Monthly Archives: May 2013

ALOHA TABLE

by Bianca

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I’ve never been to Hawaii and have no idea what Hawaiian food is all about, but I guess it is safe to say that if you are looking for a taste of Hawaii in the Daikanyama area then Aloha Table is the place to go.

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On nice days, sitting out on its terrace is great.

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The food is cheap and although there aren’t too many options for lunch, I found the food quite delicious. Here is what we tried…

A refereshing salad

A refreshing salad

Teriyaki Loco Moco

Teriyaki Loco Moco

A tomato based seafood pasta

A tomato based seafood pasta

I especially liked the teriyaki loco moco, a hamburger pate over rice drizzled in teriyaki sauce.

Now the ice cream puff we had for dessert was outstanding, not to mention very exotic looking.

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Price: $

ALOHA TABLE Daikanyama Forest. Daikanyama Art Village, 17-10 Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku. Tel. 03-5456-7033

SAZANKA Teppanyaki at Hotel Okura

by Bianca

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“Old school but still cool” would be the perfect sentence to describe this teppanyaki restaurant on the 11th floor of hotel Okura. The interior is vintage as is their food presentation but nevertheless, their teppanyaki is very good and reasonably priced.

There a few set menus to choose from and the prices are about 10.000 yen and over for dinner. Lunch sets are more reasonably priced with about the same amount of food in it. This is what I had…

A refreshing salad to start

A refreshing salad to start

Some duck liver if you like

Some duck liver if you like

 

Some savory crab and fish

Some savory crab and fish

 

A few slices of abalone

A few slices of abalone

 

Some grilled veggies

Some grilled veggies

And of course, the highlight of the evening came to follow. Some lusciously soft red marbled beef. The kind you can only find in Japan.

The beautiful beef

The beautiful beef

The chef in action

The chef in action

And to end things on a wonderful garlicky note…some wonderful garlic rice.

The garlic rice

The garlic rice

As you probably have noticed from the pictures, Sazanka is not big with food presentation. Unlike most Tokyo eateries, they don’t worry that much about how the food looks on your plate. However, the food is delicious and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters, right ?

Price : $$

SAZANKA. Hotel Okura Tokyo 11F, Main Building. Tel.+81-3-3505-6071

 

PIERRE MARCOLINI Chocolatier

by Bianca

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I could not wait to share my newfound haven of chocolate dwellings. Pierre Marcolini is a tiny chocolate shop in one of the back streets of Ginza. I have passed it many times and simply dismissed it as a glamorous little chocolatier you go to when in need of gifts. I had no idea they had a small cafe on the second floor where you could order an array of heavenly chocolate desserts and pastries. Thank God I went in the other day and found the tiny cafe on the second floor.

These are the desserts we tried :

The chocolate gateau

The chocolate gateau

Now this was good but somewhat heavy. I would recommend trying something else like the salty caramel eclair pictured below. This was exquisite.

The salty caramel eclair

The salty caramel eclair

The star of the show in my opinion was this Marcolini salty caramel waffle and caramel ice cream. This little waffle was absolutely heavenly, soft on the inside, slightly crunchy on the outside with the perfect amount of sweetness to it. And the sizing was just right. Not too big nor too small.

The Marcolini salt caramel waffle with caramel ice cream

The Marcolini salt caramel waffle with caramel ice cream

I can’t wait to go back and try the chocolate eclairs and chocolate fondue. Will update !

Price: $

PIERRE MARCOLINI GINZA. 5-5-8 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo. Phone : 03-55370015.