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Chandelier: For the tea drinkers...just the right amount of sweetness

Area:  about a 5min walk northeast of Kokusai Center Station 国際センター駅

Shop:  Chandelier シャンドウリエ

Website and Map:  http://chandelier-felicitations.com/

Hours:  11am-6pm (LO 5pm), 5pm (LO 4pm) on weekends, closed Mondays and Tuesdays

This is a small shop in the Endoji Nagono area (near Kokusai Center).  It seems pretty busy with take out orders.

It's only got 4 tables and as such is pretty quiet with baroque (not sure if I've got that right, but just to give you an idea) music playing in the background.  It feels like a European cafe.  

I wasn't too impressed with the first shop worker as he did not seem friendly at all.  His attitude didn't fit the scene.

I ordered the Original blend tea set (¥700 + price of chosen cake).  The tea was a blend of Ceylon and something else.  I'm not a tea expert but it went nicely with the desserts.  I like that it was accompanied by a timer so you know when it's finished steeping and ready to be drank.  The owner was friendly and explained to stir before pouring through the strainer.  It was quite astringent but not too bitter.  However, this is why it went nicely with sweets, to cleanse the pallet.  

The set came with some nuts; hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts that were coated with a sweet syrup with a touch of saltiness. a slighty salty and sweet coating.  A slice of  chocolate cake with raspberry embedded on top was also included.  Both had a very nicely controlled sweetness.

For the cake, I chose the one called Amandine.  On the menu it was labelled as French traditional.  It was topped with a thick and sticky berry sauce.  This was  the sweetest part.  Judging from the name and the taste I would say it was made using almond flour.  The crust was a buttery and heavenly.  Inside was a soft and moist with traces of real vanilla bean. 

Cafe Meals: It's such a shame the lunch hours have shortened

Area:  Marunouchi Station 丸の内駅
Restaurant:  Cafe Meals  カフェ　ミールズ
Map and Info:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230102/23053878/

Hours:  Lunch 11am-2pm, Dinner 5-9pm

When this restaurant first opened, it was more like a cafe, open all day without an afternoon break.  However, recently and unfortunately, they close at an early 2pm.

The big draw of this place is that not only is the food tasty, and arranged on the plate as if it were a fine dining restaurant, it is extremely reasonable.  The price for lunch when I was able to go was only \650.  This included an appetizer (soup or salad), main, and dessert.  For just \100 extra you can add a drink.  The chef is also not afraid to switch up the menu often, so you will never get tired of the same dishes.

Apparently the chef used to work in an up-scale French restaurant.  He learned from Michelin star chefs, and it shows in his cooking.  He now works at this cafe where they try to make healthy meals that are reasonable and will please everyone, from kids to seniors.

The first lunch I had here started with a shiso (Japanese so-called basil) drink on the house.  It was sweet and syrupy but was cold and refreshing on the hot day that it was.  The bistro lunch of the day was a quiche (others lunches included a curry, hamburger patty, pizza, etc.).  The quiche was unlike a regular quiche, but this is what made it so nice.  The bottom layer of crust was almost like an egg bread.  The egg filling was juicy with a nice blend of herbs.  The pork, tomato and cheese on top gave it depth.  The deconstructed crust was toasty and had a noticeable buttery aroma.

The dessert was a dense chocolate ganash cake.  It was served with sweet berries and the drizzle of olive oil surprisingly went nicely with the sweetness.

                               

On my next visit, I went for the pizza lunch.  The big salad included grilled eggplant, thinly sliced green, red and yellow pepper, and chicken kara-age which was nicely marinated with a flavour almost like chinese cha-siu.  The dressing was a simple italian.  green pepper thinly sliced red and yellow. Chicken karaage was nicely marinated almost chinese cha siu like.  Dressing a nice italian

The soup was a unique, apparently a carrot soup and had a strong cheese flavour.

The pizza dough was more like a crispy cracker.  It worked well though, with the roasted red and yellow peppers, cabbage, carmelized onion and beet topping.  It was only seasoned with olive oil and garlic, but somehow had a saffron essence.   

It's hard to believe that this meal was only ¥650!  Dessert was a berry sherbet with sweet potato mash and a dense chocolate cake.  

I've made many trips to this restaurant.  On my next visit, the soup was a tofu consommé.  It had the flavour of soy milk, but was less creamy.  The salad had a slightly creamy vinaigrette dressing.

