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. 

Auberge de L'ill: Fine dining needs to be a bit more refined

Area:  Midland Square 42F  ミッドランドスクエア
Restaurant:  L'Auberge de L'ill  オーベルジュドリル
Website and Map:  http://www.haeberlin.jp/eng/aubergedelill-nagoya/access.html

Hours:  Lunch 11am-3:30pm (LO 1:30pm), Dinner 5:30-11pm (LO 10pm)


This is an expensive fine dining restuarant but I decided to try the reasonably priced \2000 weekday lunch (plus tax and service charge).

First, the little amuse bouche;  the madeleine seemed a bit stale and dry.  The flaky pastry was a savory bacon and onion flavour.

The bread came warmed, had a nice and chewy crust and the flavour reminded me of soba.  The butter was plain and unsalted but its presentation on a marble slab and an emblem stamped on top, gave a fine dining feel.   

The appetizer was eggplant mousse with a sanma (sardine) puree.  It had a peppery finish, but was mainly salty, so it was good to eat with the bread.  Unfortunately the eggplant flavour was overpowered by the strong natural flavour of the sardine.  

The main was a ground beef and foie gras pie.  I think they burnt the crust a bit too much.  The ground beef absorbed the always wonderful flavour of foie gras on top.  The crust could have used something more, perhaps a more buttery aroma.  I found the pastry didn't add much to this dish, as it was airy.  The carrot cumin purée and a sweet aroma.  The berry red wine sauce had a bit of sourness to it, but somewhat matched with the dish (berry flavors are often combined with foie gras). 

The dessert jelly cube was a very concentrated raspberry.  The macaron was interesting with a slight mintiness to it.  The chocolate cookie was probably the best part of this plate, as it had a nice chewiness and the nuts gave it a toasty finish.  Unfortunately the coffee was sour.

Just by looking at the photos you could probably hear the piano music playing, again giving this place an upscale feel.  

Cafe du Ciel: My theory was correct, food is not the main

 

Area:  Nagoya Station JR Towers
Restaurant:  Cafe Du Ciel  カフェ　ド　シエル
Website and Info:  http://www.cafe-eikokuya.jp/store/ciel.html

Hours:  10am-10pm (LO 9:30pm)

This cafe is located on the 51st floor of the Nagoya station JR towers.  In my mind, it's not necessarily a restaurant you go to for the food.  It may be more of a place for coffee and cake and to enjoy the view.  However, I wanted to test this out.  The lunch set consisted of a choice of two dorias (baked rice dishes).  One was the monthly special, potato basil, and the other was a regular hamburger helper type.

The soup was a corn soup, or corn milk as I like to call it.  Almost like it was made from powder.  

The doria came with the immediate smell of butter.  Caution, it's baked so the heat is contained quite well and stays hot for a while, don't burn yourself!  The potato seemed fried and was actually quite dry.  This doria was topped with cream sauce (bechamel-like) and cheese.  The basil was disappointingly scarce, especially when compared to the menu photo in which the doria's color was a striking green.  The salad had a salty wafu (Japanese style) onion dressing, but the fried onion topping was nice.  The potato salad was on the other hand pretty sweet compared to the regular.  

There were two different types of sandwiches accompanying the doria.  The potato salad, cucumber and ham sandwich used regular, cheap ham and the same potato salad that topped the salad. The bread was a fuwafuwa (soft) type but went well with the crunch of the cucumbers.  The egg salad and tomato was wonderfully eggy, but really stood out in this corner of the plate.

The coffee was fresh, a nice mild blend.  It's free refills so I took advantage of this.  

Music was playing but the echoes from other patrons voices covered it, so I don't know what was playing.  It's an open ceiling space (the ceiling is shared with the outside, so it's quite high and the voices carry high and far.  It's a pretty loud space and not at all that relaxing.  There is only one washroom so you may end up waiting a lifetime, especially in Japan (this is a whole other story, and if you're a woman in Japan, you might know what I'm talking about).

The dessert was just yogurt and a mango sauce with pineapple and one piece of mango.  Again nothing stood out here.

I supposed for the \1500 lunch, you're paying for the free refills, the nice view and the ability to stay for a long period of time without being kicked out, so perhaps it's worth it.  Just don't wait until you urgently need to use the bathroom to line up for the washroom.

Atlantic cafe: Liking the big hunks of meat

Area:  about 500m Northeast of Osu Kannon station 大須観音駅
Restaurant:  Atlantic Cafe アトランティックカフェ
Website and Map:  http://atlanticcafe.jp/access/index.html

Hours:  11am-11pm, Sun and Holidays 11am-9:30pm, closed Mondays


Although lunch was over, this was was one of those restaurants where I could still order from the large a la carte menu.

The smoked salmon salad (¥580) was comprised of lettuce, mizuna, tomato and a rarity in Japan, black olives. Dry cured smoked salmon had a nice smokey flavor and was not too salty.   The dressing was a simple Italian dressing.

