Bistro La Ciboulette (ラ・シブレット＠浅草橋)

Posted on August 15, 08 by seat

カツオのタルタル。にんじんのムースにウニとコンソメジュレ。
From the 5500yen “omakase” course. Katsuo Tartare on chicory. Carrot mousse, uni and consomme jelly. Pretty common combination but the generous amount of uni is unusual. The mousse is very delicious with natural sweetness from vegetables that actually outshines the uni completely.

フォアグラとイチジク、バルサミコソース。
Foie gras and fig in Balsamic vinegar sauce. Fig is delicious, but the foie gras could be better. The foie gras I had in my last visit here was much nicer(see tag) though it was from a la carte menu.

金目鯛とホタテ。シャンパングラニテ。
Kinmedai and scallop. The orange paste on the side is spicy. Big portion for a fish course in a 5-course dinner. Love the scallop. Nice “granite”(sorbet) with strong champagne flavour that got my non-drinker friend a little high.

ロースト沖縄ポーク。タルトスリーズとフランボワーズのソルベ。
Roasted pork is a bit dry. But the dessert is a real treat. Rich crunchy tart with two kinds of cherries – American cherry and Japanese Satou-nishiki(佐藤錦). Also raspberry sorbet on the side. After hearing my raving about the amazing “Canele” in this place, my friend requested for it when she phoned to reserve(a month in advance). I wish I could buy a whole lot of it…one is not enough!

A glass of sparkling wine, a glass of red wine, about 7000yen per person. The food is in general very good. Value is fantastic. Since it is only the chef cooking everything himself, if you go in a group of more than 3 people, you have to order the omakase course. Having tried both a la carte and omakase, I think a la carte is much more satisfying.

Bistro La Ciboulette (ラ・シブレット＠浅草橋)
Add: 2-27-5, Asakusabashi, Taito-ku.
Tel: 03-3863-6232

Bon Chemin (ボンシュマン)

Posted on July 1, 08 by seat

Delicious and hot homemade bread which kept coming. Must have had about four…
Chilled carrot potage.

Panfried fresh foie gras and foie gras terrine. A slice of toast at the bottom and homemade fig jam on the side. The terrine is soooooo good, even better than the fresh foie gras.
Baby lamb in Anchovy cream sauce. The lamb is very tender and soft. Surprisingly huge portion for a cute restaurant like this. Moussaka(lamb and aubergine) on the side is also good.

My friend’s pork cassoulet.
Matcha rollcake with black beans in black honey cream sauce. Just a piece of rollcake for dessert was a bit disappointing at first but it was very smooth and delicious so I was satisfied at the end.

Lunch course is 3000yen but the foie gras appetizer has a 1500yen additional charge. Glass wine is about 800yen. Cheaper 1800yen lunch course is also available. I like the food, the interior which makes you feel very at home and the friendly service here.

It is located halfway between Gakugeidaigaku(学芸大学) and Yuutenji(祐天寺). There is a very cute cake shop called Patisserie SOURIRE in the same block and is a must check.

Bon Chemin
Add: 2-40-5 Gohongi, Meguro-ku
Tel: 03-3791-3900

Aux Gourmands (オー・グルマン)

Posted on April 24, 08 by seat

あつあつ！内臓と野菜のココット焼きスープ。
From the 4200yen lunch course which includes amuse-bouche, two appetizers, main dish, dessert and coffee.
The giblets and vegetables soup is my friend’s appetizer.

本日のジビエ（蝦夷鹿・ホロホロ鳥・フォアグラ）のパテ・アン・クルート。
フォアグラのステーキ、ブルーチーズのリゾット添え（＋５２５円）。
My two appetizers. Pate en Croute with venison, guinea fowl and foie gras.
Foie gras steak with blue cheese risotto – this really hit the spot~~XD

茨城チェリーポークの天火焼き、マスタードソース。
Ibaraki cherry pork in mustard sauce. The pork is very soft with thin layers of fat streaked with the meat(marbling) so that each bite is juicy with well-balanced amount of meat and fat. Dessert is pear sorbet and honey ice-cream.