The white fish main, was so moist and was lightly seasoned.  The black caviar and grated daikon went well with it.  The chilled potato accompaniment almost seemed like butternut squash.

This time, dessert was the same dense chocolate ganash cake, but the chef often switches up what's offered.  

I wish the old hours were in place.  If it were so, I would be visiting every week.  It's too bad the lunch hour is so short.  

Paul Bocuse: Somehow it needs something more

Area:  JR Towers 12th floor (Nagoya Station) 名古屋駅　JR　セントラルタワーズ
Restaurant: Brasserie Paul Bocuse   ブラッスリ　ポール　ボキューズ
Website and Info:  http://www.paulbocuse.jp/lamaison/menu.html


I decided to treat myself one day and went to Paul Bocuse, an upscale French restaurant on the 12th floor of the JR Towers.  It's actually reasonable for lunch (I ordered the \1800 plus tax meal).  What first comes out is the rillettes. Today was a chicken rillette. It was smooth and mousse-like with a curry aroma.  The bread was crusty and dense and was also nice for dipping in olive oil.

The kitchen allowed me to choose the Iberico pork belly (it was the main for a different course).   It was really soft, but not fatty (the fat may have been hidden and laced throughout).  The accompanying apple puree matched well and not too sweet.  The gravy was a bit on the salty side though, and I didn't get any sense of depth of flavours in it.  The pickled apples were at first sweet and then the sourness came out afterwards.  I'm not sure if it's a good compliment.  The pork had a slight rosemary fragrance.  The roasted endive was nicely grilled and the bitterness was good to offset the sweetness in the dish.

The signature creme brûlée was served in a shallow and wide dish,  and this increased the surface area of the crunchy-browned portion!  The custard had lots of vanilla beans scattered throughout.  It's too bad the coffee was quite off.  It's probably old worst I've ever had! It was so sour, it made me wince.

This restaurant does have a nice atmosphere; a sectioned off quiet place in the middle of a bustling area.

I recently decided to give this place another try.  However, from the first dish, I was a bit disappointed.  Even though rillettes was printed on the menu, I was served only bread and olive oil.  I was told that olive oil had replaced the rillettes (strange since looking at previous photo, bread and rillettes and olive oil were all brought to the table).

Next was the mashed potato and bread crumb crusted pork.  This dish also did not blow my mind.  The crust on the tenderloin pork had a bit of sourness that did not match well.  The consomme sauce was the only thing that brought this dish together.

Again, the coffee was not the tastiest of coffees.  The dessert, an apple pie was standard, with just the right amount of sweetness, but a bit small.  For the price of this meal, I don't think I'll be giving Paul Bocuse another try.

Tope: hits and misses in one meal

Area:  Shinsakae station, Exit 1  新栄駅
Restaurant:  Trattoria Tope   トラットリア　トぺ
Website and Map:  http://www.trattoria-tope.com/product/access/access.html

Hours:  Lunch 11:30am-2:30pm,  Dinner 5:30-9:30pm


On my day off, I decided to visit Mazak Yamazaki art museum for the first time.  On the B1 level, there was an Italian restaurant that caught my eye.  I decided to give it a try before steping into the gallery.   I chose the Tope lunch (\2000), which included two appetizers, pasta, bread, dessert and coffee or tea.  

In the first appetizer, an onion crustless quiche was soft and silky, with the natural sweetness of slow cooked onions.   Kampachi (sashimi) was buttery and refreshing with lemony sprouts.

The chilled juicy chicken breast was served with a cocktail sauce (ketchup and horseradish flavor).  The broccoli was seasoned well.    

Two types of bread were served;  one was a thick crust baguette, and the other was soft and more like Japanese bread  The dipping olive oil seemed of high quality.

The second appetizer was a squid, tomato and olive salad.  Here, the olive flavor was the most prominent.  The chicory was bitter, and the parsley somehow brought out this bitterness.  The squid only added texture and did not add much flavor.  Due to the simplicity of  this dish, it seemed like a salad adults would enjoy.   

