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.