The spicey lamb chop (¥400 for 1 piece) was not all that spicey.  Maybe they wanted to say herbed lamb, because it tasted more like basil.  The accompanying sauce was like a BBQ sauce with perhaps red wine, but it was way too salty.  Especially on top of the salt seasoning the lamb, it didn't work too well.   Size wise, this was a large lamb chop and looks like it came with two pieces, but one piece only was a small bone-in chunk.  The red meat didn't have a strong lamb flavor but the fatty parts did.  Although grilled, it somehow seemed a bit steamed as well.  The fried potato wedges were a bit dry and were not seasoned, but like a Western restaurant, salt and pepper were on the table to adjust to one's own tastes.

It was written on the menu that you can choose 2 antipastos for the price of ¥555, but then I realized it's no better than the ¥278 each!  I chose the  homemade pickles as one.  They were vinegary and more on the salty side.  It kind of reminded me of namasu (usually daikon and carrots pickled with vinegar, salt and sugar).  

The caprese salad had a mozarella more on the dry side than creamy, but was still milky in flavor.  The tomatoes were juicy and fresh and matched well with the parmesan, salt and pepper seasoning. 

The spare rib 1piece (¥340) was gigantic.  I think the chef gave me a bit of a service (freebie), he said red meat was also included.  The sauce was a nice BBQ flavor, thinly applied to gave just enough smokey flavor.  The meat was juicy (even the lean part).  It was a bit tough to cut through the fat, but overall a thumbs up.   The accompanying salad included arugula carrots and a light vinaigrette.  The only problem here was that it was undercooked and it had to be grilled a second time.  It came back with a side of fries and salad.  In the Japanese way, the cook profusely apologized, bowing his head many times, so I forgave this small blunder.  

Akakara Baru: Needs a bit of work on the Signature dish

Area:  about 500m south of Kokusai Center Station 国際センター駅
Restaurant:  Akakara baru  赤からバル
Map and Info:  http://tabelog.com/aichi/A2301/A230101/23053748/dtlmap/?lid=tocoupon2

Hours:  5-12pm (2am on Fri and Sat)


I had a coupon for a free sangria drink.  It was large enough for 4 people!  It was refreshing and although mildly sweet, the flavor of the red wine was still there.  Here, the otoshi (seating charge dish) was a garlicky seafood flavored bagna cauda, heated over a flame.  It almost like a lobster dip, and was probably the best part of my meal today.

The signature Pot au Feu, using a soup base of their famous chicken, was spicy and way too salty.  You're supposed to add sour cream little by little to change the flavor, but it didn't change much since it was so salty and hot anyway.  I couldn't even taste chicken in the broth because of this.  The potato had a kind of strange uncooked dough flavor.

The small restaurant had an American bar-like feel.  The music playing included American country, pop, soft rock, Keshia and YMCA.

Giraffe Bistro: different than a teishoku, bread with Japanese food

Area:  about 400m east of Marunouchi station  丸の内駅
Restaurant:  Giraffe Bistro  ジラフ ビストロ
Map and info:  http://r.gnavi.co.jp/na1t600/

Hours:  Lunch weekdays 11am-2:30pm,  Dinner 5:30pm-1am


When I asked for the recommendation, the waiter pointed out the tsukune burger (tsukune generally means ground meat formed into a ball).

This lunch (\800) came with an appetizer of sesame okra, salad with Italian dressing and bacon bits, and kinpira gobo (stir fried burdock root with a soy sauce and sugar based seasoning).  The appetizer was pretty standard.  Soup was also included and this time was a cabbage and tomato broth.  Again, nothing stood out here.

With the main, there was battered and fried sweet potato and eggplant, home fries and moyashi (bean sprouts);  all went nicely with the dish because they soaked up the sauce.   The burger was soft, peppery with a touch of nutmeg.  It went well with the sweet teriyaki sauce and the runny sunny side up egg.

The bread was warm, soft and fluffy but still had a nice chewiness.

The music playing was a bit difficult to hear but sounded like instrumental blues.  

The coffee was a let down, definitely not fresh.  The meibutsu  (a word to describe the shop's signature dish), an nin dofu (almond flavored) dessert tasted like regular almond pudding, but it did have a mochi mochi (slightly chewy) texture, different than the norm.

  

  

I came back on another occasion because I wanted to try the Hida gyu (a high quality, expensive beef from the Takayama area) lunch (\1000).

The appetizer this time included a chilled steamed cabbage salad with perhaps a miso dressing and finished with sliced pork.  The salad was the same as before, with an Italian dressing.  The gobo nimono (burdock root simmered in a dashi and soy sauce based liquid) was standard.  The soup was a cabbage and bacon bit soup.

I asked for bread instead of rice because I actually liked the bread the first time I came.  The thinkly sliced Hida meat had fat nicely marbled throughout which gave it very nice flavor and texture.  The sweet sauce might have gone better with rice since it was fairly salty.  The grated daikon helped to mellow this out, and also helped to soak up the sauce.  

Dessert (an extra\100 with a coupon), was a sweet potato cake.  If you've been to Japan before, you can probably imagine the flavour and texture just by looking at the picture.