For the pasta, I was recommended the rosemary and pecorino cheese spaghetti since I was looking for something a bit different than the usual.  There was a certain creaminess to this pepperoncino because of the french butter used.  Although it seems that I'm a huge fan of pasta since I eat it a lot, this is not the case.  I find a lot of restaurants in Japan serve pasta for lunch.  I eat pasta lunches just because I hope I will be blown away by a pasta dish someday.  Even though the pasta here was not fresh pasta, it was cooked al dente.  I was actually impressed with the sauce; it was light but big on flavors of rosemary, cheese and butter, which was a nice combination.  The beans didn't add much since they were slightly dry in texture, but provided volume.  

The coffee was a nice roast.  The desert was a sesame panna cotta with caramel sauce.  The almond cookie had a slightly burnt flavor.  The chocolate cake looked dense but was actually light and went well with the raspberry sauce, however was not outstanding.

This restaurant had an upscale fell with white table clothes, and waiters wearing suits.  All of the patrons were women.  

Pronto: not bad considering it's a big chain, also reasonable

Area:  Various locations　(visited location was Nagoya building 名古屋　ビルディングB1F）
Restaurant:  Pronto  プロント
Website and map:  http://www.pronto.co.jp/shop/detail?shopid=0525333857

This cafe is a big chain, but I wanted to try their morning service (price includes coffee or tea).  There are a variety to choose from such as the standard toast and egg (¥390), where you can sub the egg for yogurt.  The toast is actually quite thick and you get the whole slice (unlike a lot of places that give you half).  There is also a ham and cheese toast set (¥450).  I however wanted to have an english muffin, so I went for the most expensive (¥480).  It comes with scrambled egg and bacon.   All sets come with a salad (red onion, cabbage, lettuce, red pepper) dressed with a simple oil and vinegar dressing.  The english muffin was toasted and came with soft margarine.  I think I would have preferred butter, and if they brought the plate out sooner so the margarine could melt into the holes.  It was chewy in the centre and had a bit of sourdough-like flavor.  The scrambled egg had a nice gooey half cooked texture.  Pronto's coffee is actually a nice blend.  It's mild with little acidity.

The lunch menu, unlike a lot of other big chain cafes, specializes in pasta, instead of the usual soups and sandwiches.

The pasta set is great because it can be ordered anytime, even during non-lunch hours.  You can add a drink and salad for just \290.  What caught my eye is that there are a few dishes that are made with fresh tagliatelle.  Of course this is what I ordered. I went for the shrimp and avocado basil sauce pasta (\820).  The pasta was no doubt fresh, as it had a nice al dente chewiness to it.  The sauce was a whole lot of basil and the salt level was controlled nicely.  The accompanying salad was a mix of green and purple shredded cabbage, red pepper, red onion and lettuce.  It was lightly dressed, but this allows it to match well with any of the pastas.  

It has a modern cafe feel, and for those of you that are smokers, there is a smoking room available.  

Kawabun: paying for the experience, definitely not volume

Area:  a few blocks east of Marunouchi station
Restaurant:  The Kawabun ザ　カワブン　ナゴヤ
Website:  http://www.kawabun.jp/en/


This was a very different dining experience.  First of all, it seemed like a place where I'd have to take my shoes off upon entering, but I was instructed that there was no need to.  I was seated in a quiet waiting area with windows facing a garden.  The only sound was of trickling fountain water and the scent of incense filled the room.  Here, I was shown the menu to choose my preferred meal.  I went with the simplest, a vegetarian meal (\1500 plus tax).  I was then shown to a separate room with only counter seating.   I was the only patron there.  The wooden counter, bright lighting and simple decor gave a nature feel and made for a relaxing atmosphere.  .

The chef then began to open a package of tofu.  He carefully spooned it into a bowl and then topped it with something. He also started making miso soup, testing the taste twice.  The waitress, dressed in kimono, was very talkative and began a conversation with me and the chef.  The whole time she was talking with either me or the chef.  

The meal was the silkiest but dense tofu with a chilled mushroom dashi flavored ankake.  The steamed veggies were plain but were meant to be eaten with the miso beans.  Rice was a 5-grain rice. The miso soup was indeed a good balance of housemade (as opposed to the instant stuff)  dashi and miso.

Afterwards, the waitress offered to take me to the same waiting area to drink tea and relax.  Green tea and yuzu kuzumochi is what came, a very nice combo.  Even the shibori (wet hand towel) had a scent of yuzu.  As I was getting pretty sleep in this quiet space, I decided to begin my fairly long walk back to work.