From a couple of visits.
Matcha ice-cream and matcha jelly. Hot Matcha and milk(sweet). Both are really nice~.
Matcha and steamed matcha bun with red bean inside. Matcha parfait.
Matcha Anmitsu. Hot Houjicha milk – this is slightly sweet, very nice!
Have been to the Aoyama branch before(see tag). This branch is on the 6th floor of Yurakucho Seibu.
HAYASHIYA CHAEN
This famous Italian restaurant is much more casual and smaller than I had expected. 1890yen lunch course includes salad, appetizer, pasta(85g) and coffee. There are so many choices available for appetizer and pasta and they all sound creative and tempting.
茹で豚の筍のグラティナート。 とっておき、生うにのスパゲッティ。
Boiled pork and bamboo shoot gratinato(gratin?). A bit salty but quite good.
Uni spaghetti. An extra charge of 840yen for this choice. The spaghetti is very salty from the first bite…to the point that you suspect the chef has accidentally added the salt twice. Quite spicy too, while not much uni taste unless you eat the uni on its own, which is creamy and sweet.
The menu says the course will take 1~1.5hr which is quite a long time for a pasta lunch, but indeed the food came so slowly that by the time we had our coffee, 2 hrs had past. The service is just okay. The Japanese waitress’ attitude was a little rude when I asked her about the menu.
生しらすと蒸し野菜。
根野菜とトマトのポタージュ、ポーチドエッグのせ。
Came back again to try the 3150yen lunch course which consists of 2 appetizers, 2 kinds of pasta and coffee. The pasta is slightly smaller portion(65g) for each plate.
Raw shirasu(baby fish) and steamed vegetables. I thought it was going to be warm but it was a cold appetizer. A bit too strong pickle taste for me…very sour and bitter.
Root vegetables and tomato potage with poached egg. Somehow the potage is not so hot while the egg is overcooked.
鯵とフェンネルのスパゲティ、からすみと。
キャベツ畑のスパゲッティ。
Spaghetti with Aji(Horse mackerel) and Fennel and karasumi. Quite spicy!
Spaghetti with cabbage. There is some cream cheese on top. The cabbage is fresh and sweet. Apparently a specialty of the chef.
The appetizers are pretty normal, the pasta are nicer. This time the pasta are not overly salty like last time, but they are still saltier than what I would call “just right”. My friend whom I went with said the overall taste in this place was too strong for her that she had to drink a lot of water. Maybe we should have ordered wine. Also not quite al dente. Having complaining so much, the pasta are tasty in an unconventional sort of way. The table next to us ordered Uni pasta and it looked totally different from what I had last time! The uni was made into the sauce and mixed well with the spaghetti, like how it should be done!
Lunch menu(J) here and here.
Goutte d’or et Crattini
Add: 2-2-3, Marunouchi, chiyoda-ku
Tel: 03-6212-6882
Chocolate tart is rich yet not too sweet. Very nice! Herb tea “Spice” is good too.
Dessert plate with nut souffle(in the cup) and chocolate souffle. The chocolate is not as rich as I had expected, and the souffle is not that fluffy. Tried the other herb tea “Fruit”. I like “Spice” better. This place is a chocolatier and the menu offers chocolate chaud drink(about 1300yen) and you can also pick the chocolates from the showcase and eat in the cafe. Prepare to pay at least 2000yen for a dessert and a drink though. The shop is inside Shimaru building.
Chocolatier Palet D’or
Very nice view of the old red brick facade of Tokyo station.
The bread is very good.
軽く温めたサーモンの軽い燻製、ゴマ風味、山葵の冷たいクリームソース。
Amuse: Pork pate puff.
Appetizer: Warm smoked salmon with sesame seed, wasabi cream sauce. Delicious! Couldn’t taste the wasabi though.
ゆっくり火を通した長州赤鶏の胸肉、タブナードソース。
Main: Chicken breast in Tapenade sauce. Very tasteless and dry meat…I couldn’t finish it.
Dessert: Strawberry roll cake. Specialty of the patisserie. Super good.
Lunch course is 3500yen. This restaurant is under the same management as Au gout du jour and Merveille(see tag). Service is warm and friendly. The food is not super impressive but the value is not bad. After coffee, herb tea was also served. The restaurant is quite small and is inside Shinmaru building, right next to igrek.
Menu 1, 2.
Nouvelle Ère
カニとアボカドのタルタル。
3200yen lunch course. Glass champagne is 1300yen, half glass is 800yen. The bread is so-so.
Appetizer: Crab and avocado Tartar, with tomato and basil sauce. Very good! Close-up pic here.
鶏肉と木のこ、じゃが芋のグランメール風。ガトーショコラ・クラシック。
Main: Chicken and mushroom in a Cocotte. Quite nice but a bit salty. Dessert: Classic gateau chocolate is normal.
The original shop is in Aoyama and is much more expensive. This branch in Shinmaru building is more casual. A lot of dishes come in Cocotte…even a cold salad.
Le Remois
コリアンダーで風味づけしたサーモンといろいろ野菜のコンポジション。
アスパラのヴルテ 市場から届いた海老のポワレ添え。
From the 5000yen lunch course.
Salmon with coriander and vegetables.
Asparagus Velouté with prawns.
鴨の雌雛のポワレとエシャロットのフォンドュ添え 香草風味のｼﾞｭー。
紅茶とフルーツのゼリー寄せ、ガナッシュケーキ、フランボワーズアイスとマカロン、マンゴーソース添え。
Pan-fried duck in eshallot sauce, with spinach ravioli and mushroom saute.
Tea jelly, ganache cake, framboise sorbet, mango macaron and mango sauce.
The food was just okay. The duck was already cold when it came out. Portion was tiny. Quite expensive for the quality. Apparently butter and cream are not heavily used and more emphasis are put on the vegetables. I guess it will be perfect for the elderly…
It is on the 5th floor of Shin-marunouchi building, which actually opened on the day we went for lunch. ^^;;;;; It opened at 11am and we booked for 12am….you can imagine how crowded it was. We had to queue to get into the building, then another queue for the elevator/escalator. People people people EVERYWHERE! No time and no strength to take pics of the interior, just the pretty reporter here and the massive queue here. The view from the restaurant is superb, overlooking Tokyo station. Not taken from the restaurant I had lunch but the view is similar(here). After lunch we explored all the floors and found many tempting restaurants….and have already booked two restaurants on the spot. So I guess I will be coming back again…^^;;
igrek MARUNOUCHI
Lunch at a luxurious “Grand Maison”(I wonder if this is a Japanese term?). 8000yen lunch course.
殻入りスクランブルエッグ キャビアと雲丹のハーモニー。
小笠原産 海亀のコンソメスープ（＋１９００円）。
Scrambled egg stuffed in eggshell with caviar and sea urchin. Maybe a little too filling for a starter.
Ogasawara green sea turtle consomme soup(+1900yen). This is a chef’s specialty that my friend requested to add to the course. Nice smell. Particular taste. Good for skin apparently.
手長海老と冬のきのこ カネロニ仕立て。
狩猟鴨のビトック サルミソース。
Cannellonis of scamp and mushrooms. The sauce is made from prawn. Quite good.
“Bitoke” of hunted bird with salmis sauce. If I had known that Bitoke meant hamburger I would have chosen a different course. ^^;; The paste on the side is chestnut.
5 different wagon desserts for you to choose. Normally they don’t serve “a bit of everything”, but the restaurant was quite empty that day so they made an exception. Mango mousse is nice.
This week’s lunch menu here.
Apicius