩味）、８５０円。味玉子、１００円。
Tori-soba – chicken ramen. I thought simmered egg was not included so I ordered it as extra toppings…ended up with 1.5 portion….^^;; This ramen reminds me so much of Cantonese soup noodles because of the clear chicken soup, the soft and juicy chicken topping instead of pork, and the thin noodles used. Very very good!

(Mar 22, 2008)
とりそば（塩味）、８５０円。みそらーめん、￥８００。餃子。
Tori-soba. Miso ramen.Gyoza.

(May 11, 2009)
特製醤油らーめん、￥９５０。
Special shoyu ramen. The soup is okay but the noodles is soggy…

(May 14, 2009)
かしわもりそば(太麺)、￥９００。
Kashiwa Morisoba. Thick cold noodles with hot dipping soup which is chicken-based and has chicken meat and chicken meat balls in it. The soup is great but the noodles is too soggy again.

大喜 (Daiki)

Ponta Honke (ぽん多本家)

Posted on January 17, 09 by seat

(Jan 15 2009)
カキフライ、￥３１５０。
I think this is the most expensive fried oyster set I ever tried. 3150yen including rice and soup. The oysters are MASSIVE and there are six of them, all perfectly fried and undeniably delicious….

(May 22 2008)
穴子フライ、￥３６７５。カツレツ、￥２６２５。
Took a friend to try this super expensive but also super delicious tonkatsu place. Had the standard “Katsu-retsu”. Also tried the “Anago Fry” for the first time – 3675yen is crazy(rice and miso soup not included) but they give you two big pieces and damn they just taste so good that you don’t regret paying(though I didn’t have to pay at the end hohoho).

(Sep 11 2007)
Couldn’t resist and went back to try “Ebi korokke”, i.e. Prawn croquette. With rice and miso soup, it is 3150yen also. Very expensive…but it is so delicious! Inside the perfectly-fried crust are corn cream and big chunks of prawns. Only two croquettes but they are quite big. Though I think the pork cutlet is of better value.

(Aug 09 2007)
Yoshoku restaurant established since 1905. I was a bit dazed when I saw the menu…a salad is 1050yen, deep-fried seafood is 3000~4000yen, cow tongue stew is 4200yen…good thing my target was katsu-retsu(i.e. tonkatsu) which is an affordable(relatively speaking) 2625yen. Rice and soup and pickles are an additional 525yen. Seriously, it never cease to amaze me how yoshoku sometimes can be so expensive and yet many people are so willing to pay. I mean you can have a full course French lunch with that amount of money. Anyway, the cutlet turned out to be quite delicious. ^^;;; Coating is thick but crispy. Apparently thick and floury coating is the traditional style for deep-fried things in Japan. I guess people in the past didn’t worry so much about calories. The pork is fried twice, first very slowly in low heat oil, and then a quick finish in very hot oil. It did take a long time for it to come. The pork is a thick huge piece, has very little fat, soft and tender, feels a bit sandy in the mouth and not the juicy kind but I like it a lot. Didn’t feel ill afterwards but apparently it is fried in lard….There is only a bottle of sauce on the table which I reckon is for the cutlet but I prefer eating it just with salt and mustard. Oh, I sat in the counter(only 4 seats) on the first floor and there was only a salaryman eating alone. He was drinking wine and eating a plate of something, and I overheard his bill was over 13,000yen…^^;; I found an English review here.

Menu(J) 1, 2.

ぽん多本家 (Ponta Honke)
Add: 3-23-3 Ueno, Taito-ku
Tel: 03-3831-2351

L’oiseau de Lyon (ロワゾー・ド・リヨン)

Posted on January 11, 09 by seat

This French cake shop is not new but it has just opened a cafe on the second floor recently. I always complain that there is no nice place for cake and tea around Yushima area(walkable distance from Ueno or Akihabara) so I am really happy(you can tell that by how many times I’ve visited in just a few months….)

サントノーレ。
Saint Honore(tea flavour). It is served on second-floor cafe only and is not available for take-away. Love the cream but the chou aren’t as crispy as I would like.

モンブラン。
Mont Blanc. One whole Japanese chestnut in the middle.

ドゥーブルタタン。キャラメロ。
Apple tart. A bit sour but pretty nice.
Chocolate tart with caramel mousse with nuts.

フラム（チョコラムースにクレームブリュレ入り）。タルトシャンソン。
Chocolate mousse with creme brulee in the middle – very nice!
Strawberry tart. Royal Milk Tea.

ガーネット（4種類のベリームースの中に、ホワイトチョコレートのムース）。
シューリヨネーズ（２種類の紅茶クリーム）。
ペカン（コーヒークリーム、ピーカンナッツ）。
Garnet: 4 types of berry mousse and white chocolate mousse.
Chou cream with 2 different tea-flavoured cream.
Pecan: Coffee cream and Pecan nuts. Heavy but very good!

