tokyo food file

gibbous moon over Ch. Robuchon

The last warm night of the year (this was last week), so unseasonably balmy that they had the outside tables primed at the chateau in Yebisu, even for dinner.

We had other plans for the evening, so we did not linger. But it was a reminder of just how pleasant the little secluded garden of Table de Robuchon is when the weather is clement.

There aren't likely to be any more evenings this mild for quite a few months. But we will be looking forward to spring...

La Table de Joel Robuchon...

 

And then just a few days later — on the full moon — we were treated to a magical eclipse...

Ebisu Ramen map

Before Ebisu became one of Tokyo's better mid- to up-market dining districts, it was known for one thing only: ramen. There's still no shortage of options, as the map at the bottom of this sign shows. 31 noodle joints, all within a minute's walk or so from the railway station.

This billboard (inside the station) is actually advertising packaged noodles, under the name Ebisu Ramen. Maybe the idea of including the map was to head off charges that it's expropriating the Ebisu "brand" for its own profit.

Whatever, I do know that it makes me hungry when I scan it as I wait to transfer trains. And that it doesn't seem to list my favourite ramenya of all in the neighbourhood.

PS: click the photo to see the map in better detail...

bissori hanami lunch

The rain had brought down plenty of petals, but there was still a good amount of sakura blossom filling the sky from inside bissori's magical garden when we visited earlier in the week.

My lunch set comprised a small plate of vegetable starters...

...followed by a large bowl of samgyetang, the rich warming broth containing generous amounts of chicken cooked with jujubes and ginseng...

...and a bowl of zakkoku-mai (multi-grain) rice served with a saucer of crisp nori and some small dried fishes. Very hearty, warming and invigorating. 

In Korea, samgyetang is usually eaten in summer, to give energy and combat lethargy. But bissori serves it in winter and spring as well — just the ticket!

 

What with all the petals on the ground and clumped onto the plastic sheets around bissori's dining 'room', we left feeling absolutely in the pink.

The blossom is all gone now, but if you're planning ahead for next year, check out the view from the upstairs 'loft' room — right on the same level as the sakura.

There's really nowhere like it in Tokyo!

sakura roll cake @ keats house; chijimi hanami @ bissori

Among the desserts on offer at Keats House, check out this one from Chaya Macrobi: Sakura roll cake with sweet black beans and tofu "cream" (it's actually much tastier than it sounds)...

And while we're thinking sakura, a quick reminder that the cherry tree within the magical portal of bissori is now at its peak of blossom...

In fact you can see it peeking over the top of the wall from the outside.

For more, here's my post on bissori from last September.

more on wanoba: eats and drinks in style

OK, so Wanoba's contemporary Japanese decor looks great — that should be obvious from the pics I posted yesterday — but how about the food?

Well, it's a dining bar, which means you're there to drink and chat and while away the evening, as much you're there as to eat. But the good news is that the food is just as good and stylish as the interior. And so are the bowls and other vessels they're served in.

The menu is a mix of Japanese and Western — initially it veered more toward the former, although that may change now a new chef has been brought on board who used to work at a nearby Italian restaurant.

But the first thing you see is the array of obanzai — the platters of prepared foods arrayed along the counter-top like tapas. They're all good and tasty, an indication that the ingredients are good and the cooks (there are as many as three in the kitchen) know what they're doing.

They have a good choice of fish, meat, chicken and veggies to be prepared over the charcoal grill. With the sake in the picture at the top, I had lightly grilled anago eel, along with a saucer of iburigakko (Akita-style smoked takuan pickles).

I was of course sipping on sake on this occasion, poured from that handsome silver dispenser. Here are a couple of labels I sampled...

 

To fill up at the end of the evening, you can choose from pasta dishes, risotto, udon noodles and chahan  — a curiously dry version of fried rice (though it tasted fine).

Here's a map link...