Caudalie (コーダリー)

Posted on January 7, 08 by seat

From the 1800yen lunch course(available on weedays only).
Bread is hot and refillable. Chilled(still summer when I went) turnip soup with Iberico pork bits on top.

豚のロース肉のポアレ、白いんげん豆のトマト煮、メルゲーズ添え。
Green salad and pickled vegetables.
Pan-fried pork loin, white kidney beans in tomato stew, and Merguez sausage.

Herb tea and petit fours.

Went back and had the 1800yen lunch again. Chilled green asparagus soup. Beef fillet and vegetables with rice, teriyaki style. The salad is the same(here) while the petit fours have different flavours(here). Last time I kept having more bread cos they were so good, and the manager seemed to remember and kept giving me more bread this time too…3 bread plus rice with the main dish, I was so stuffed by the end. But from this time onwards, they don’t warm the bread anymore – kitchen staff too busy? Still good though.

Third time. Vichyssoise with consomme jelly in it. It is so nice! Panfried fish(2 kinds) in crustacean and basil sauce.

Fourth time round I tried the 2800yen lunch. Asparagus and broccoli soup.
Escargot on mushroom with garlic cappuccino sauce.

Grilled quail. Black sesame seed creme brulee and nougat ice-cream with marron and apricot. Also includes coffee and petit fours.

This restaurant is still pretty new. When I first went in summer, it was never full, but now it is always fully booked even on weekdays lunchtime, which is quite amazing cos its location is obscure and entirely off the main road(though it is near Ueno Park). The food is delicious and the value is amazing. 1800yen lunch is really a good deal, though the menu for it doesn’t change much. I basically tried all available options for the 1800yen lunch. The restaurant is tiny and there is only one guy(very friendly) serving. Tax is included and no service charge at lunch or dinner.
Menu(J): 1, 2.
Caudalie
Add: 1-6-19 Ikenohata, Taito-ku
Tel: 03-3828-3006

よし房凛 (Yoshibourin)

Posted on December 29, 07 by seat

田舎蕎麦、￥７５０。小天丼、￥５００。
Inaka(country) soba and small tendon(tempura on rice).

辛味大根あげ餅そば、￥９５０。小天丼、￥５００。
きざみそば（焼き油揚げと薬味合わせ）、￥９５０。
Radish and fried mochi soba, and a small tendon.
Kizami soba: Aburaage and seaweed etc.

ごぼう天そば、￥１０００。磯天おろしそば、￥１３００。
Burdock root(gobo) tempura soba.
Isoten oroshi soba.

鴨南蛮、￥１６００。かき揚せいろ、￥１４００。
Kamo-nanban: duck soba.
Kakiage(mixed tempura fritter) seiro.

天せいろ、￥１６００。地蔵そば、￥９５０。
Seiro soba with tempura.
Jizou soba: Aburaage and ankake(thick starchy sauce with soy sauce taste).

梅そば、￥１０５０。
Ume(sour plum) soba.

山かけ、￥９５０。
Yamakake: Grated yam with quail egg.

そばがき、￥１０５０。
Sobagaki- kneaded buckwheat dough, served hot with soy sauce.

A soba place that I am totally addicted to. Everything is so delicious. Not only the soba noodles that is fantasic, but also the tempura, the duck, and many other toppings. For a soba place, the price is very reasonable considering the portion and the quality. Getting a small tendon(500yen) will make even a big eater like me leave with a happily stuffed belly. I tried almost everything in the lunch menu and all are so great that I don’t mind going back for another round of the menu again, especially because you can choose either hot noodles with soup, or cold ones without soup, and I want to try both!
Lunch menu(J): 1, 2.

蕎麦味噌の春巻き。越前おろし蕎麦。
Some old visits from here. Soba spring roll with miso and shiso, very good! Echizen soba: radish, spring onion and dried bonito. It is not bad but I think there is too much radish…at the end I could just taste the radish. Shouldn’t have mixed them all even though the lady staff told me to.

せいろ、７５０円。小天丼、５００円。 Mini tempura rice bowl is very good!! So good!! Mainly vegetables, also prawns, all freshly fried and light. And after devouring the rice bowl, so happy that there was still the yummy seiro soba waiting, which was sweet in a natural buckwheaty way. Even the small pickle dish and the soba-yu(the hot water used in boiling the soba, usually they give you a pot and you pour it into the leftover soy sauce which you dipped the soba with, and drink it like a soup.) were good.

田舎蕎麦、７５０円。
Inaka soba.

よし房凛(Yoshibourin)
Add: 2-36-1, Nezu, Bunkyo-ku
Tel: 03-3823-8454

美味一服めぐり (Meguri)

Posted on December 10, 07 by seat

ばあばのヘルシーランチ、￥１０００。
Organic cafe serving very good Japanese set meals. It is on the second floor of a big kimono store. Many madams in kimono during lunch time! Healthy lunch set is 1000yen. You can choose plain rice, brown rice or takikomi-gohan which is rice cooked with mushroom, vegetables etc. This place is not vegetarian as they serve fish, such as maguro(tuna), though it is in healthy amount.

ばあばのヘルシー小漬け丼ランチ、￥１３００。
黒ごまプリン、￥６５０。
Lunch set including a small maguro rice bowl, 1300yen. Sesame seed pudding, 650yen.

The veggy dishes change everyday. I usually have brown rice but this day I had rice with Japanese chestnuts. If you order the set meal, you can order a small dessert for 300yen. I had the softcream with blueberry sauce. The softcream here has won some reward apparently. It is nice but I am not sure why it is so special….