This place is all for meat-lovers! A bit on the salty side but it is okay with me. The chef used to be a boxer apparently(and he does look like one – very friendly guy though!), which explains the meat-centric menu. He was telling us that he always feel sad when female customers can’t finish all the food on their plates(what a waste!) so he was glad that we finished everything. ^^;;;

Only opens for lunch on Saturday; lunch menu is basically the same as dinner menu but only slightly smaller in portions(not small at all). The cheaper lunch course is 2940yen consisting of one appetizer instead of two, but the portion for each dish is a bit bigger. The restaurant is about 10mins walk from Roppongi station. It was just us, and another table of two on the Saturday we went, which got me a bit worried at first. Turned out the food was good!

Aux Gourmands
Add: 3-4-14 Azabudai, Minato-ku
Tel: 03-5114-0195

Ristorante Tanicha (タニーチャ)

Posted on January 25, 08 by seat

The restaurant is supposed to be 10mins walk from Roppongi or Nogizaka station, but it is so much of a hideaway in a nondescript residential area that, even with the help of a map and direction instructions from the restaurant staff through the phone, it still took us 20 mins to find it. Quite surprised that this obscure little restaurant was filled with salarymen on a Friday evening.

From 5000yen dinner course. You can choose the appetizer, pasta, main dish and dessert from a large variety of choices – took us more than half an hour to decide!
Amuse-bouche: Ankimo terrine. It is like an izakaya snack, a bit bitter. Should have ordered beer instead of champagne.

フォアグラと洋ナシのソテー、フランボアーズのヴィレコット風味。
Foie gras and pear saute, with raspberry vinegar(+600yen). I always end up ordering foie gras…but oh this is so good! The combination of sweet pear+foie gras+cheese is absolute heaven.
Sample of the handmade pasta available was brought to us to choose.

One mouthful of simple spaghetti with cheese. It was nice but I was very puzzled about what it was for…I can understand a simple pasta at the end of the course in case you are still hungry, but right after the appetizer? I later realised it was a good idea because the next pasta course was a looooooong wait…
Piping hot homemade bread.

アニョロッティーニ”Tanicha”風。
カカオを打ち込んだカネロニ野鹿のラグー。
Tanicha-style Agnolottini. It is filled with four kinds of meat – pork, beef, chicken and hare.
Cocoa Cannelloni rolled with Venison Ragu.
My friend and I chose different pasta and the staff split them into half to let us try them both, so the pics show half portion. Both are so good, so rich with complex flavours of meat, cheese and herb. I wish the portion were bigger though~ we were desperately trying to cut each piece of pasta into half so that we could enjoy it longer, while all I wanted to do was to stuff my face with a huge bowl of it….^^;;

金曜Special「タニーチャローストの日」料理。チョコレートのスフレ。
Friday is Special “Tanicha Roast day”. Okinawa “AGU” pork roasted with herb. The madam brought the whole chuck to show us at the beginning. It tastes so much like Cantonese roasted pig apart from the herb. Served simple with mustard and green pepper. The skin is the hard crispy kind. 90% of my cut is pure fat though, with a little white meat near the bone. Dessert is Chocolate souffle. It doesn’t look like souffle but it is nice and light with chocolate sauce in the middle. It is hot from the oven.

Glass wine is 1200~1500yen. I had a glass of red and it was really nice. Plus a glass of Rose champagne(1000yen), extra charge for the foie gras, 10% service charge, my bill was about 9000yen. I would say it is a bit expensive, especially the portion is really tiny. But then the restaurant is in a posh area. The whole course took us 4 hours, even we were slow on deciding the menu, delivery of food was simply too slow. The madam actually apologised to us for the delay.

