Monthly Archives: April 2012

MIYABI YAKINIKU

by Bianca

Now, if you are from Indonesia, you will probably have a smile on your face right now because the name if this yakiniku restaurant in Roppongi is the same as a Japanese porn star who is absolutely huge in Indonesia. She may be relatively unknown in Japan, but in Indonesia, she’s a mega star. Of course she probably has nothing to do with this restaurant I’m going to write about, but still, I entered Miyabi with a smile.

The beef in Miyabi is cut a little bit more chunkier than what we are used to at other yakiniku restaurants. For first timers, it’s better to order their sampler set where they present you with different parts of the cow.

After trying the different parts, it’s a good idea to take notes of their names so you can order what you like next time.

After barbecuing the beef, you eat it with one of the two dipping sauces they provide you or with some wasabi. One sauce is a vinegar sauce which is good with the fatty meat and the other is a sweet sauce which I love.

 

The beef was delicious and another good thing about this place is that it’s not that expensive. It costs less than my favorite Jumbo yakiniku. The special set cost about 4,500 yen per peson but they have many courses for less.

Price : $$

Address Five plaza building, 5-18-21, Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 106-0032Map
Phone 03-5561-2929

Tempura with a twist at YOTARO, ROPPONGI

by Bianca

I was completely charmed by this lovely family-runTempura restaurant in Roppongi. Their tempura was somewhat different from what I’ve been used to. The batter is really thin and soft, lacking the crunchiness of other Tempura meals I’ve tried, yet it was deliciously different.

The father prepared our meal, while his wife served us. His son, who spoke English, worked in the kitchen. He told us he was sent to study cooking in Kyoto by his parents and has been a chef for 7 Years which is still short for Japanese standards. He is planning to take over the restaurant in the future.

There is no menu, so we just obliged with what the chef had to offer. Our first course was some other worldly anago (sea eel) sushi. Absolutely divine.

Anago sushi

It was followed by some sashimi…

And a little surprise, some deep-fried bread with shrimp paste inside. It tasted oh so delicious. Now this dish was some crunchy perfection.

Deep fried bread with shrimp paste

After that came the series of tempura. The usual shrimp, squid, fish and vegetables. If you take a close look at the pictures you might notice the difference of texture in the tempura batter.

Shrimp tempura

 

The vegetables

At the end of the meal, we were presented with their famous ‘fish rice’. They steam your rice with a whole fish in it and then take the bones out and mix the fish meat in your rice.

The famous Yotaro fish rice

For dessert, we had a very interesting waffle with some sticky mochi-like paste inside. This was prepared by the son who told us he created this dish without using any flour or egg. The key ingredient in this dessert was lotus and green tea. It was the perfect desert. Unique, light and refreshingly delicious.

The dessert

So, if you are looking for some tempura with a twist, I would definitely recommend this restaurant.

Price : $$$

Address 4-11-4 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Telephone 03-3405-5866
Home Page http://www.roppongi-yotaro.com (In Japanese)
Business Hours 5:30pm-10:00pm(L.O); Closed on Sun

The new HANDS CAFE in Shibuya

by Bianca

It’s about time Tokyu Hands opened a cafe in their Shibuya store. The cafe is conveniently named Hands cafe. Now, I won’t have to stand idly in a corner for hours while my guests shop their massive store. Now, I can just head up to the 7th floor and enjoy a cup of coffee while waiting.

The interior of the cafe was a pleasant surprise. Unlike the rather sterile and supermarket-like interior of the store, the cafe was warm with lots of wood and accessories that created a rather cozy and homey feel. It somehow reminded me of the Muji cafe. There was a round table for share in the middle and some tables on the side.

Outside, a small terrace adorned with cactuses for sale added some intrigue to the interior.

The menu was simple, composed of some sandwiches and waffles, and the prices were reasonable. I tried the tuna sandwich and banana waffle which was good, as was the coffee.

I actually really like the place. A perfect place to hangout in Shibuya.

Price : $

12-18 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

OMAE XEX Teppanyaki

by Bianca

I’ve written about this restaurant before in biancasuitcase.com as one of ‘must try’ restaurants in Tokyo last year. I have been frequenting this restaurant since it was still under the watchful eyes of iron chef Morimoto and named Morimoto XEX. It has since changed chefs and is now named after chef Omae. It has however been awhile since I’ve visited Omae XEX.

The cool, dark dungeon-like interior of this Roppongi establishment is still the same with two large teppanyaki counters and a table that seats about 10. There was however some changes in their menu. They have included a vegetarian menu which seemed rather strange to me for a teppanyaki restaurant , but noticing a lot of foreign guests at the restaurant they must have succumbed to the pressure. The chef recommendation menu that used to be my favorite had somewhat changed. The set menu starts at 6,800 yen and goes up to 18,000 yen for the highest grade of Kobe beef. They do however have an a la carte menu which is pretty reasonable.

My first course was strangely enough a mango sorbet. Sorbet before the main course is common, but at the beginning of the meal ?. Well, it tasted alright so I gulped it all down.

Then I had a choice of appetizers. I chose the vegetable dip with crab miso sauce which is always delicious. The crab miso sauce is simply divine. I could lick it all up if it didn’t make me look stupid.

The vegetable dip with crab miso sauce.

My husband chose their shrimp tartare signature dish which never fails and is a ‘must try’ item on the menu.

Shrimp tartare

Next course : Seafood of the day and yesterday it was scallop and mackerel in a creamy sauce.