オペラ（チョコレートクリームとコーヒークリーム）。
フレジェ（イチゴのケーキ。クリームはカスタードクリームとバタークリームをあわせたもの）。
タルトブランベル（ブルーベリーとアプリコットのジャム）。
シューパリジャン。
Left: Opera(chocolate cream and coffee cream). Frasier(strawberry cake with custard cream and butter cream). These two cakes are absolutely wonderful.
Right: Tart with blueberry and apricot jam. Chou Parisian(the cream inside is delicious but the crust isn’t so crispy).

タルトシトロンマカロン入り。ティラミスロール。
アンブルノア（ヘーゼルナッツ、プラリネのムースとチョコのムース）。シューパリジャン。
Tart citron with macaron. Only remember the macaron was nice.
Tiramisu roll. Hmm the sponge cake part was not as smooth as I expected.
Chocolate and Praline mousse with halzelnut. Very good. I think mousse cake won’t go wrong in this place.
Chou Parisian. One more try but still not crispy crust.

パリブレスト。 Paris-Brest.

Croissant is sweet here and is my favourite! You can choose the pastry/bread from the bakery on the first floor and eat in the cafe.
Quiche with mushroom.

クロワッサン・オ・ザマンド。シュトーレン。カヌレ。
Croissant with almond cream.
Canele is a MUST-TRY. I always buy a dozen and force everyone I know to try it.
Around Christmas time you get a piece of Stollen to try if you eat in the cafe. Unfortunately I really really hate marzipan…

フロマージュドゥース（チーズケーキ）。
ボストック（ブリオッシュにアマンドクリーム）。
クロックムッシュ。
Cheese cake is surprisingly nice with a hint of orangy flavour. “Bostock”(sp?) is the round brioche pastry with almond paste and icing sugar on top.
Croque-monsieur.

Marron pie. Olive bread. Tomato bread.
“Bacon-epi”.

ノアゼットとスリーズ。レーズンとピーカンナッツ。アプリコットとイチジク。
3 kinds of very nice brioche bread. Walnut and cherry. Raisin and Pecan nuts. Apricot and fig.

ガレット・デ・ロワ（ルール）。
La Galette des Rois. I am lazy to explain so read about it here. The pie is very crispy with almond cream inside.

ロワゾー・ド・リヨンのオリジナルガレット・ショコラゆず。
L’oiseau de Lyon’s original La Galette des Rois with chocolate ganache and yuzu confit. The yuzu flavour is nice but I prefer the standard one with almond cream.

Drink menu here.

Forgot the name but it is really good chocolate mousse cake!

L’oiseau de Lyon (ロワゾー・ド・リヨン)
Add: 3-42-12, Yushima, Bunkyo-ku
Tel: 03-3831-9901

厳選洋食さくらい(Gensen Yoshoku Sakurai)

Posted on September 22, 08 by seat

(Sep 22, 2008)
メンチカツセット、￥２６００。
Menchi-katsu set includes salad, soup, rice and coffee. 2600yen is so expensive…but the Menchi-katsu is really nice – juicy inside and cripsy outside, the beef used is good.

(Apr 8, 2006)
Omelette rice lunch set with salad, carrot soup and coffee, 1800yen. Very good! The fried rice with ketchup, chicken and mushroom was wrapped immaculately inside the omelette, the demi glace sauce was nice too.

厳選洋食さくらい(Yoshoku Sakurai)
Add: 7th, 3-40-7, Yushima, Bunkyo-ku (Near Okachimachi/Ueno)
Tel: 03-3836-9357

栄児家庭料理　本郷店 (Ron-a-ru Hongo-ten)

Posted on May 21, 08 by seat

Dinner at a Szechuan restaurant. Check out my friend’s site for Japanese review.
“String” tofu salad. Boiled gyoza.

Mapo tofu. Clear soup with meatballs.

Steamed chicken. Stir-fried vegetables.

Bang bang ji – Szechuan spicy chicken Salad. Fried prawn.

Stir-fried potato. Stir-fried Konjac.

The staff offered to add boiled beansprout to the leftover bang bang ji to make a salad.
Pork cooked in spicy sauce. The sauce is delicious, especially eaten with rice. Though there is not that much pork inside.

Grilled pork.

Tan Tan noodles, with sauce or without sauce. I had the one without soup at the original restaurant before(see tag), so I tried the one with soup. I like the one with soup better. The portion of the noodles is smaller for each person as we shared, so I could finish and enjoy it before getting tired of the taste.

Almond pudding. Black sesame dumplings.

The food is spicy but is actually okay. Other than the non-spicy dishes, every dish is seasoned with Szechuan pepper. I like mapo tofu, steamed chicken, fried prawn and pork in spicy sauce(you can choose beef or chicken too). I think the food is not bad, and the price is reasonable for Tokyo. But I can’t help feeling that Chinese food ought to be more generous with ingredients and cheaper…

Menu(J): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.