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.