SHOT Magazine

It’s not all smoke and mirrors

2010.08.02

カテゴリー: French, Restaurant, Vegetable

The seasonal menu at Restaurant J (www.msinter.co.jp )was a welcome relief from the horrible heat this week.

 Light and unusual, it is offered in sets or a la carte and the staff happily substitute bits and pieces from one part of the menu to another. This is a welcome and rather novel idea as many restaurants don’t like substitution for any reason. So I started out ordering the set but substituting the pumpkin ravioli for the cold pasta with fresh pumpkin. This was, in my humble opinion , an inspired choice. The creamy ravioli and gorganzola cheese was good down to the last scrapping and the pretty little pumpkin that was its serving dish was entirely edible as well. It too was delicious.

There were other courses of vegetables, some in jelly, some under foam, one encased in a glass dome that released a cloud of  billowing sakura smoke. All of which were tasty and some were fantastic. The chef here really knows his stuff and his organic produce from the farms of Ibaraki is top notch, but somehow it was all a little much for me. Drama and theatre are all part of a great dinner but this was exhausting. And when the main meal arrived, mine was a pork “Chiyogenton” from Nagano with a yuzu and pepper sauce topped by a crispy piece of crackling, I was underwhelmed.  I must admit that Terry usually orders the pork and indeed it was he who devoured the crackling, but I had ordered it because the smell of it cooking was almost irresistible. Restaurant J serves fantastic fare, but sometimes I think they just try too hard.

The next night we joined a group of like minded souls ( wine lovers all) at Paul Bocuse’s Cave in Hiroo.(www.paulbocuse.jp)

We had a set seasonal menu and a set vin degustation. No substitutions here, although we were permitted to add extra wines, for comparison. Things started out well with a pan fried sardine in crispy potato flakes with a parsley coulis. This was great as I love sardines and Terry doesn’t, so I got to indulge in two of these plump little babies.

The ravioli Hagi was my first fish ravioli and I loved it, served as it was in mornay sauce with fried aubergine. I would gladly eat this everyday. Again the main was pork and once again I was underwhelmed, so maybe it is just me. A concentrated apricot compote with honey ice cream provided an ideal ending to a lovely meal. The wines were not so bad but nor were they so good. Standard fare for a set priced  dinner. The only honourable mention would be the Chardonnay: a Reserve, Skalli 2008 which was very drinkable.

Enjoy your sweet life until next time,

Cheryl