Menu(J): 1, 2, 3.
Ristorante Tanicha
Add: 1-5-16 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku
Tel: 03-5775-6050

L’Artemis Petillante (ラルテミス・ペティアント)

Posted on January 19, 08 by seat

5250yen 4-course dinner has the choice of either: 2 appetizers+main+dessert, or appetizer+fish+meat+dessert. I had the later. There is also a 3990yen course which is the basic 3-course meal: 1 appetizer, 1 main and 1 dessert. The portion for each dish is slightly bigger for the 3 course dinner compared to the 4-course one.

フォアグラのポワレといちじくのロースト（＋６３０円）。
Chilled corn soup.
Foie gras and roasted fig(+630yen).

本日の魚のポワレ（カレイ）丸ナスの厚切りローストとシェリーヴィネガーとケッパーのソースで。
フランス産小鴨のヘーゼルナッツ焼き（＋６３０円）。
Pan-fried “karei” flat fish, roasted aubergine, sherry vinegar and caper sauce.
Grilled baby duck with hazelnut(+630yen).

本日のスフレ（洋ナシ）。
Pear Souffle and pear sorbet.

The food is not impressive but not bad in general. The roasted fig is really nice though the duck could be better. Many of the tempting choices in the menu have additional charges, like the foie gras and the duck. But the boring-sounding options without additional charges actually look good too so maybe it is best to stick to the basic options for better value. Tax is included and the service charge is 7%. Unfortunately the service is far from great – try to get the manager to explain the menu cos the waitress is not so helpful. Glass wine is less 800~900yen. Location is a bit inconvenient – about 10 mins from Harajuku station if you don’t get lost.

Menu(J): 1, 2, 3, 4.
L’Artemis Petillante
Add: 2-31-7 Jingumae, Shibuya-ku
Tel: 03-5786-0220

Apicius （アピシウス）

Posted on August 23, 07 by seat

イイダコのトマト煮。
エスカルゴのラビオリ野菜のフリットと共に。
Iidako(octopus) in tomato sauce.
Ravioli of escargot with vegetable frit.

フォワグラのポワレグリーンピースのトリュフ風味煮込み添え。
仔羊のロースト蕪のコンフィ添えローズマリー風味。
Saute of foie gras with stewed green peas, truffle flavour.
Roasted lamb with turnip confit, rosemary flavour.

Mango mousse, cheese cake and Saint Honoré.

Had the lunch course B(5000yen), but changed the meat dish from beef steak to roasted lamb which is the main dish option of the lunch course A(8000) with an additional charge of 1000yen. Also added the foie gras(4260yen) from the a la carte menu. Four of us shared a bottle champagne and it was about 15,000yen for me. The lamb was soft and tender but had a bit too much fat. The rest was good but could be better, especially the foie gras. Even though the a la carte menu sounds so tempting and hard to resist(in fact everyone in my table changed this added that…no one stuck to the basic lunch course ^^;;), value-wise it is not so great. The environment is nice though – we stayed for like 4 hours. ^^;;
Lunch menu here.
Apicius
Add: B1, 1-9-4 Yurakucho, Chiyoda-ku
Tel: 03-3214-1361

Au gout du jour （オーグードゥジュール＠麹町）

Posted on January 28, 07 by seat

Chef’s lunch course 6300yen.
ホタテ、カニ、つぶ貝ののコンソメジュレ。
Scallop, crab and Tsubugai shellfish consomme jelly.

カリフラワーのブルーテトリュフ風味。
Cauliflower velouté with truffle. This is so nice!! The fragrance of the truffle is astonishing. Such a big piece too. The cauliflower soup is super sweet.
Completely forgot what the fish was…not much impression taste-wise either.

鴨胸肉とフォアグラのポアレ白隠元豆のバルサミコヴィネガー煮込み。
マスカルポーネチーズケーキ。
Duck breast and foie gras with white kidney beans in Balsamic vinegar sauce. At first I was not too excited about Balsamic sauce and kidney beans, but this is absolutely delicious! The duck is tender and foie gras is crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside.
For dessert I had mascarpone cheese cake. A bit light to my taste, but not bad.
Service is attentive but not too intrusive. One of my friends brought a cake to the restaurant and the staff cut and served the cake after the course dessert. Very accommodating.
Au gout du jour

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