Ristorante La Barrique Tokyo (リストランテ ラ・バリック トウキョウ)

08042600510804260049
Lunch at this hidden and a bit out-of-the-way Italian restaurant. It is very near to Edogawabashi station and the exact location is not that difficult to find, but even you are right in front of it, you will stil hesitate if it is the right place cos the front just looks like somebody’s house and the tiny sign is impossible to spot. In fact, the building used to be the owner’s house.
08042600560804260060
This is the waiting room. We booked the private room on the second floor(used to be the study room) but the main dining room is beautifully decorated with Japanese-style screens made from paper and wood. We had the 4500yen lunch course(plus service charge 10%).
Amuse is warm mini bread with pickled cabbage and ham.
08042600620804260067
Second amuse(?). White asparagus sorbet, uni and consomme jelly.
08042600640804260066
ミントの香るトリッパのトマト煮 グラタン仕立て。
Trippa in tomato stew, gratin style. Baroro.
08042600690804260072
ホワイトアスパラガスと燻製した生ハムのスパゲッティ。
馬ヒレ肉のロースト バローロソース。
White asparagus and smoked ham spaghetti.
Roasted horse meat in Barolo sauce. The yellow cubes on the side is polenta.
08042600750804260077

0804260074Chocolate creme brulee. Grappa.

Every single course was absolutely delicious. You just can’t imagine from the rather boring looks that the taste can be so good. The pasta looks like an ordinary carbonara, and the trippa looks like what you can get in bistro or even yoshoku places, but once you put them in your mouth, you are in for a surprise – they are nothing short of impressive. The horse meat is highly recommended by my friend who is a regular customer of this restaurant – unbelievably tender meat with very delicious sauce made from Barolo wine. To go with the meat, I also had a glass of Barolo which is amazing – completely wiped out my not-so-pleasant image of Italian wine. Apparently it is supposed to be really luxurious wine…of course I had never heard of it until that day. ^^;;; I don’t recall having an Italian meal that is so refined(not that I have been to that many Italian restaurants!). I had sparkling wine, red wine, grappa(included in lunch), and also coffee at the end – about 8000yen in total.

Lunch menu here.
More pics from my friend’s review here(J).

Ristorante La Barrique Tokyo (リストランテ ラ・バリック トウキョウ)
Add: 2-12-2 Suido, Bunkyo-ku
Tel: 03-3943-4928

shigotouma (仕事馬)

07032700490703270038
Many visits to one of my favourite lunch spot! Specialised in horse meat but their lunch menu has a large variety.
07032700400703270043
新鮮桜肉のユッケ丼、コチュジャン風味のピリ辛スープ添え、¥900。
Fresh (raw) horse meat rice bowl. Very nice with sesame oil seasoning and lots of Korean Namul. Comes with Korean spicy soup that you pour into the rice after you finish half of it.
07032901220703290124

07032901310703290135
窯焼き250gステーキ味噌ダレ丼、¥850。
Donburi with steak and miso. Many slices of beef which are soft but a bit tough to chew. Though the miso soup(100yen) is very good with lots of veggy in it.
07041900170704190019
馬肉ボロネーゼ、¥850。
Horse meat bolognese. Huge portion! The pasta is a bit soft but the sauce has a generous amount of meat. The Japanese-style minestrone(100yen) is good as ever. Also comes with a big salad(same as above), pumpkin pudding and coffee.
07051500210705150026
馬肉のレアハンバーグ 和風香味ソース、¥850。中華スープ、¥100。
Horse meat rare hamburger. Chinese soup. Both very good and healthy-tasting.
07052300010705230003
具たくさんハヤシライス、¥850。けんちん汁、¥100。
Hayashi rice. Kenchin-jiru. Even a simple Hayashi rice tastes so good in this place~~
07052300050703290121
Chocolate pudding.
0812250002
Fresh (raw) horse meat rice bowl with grated mountain yam.
Menu here.
shigotouma

桜なべ中江@三ノ輪 (Sakura-nabe Nakae)

061126 001061126 017
Dinner party at a traditional Japanese restaurant more than 100 years old. Speciality is horse meat, also called “sakura meat” in Japan.
061126 024061126 020
馬肉の佃煮。
Horse meat Tsukudani.
061126 025061126 030
馬刺し:霜降りと ロース 。 タルタルステーキ。
Two kinds of horse meat sashimi – more expensive shimofuri(meat marbled with fat), and loin meat. Somehow the cheaper loin meat is actually nicer. Both are sweet and tender.
Tartar steak – ground raw horse meat, with sesame oil, and a raw egg yolk. Very good. The sesame oil and the egg yolk combined to give the lean meat a smoother texture and a nice fragrance.
061126 031061126 053
馬刺しにぎり寿司。馬肉串焼き。
Horse meat sushi is incredible, while the grilled horse meat skewer is no good – the meat is too hard.
061126 034061126 039
桜鍋。ザク: ねぎ、しらたき、麩。
Sakura nabe: horse meat sukiyaki. Tender and juicy, no need to cook too long, dip into a bowl of raw egg before you eat. Also added to the nabe are leek, shirataki and fu. The warishita is miso and soy sauce and zarame sugar.
061126 054061126 059
ステーキ。お新香。
Steak. Thick cut and tender. Homemade pickles are so good you can eat them alone.
061126 062061126 064
Eggs are added to the leftover soup, and you are supposed to scoop the sweet full-of-meat-flavour egg and add onto the rice. It is so yummy!
Dessert is Matcha ice-cream.
中江