京うどんセット、￥１０００。マロンソフト、￥８００。
Kyoto udon set with one veggy side dish, 1000yen. Udon on its own is 700yen.
Marron soft, 800yen. Expensive but quite nice with whole marron on top, marron bits here and there, and marron cream at the bottom.

薬膳スープ粥セット、￥１３００。
Rice porridge with many grains and chinese medicine ingredients, plus a salad, 1300yen.

白玉ぜんざいソフト、￥８５０。
Usual lunch set. “Shiratama Zenzai Soft”(850yen) is just okay though.

冷たいごまだれうどんセット、￥１０００。
Cold udon with sesame sauce, 1000yen.

Cheese cake, 650yen. Tastes normal, and still a bit frozen.

お茶漬け、￥７００。抹茶ア・フォガード、￥８００。
Ochatsuke, 700yen. For the standard lunch set, you can ask for second helping of the rice, but that is not available for ochatsuke. I didn’t know that and I ate one bowl of rice with half of the toppings and saved half for the next bowl. Ended up having to order another bowl of rice, which is, well, 200yen only.
Softcream with freshly made matcha, 800yen. This is nice.

The standard healthy lunch set is the best, both in quality and value. Soup udon is nice too. For desserts, all the softcream parfaits and the sesame seed pudding are good. Though I think the price of dessert is too high….I still order it everytime though….

Menu(J): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13.

美味一服めぐり (Meguri)
Add: 2F Ueno 1-20-11, Taito-ku
Tel: 03-3834-5154

Il Sale (イルサーレ)

Posted on December 8, 07 by seat

ミンチにした魚介のスパゲッティ。
1300yen lunch course includes appetizer, garlic bread, pasta, dessert and coffee. For the pasta, there are usually 4 choices: 1 garlic and olive oil sauce, 2 tomato sauce and 1 cream sauce. I had the minced seafood spaghetti in garlic and olive oil. It is very nice! The spaghetti is perfectly cooked with the right al dente. Dessert is tea mousse which is good too.

三色ピーマンのトマトソーススパゲッティ。
Back for the 1000yen pasta lunch, which includes a simple salad instead of an appetizer. I had the Tri-colour bell pepper spaghetti in tomato sauce. Dessert is espresso mousse. Both are good.

Very popular local Italian restaurant serving cheap and high quality lunches. The atmosphere is lively and the staff are very efficient(albeit a little bit too attentive perhaps).

btw, Yanesen(Yanaka + Nezu + Sendagi) is a pretty cool area for a walk.

Menu(J): 1, 2.
Il Sale (Near Sendagi station)
Add: 3-36-11 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku.
Tel: 03-3821-8810

Bistrot Vendange (ビストロヴァンダンジュ)

Posted on December 6, 07 by seat

若鶏もも肉とオレンジのサラダ。
豚肩ロース肉のトマトチーズのせ焼き。

栗のケーキ。
From a couple of lunch visits. 1000yen lunch includes appetizer and main. Hmm it is cheap for a reason. Chicken and orange salad was drowned in oily dressing. Grilled pork shoulder meat with tomato and cheese was a bit undercooked. I also got the chestnut cake for 400yen and coffee for 100yen. Bad move. Both were pretty horrible.

白身魚と小海老のテリーヌ。
牛腹身肉のステーキマデラ酒ソース。
Fish and prawn terrine(+200yen). Beef steak with Madeira wine sauce.
Both are just so-so.

栗のフラン鶏レバーのせ。
サーモンの香草ソース。
Chestnut flan with chicken liver. Salmon in herb sauce.
Again so-so and very greasy. Instead of bread(which is dry and no good), I asked for rice which made it easier to finish the oily food. Well it is just 1000yen…
Lunch menu(J): 1, 2, 3.
Bistrot Vendange
Add: 1-9-1 Ueno, Taito-ku
Tel: 03-3834-0722

鉄兵 (Teppei)

Posted on November 23, 07 by seat

サーロインステーキ定食（200g）、￥３４００。
Sirloin steak(200g) set, 3400yen. Comes with rice and miso soup. Soft and tender beef steak in simple soy sauce style. Not those shimofuri beef marbled with fat though. Unless you are a big eater, 150g(2660yen) set should be quite enough.

サーロインステーキ丼（１２０ｇ）、２３００円。
(Visted in Jan 2007)Read a couple of reviews about this Japanese steak place with opinions divided between “Despite the publicity from TV shows, the steak-don is nothing special” and “Best steak don in town”. Hmm hesitated for a few months but decided to give a try anyway. Turned out it was quite nice~. Very simple seasoning with just butter and soy sauce and pepper, served rare. The sirloin steak was very soft and tender. 120g sounds very little but it was actually okay. A huge huge bowl of rice to fill your stomach too(I couldn’t finish…).

牛バター焼き定食、￥９４０。
The much cheaper grilled beef with butter is not so tender but okay for the price.

Menu(J): 1, 2.

鉄兵 (Teppei)
Add: 2-15-15 Nezu, Bunkyo-ku
Tel: 03-3824-4919

谷中カフェ (Yanaka Cafe)

Posted on November 23, 07 by seat

Very tiny cafe offering healthy organic food. Lunch set with genmai(brown rice) is 1000yen, including coffee which is quite nice. You can choose either seafood or organic vegetables, but the veggy was sold out so I had the sauteed scallop. The portion is really small!! Taste-wise it is okay – the brown rice was quite soggy.

自家製２豆とそばがきのパフェ、ドリンクセットで１２００円。Super ultra healthy-tasting Japanese-style parfait. ^^;
Menu(J) here.
谷中カフェ(Jap. & Eng.)

pig out diary

tokyo food blog

Category Archives: 07:本郷・根津・湯島・上野