Monthly Archives: April 2011

Dim sum at China Moon, Shinjuku

by Bianca

Good chinese food is something you wont’t easily find in Tokyo. Good dim sum is even harder to come by. I have tried many all the way to Yokohama Chinatown, but this little chinese restaurant tucked away on the 3rd floor of the keith ton building in East Shinjuku has some of the best dim sum I have tried in Japan. Their selections are plenty and the dim sums are tasty. Make sure you try their dumplings which are absolutely delicious. And having an Asian tongue with a love for all things spicy, it helps that they have a lovely chili paste which they call ‘mustard’ to go with the dim sum.

CHINA MOON

Keith Ton 3F, 3-28-7, Shinjuku, Tokyo 160-0022

Phone : 03-3226-8957

Price : $$

A lovely sakura lunch at LA LUNA ROSSA, Nakameguro

by Bianca
This is one Italian restaurant to consider if you are planning to have a lunch or dinner with lovely views of the blooming sakura trees.

View from the window

During Sakura season, this tiny restaurant in the Megurogawa area only serves two set menus. The first menu is a two course set menu that costs around 3000 yen and includes a very lovely and fresh orange salmon for appetizer, a very hearty and delicious pasta with meat sauce for main dish, dessert of the day and coffee/tea.

The orange salmon appetizer

For 5000 yen you get a three course menu with all of the above and a roasted duck for main course. They did not have an english menu but the waiters did manage to somewhat explain to us what was in the menu. He started to flap his hands when he came to the roasted duck part, I thought we were going to get a pigeon.

The meat pasta

Anyway, we did have a lovely lunch with a wonderful view of the cherry blossom trees framed outside their windows. Lunch was quick, service was pleasant and food was good. From all the dishes we tried yesterday the pasta with meat sauce was the best and I will definitely go back again to try whatever other options they have on their menu.

The roasted duck

Price : $$

La Luna Rossa

Nakameguro 2-5-23, Meguro, Tokyo
Phone : 03 3793 4310

ONYASAI shabu-shabu : Roppongi

by Bianca

I wonder why I haven’t stumbled upon this shabu-shabu restaurant any sooner. It seems to be very popular and has branches in Roppongi, Shibuya and Meguro. But everything at its own time, right?

 

Unlike other traditional shabu-shabu houses, Onyasai serves four types of soup bases to boil your meat and vegetables in : spicy (like Tom yam), soy, sukiyaki and clear (with seaweed). You are allowed 2 choices of soup base. I tried the spicy and clear soup base. The spicy one was absolutely delicious.

A friend also suggested that we order a la carte instead of all-you-can-eat as they serve better beef, so we ordered some vegetables, and their best beef which comes in orders of 2 and costs about 980 yen. I think I finished 4 huge pieces by myself. The minced chicken is also a must.

We ordered some noodles at the end and ate it with the broth that now tasted absolutely delightful with all the fat from our beef now swimming in it.

My verdict for this establishment : will definitely be back. In fact, I’m sure it will become one of my favorite places. Food is good, the prices reasonable and Oh and they open late, till midnight on weekdays and till 4 am on weekends. Pretty cool, right ?

Price : $$

ONYASAI

3rd floor, Kondo Bldg 2, 7-13-16 Roppongi

03-5775-5081

Sarashina Horii soba in Azabujuban

by Bianca

We’ve been looking around for a nice little soba restaurant for awhile and finally decided on this restaurant in Azabujuban after browsing the internet. It had an english menu on its website which made things a lot easier.

Tempura soba

Oyako soba

I had an oyako soba which is a soba with chicken and egg which I thought was decent and the tempura soba my husband had with extra kakiage on the side was very good.

Tamagoyaki

Definitely order the tamagoyaki or japanese egg omelette which was extremely delicious. I think I would go back to this restaurant if whenever I’d find myself in the mood for soba.

Price : $

SARASHINA HORII
Address: 3-11-4 Moto Azabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Tel: 03-3403-3401
Website: http://www.sarashina-horii.com/en/
Credit Card: No
Open: 11:30am-8:30pm

CANAL CAFE Iidabashi

by Bianca

 

Sitting beside a large body of water in the Iidabashi area of Tokyo or also known as the “French Quarter”, this cafe is the perfect place to spend a glorious spring afternoon. Not too many places in Tokyo boast views like this one, and during sakura season, the view is just heavenly.

During the day, Canal cafe serves simple dishes but at dinner time it becomes a real restaurant serving Italian food. I have yet to try their dinner menu.

However, if you are visiting during the day, grab a seat at one of their table or bar stools and secretly giggle at the couples who attempt to have a romantic afternoon in a row boat and then discover that rowing is not as easy at it looks. Very entertaining. Also watch the huge goldfishes drive to frenzy as you try to feed them some fish food.

 

The only downside of the cafe (a major one in my book) is that they don’t serve any latte. The only coffee on their menu is the Original Coffee and the American Coffee which is the Original Coffee with a lot more water in it. It tastes a bit stale. The muffin we tried were very dry, it was almost a cookie. If you really need to munch on something sweet then go for the cinnamon danish. And you’d probably be better off drinking some tea with it.

All that said, the atmosphere of the cafe definitely beats whatever stale coffee and mediocre food they serve. For one afternoon, I can survive on just tea and dry muffins. Its all good.

Price : $

Canal Cafe
3260-8068
Kagurazaka 1-9.
Open 11am-10:30pm (LO). Closed Mondays.

 

Afternoon coffee : Cafe de F.O.B in Harajuku

by Bianca

This is the first time I ever tried this little cafe nestled behind the famed La Foret building in Harajuku. It feels like you are sitting in a little cosy glass house with its windows that almost go up to the ceiling. Their french-cafe-style chairs make a nice comfortable seat for you sit in while sipping your black coffee or cafe au-lait, made like the french do it (milk and coffee separate) and not like the Americans do it (more like a latte). Today we tried the french toast which was actually very good.

The french toast

However, if you are not a smoker, don’t go sit in their main dining area but choose a seat outside. I almost suffocated myself with all the smoke that was circulating in that little glass house.

Would I go back ? Not so sure. I’m a fan of the American latte. But maybe I’ll return for the french toast.

Lunch : SUSHI MIDORI at Meguro atre

by Bianca

The sushi belt

I did get an “Are you sure it’s safe to eat sushi right now?” from my friend when I suggested this sushi place for lunch today. I gave her an affirmative yes. I’ve gotten pretty exhausted at trying to determine which foods or drinks are radiation free and just decided to surrender my faith to God, or more likely the Japanese government who have confirmed that all food sold in restaurants and supermarkets are radiation free.

The delicious enggawa aburi

So, sushi it is. This bustling conveyer belt sushi restaurant nestled in the back of Meguro atre 2 has always been one of my favorites. Expect long lines during lunch hours but the wait is usually not too long. I love their assortment of aburi (burned) sushi and a definite ‘must try’ is their enggawa aburi which is to die for. Ask the waiters to order it for you if you can’t pick it out from the belt.

And the best thing of all, this plethora of deliciousness comes extra cheap. Once, after a group of five of us cleaned up 20 plates of sushi including some of their most expensive items like toro and uni, we payed a mere 8000 yen.