Mackarel and scallop, seafood of the day

And then it was time for the beef. I chose the dry aging beef this time and was really surprised at how good it was. The meat was tender, juicy, light and really, really good. I couldn’t help comparing it to the most expensive steak I had at Aragawa the night before and had to admit that this was much better.

The dry aging beef

The meat came with some delicious sweet roasted onion and a small bowl of mashed potatoes.

The mashed potato

As the last part of the meal you had a choice of garlic rice or cold udon. I chose the rice and finished the whole thing in seconds.

The garlic rice

And to end things on a sweet note, some lovely, juicy Japanese melon, unlike any other melon in the world.

Japanese melon desert

My verdict stays the same. Omae XEX is still a ‘must try’ restaurant in Tokyo.

Price : $$$

Address: I.K.N. Bldg., B1/1F/2F, 7-21-19 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Telephone: 03-3479-0065
Hours: 6pm- 12am (LO 11pm);

ARAGAWA, one of the most expensive restaurants in the world

by Bianca

In 2006, Forbes.com listed Aragawa as one of the most expensive restaurants in the world. It probably still is. So naturally I was excited to try this restaurant and see what all the hype was about.

The high cost of the meal definitely doesn’t show in the decor. I found the interior of the small restaurant with about 5 tables to be rather outdated, but some might call it vintage. Wooden walls and ceilings, classic wallpaper and red velvet chairs dominate the scene.

Our enquiry to bring our own bottle of wine was declined by the restaurant, yet when we asked for some wine that we wanted, they were out of stock. Twice. They had our third choice.

Our first course was some beluga caviar with some crispy toast and celery on the side.

Then came the home-made smoked salmon which was exquisite, unlike any smoked salmon I’ve tasted before.

Then came some fresh asparagus. Good, but nothing too special.

And of course the star of the show, the reason for our visit and for the steep prizes was the beef. Aragawa has an affiliation with its own special farm that provides what they call Sanda-gyu (meat from Sanda).

The beef was juicy and delicious, and it came with some baked potatoes, a few carrots and some peas. You could dip the meat in some mustard if you wanted to but it tasted perfect just plain.

To tell you the truth, it is not uncommon for a good meal to cost an arm and a leg in Japan. However in my opinion, Aragawa wasn’t worth the price tag. The food was good, service was just alright, the beef delicious but I could not find a reason for the high price tag. I’ve tasted better for much less. Well, at least I can say I’ve been.

Price : $$$$$

ARAGAWA
3-23-11 Onarimon Odakyu Building 1st floor
Nishi-shimbashi, Minato-ku Tokyo
Tel 03-3438-1867

Chao Bamboo !!!!

by Bianca

I love this little place hidden in a corner of an alley in Omotesando. It has become my go-to place whenever I crave Asian food. I wouldn’t really call it a restaurant. Its more like a food stall with tables and chairs, and the rather ‘dirty’ and un-Japanese vibe kind of reminds me off the food stalls back home.

Their menu is quite extensive and has all sorts of rice and noodle dishes from South East Asian countries.

My favorite are their noodle dishes. The Pho is delicious. When I’m in the mood for rice I go for the Indonesian Fried Rice (nasi goreng). The food is greasy and spicy just the way I like it and most important of all, almost everything on the menu is under 1000 yen.

I would not recommend paying this food stall a visit in summer. I tried it once and left drenched in sweat like I’ve just stepped out of a sauna.

To get to Chao Bamboo walk past the Chanel building in the Harajuku direction and turn left on the second alley after the Chanel building. You’ll see the sign at the end of the alley.

CHAO BAMBOO
Shibuya-ku, 6-1-5 Jingumae
Telephone - 03-5466-4787

Price : $

KYUBEI Sushi

by Bianca

 

 

After failing many times to get reservations at Sukiyabashi Jiro (the original one) because I was a foreigner and being suspiciously glared at by the chef in sushi Mizutani, the warm welcome at the Kyubei in Ginza was a nice change. I went there today for lunch without reservations and was lucky to immediately get seats on the second floor.

There were different set menus starting from around 75oo yen. We chose the omakase menu which was about 10.000 yen and surrendered ourselves in the hands of the sushi chef.

The friendly chef who even spoke a few words of Indonesian prepared our meal starting with some toro dabbed with some sweet soya sauce and the perfect amount of wasabi.

Toro sushi

Followed by a series of wonderful, delicious and fresh sushi dishes.

When it came to the shrimp he asked us if we wanted it fresh or slightly boiled. We asked which one was better and he decided on the slightly boiled version which was delicious.

The uni was so fresh it immediately melted in my mouth, as did the o-toro sushi.

0-toro sushi

The katsuo sushi prepared with some fresh garlic on top tasted unique. I’ve never tried anything like it before.

The katsuo sushi

But the highlight for me was the an ago (freshwater eel) prepared two ways : with salt and sweet soya sauce. I liked the salted version which also tasted very unique.

Anago sushi

Before the sushi rolls we were served some radish sandwiches which were refreshing.

The radish sandwiches

After that it was time for the sushi rolls.

The sushi rolls

Before desert, we were served some tamago-yaki (egg ommelette) which were really soft.

Tamago-yaki

And we had a choice of mocha or watermelon for desert.

The mochi desert

To summon things up, I had a wonderful time at Kyubei. Not only was the service warm and welcoming, the sushi was extremely fresh and absolutely delicious. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to you.

Price : $$$

KYUBEI Ginza

Address 8-7-6 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Telephone 03-3571-6523
Home Page http://www.kyubey.jp (In Japanese)
Business Hours 11:30am-2:00pm, 5:30pm-10:00pm; Closed on Sun