KM - One of Daikanyama's finest French

Here's another restaurant a few friends took me for my birthday. Cuisine Francais KM.

KM (pronounced Kah-Em) is a fairly traditional French restaurant by Kiyoshi Miyashiro in the upscale Daikanyama area. It's been a local favorite since 1987. The interior is refined; the crisp white tablecloths and chairs contrast well with the dark oak floors and furnishings. Similar to MONNA LISA in Ebisu, KM is very prim and proper. 

The presentation of the dishes were also beautiful - not as adventurous and daring like MONNA LISA, but more authentic and maybe just a little bit old-fashioned. The flavors at KM are a lot more robust and defined, I found. The French dishes here are heavier, like a full-body red wine, whereas MONNA LISA's dishes are simpler and more delicate, like a nice sparkling. We had eel, quail, foie gras, lamb... typical French yet delicious, and definitely a little heavy on the stomach. It really depends on preference, I suppose, but I prefer the lighter MONNA LISA taste. 

Everything from the appetizers to the entrees were in fact delicious, but the staff service doesn't match the level of food - the only unfortunate point for this place. Some of the waiters had difficulty explaining the food and wine and had to keep going back to the kitchen to confirm. So we ended up confused about a few items on the plate. There is a difference between discovering new flavors and trying to figure them out. I guess if you're paying over 70 bucks per head, you want to be certain about everything. The dessert plate is definitely more toned down at KM. Good, but not super exciting in terms of variation or color. 

KM is a great place for a quiet anniversary dinner with a girlfriend or a refined meal with your parents, but it's also definitely a nice place for a posh girls night out. (Photosource: gnavi.jp)

Cuisine Francais KM

Shibuya-ku, Ebisu Nishi 1-30-14-102 Echo Daikanyama

Open 12:00-15:00, 18:00-23:00. Closed Mondays

Tel: 03.5784.5883

http://premium.gnavi.co.jp/g959000/

Monna Lisa Smile

For that special occasion with that special someone, MONNA LISA is the place to go. It’s a wonderful French restaurant in Ebisu (with another location in Marunouchi). My best friend took me here for my birthday 2 years ago and I absolutely loved it! It is definitely one of the higher-end restaurants in Tokyo but I think for the ambiance, food, and location, the visit is worth every penny (yen). Like the patrons who are all very composed and well-dressed, the dishes here are works of art. In terms of food presentation, this place ranks in the highest echelons. Some of the plates are just too pretty that you feel bad devouring it all up with your fork.

I had the 10,000 yen B course menu when I went, which included an amuse, 2 appetizers, 2 entrees (fish and meat), a cheese plate, a huge dessert plate, and caffe to finish. It was devine. But let me just say that the 6,800 yen A course will be PLENTY. I thought I was going to explode having the B course. Just so you know, there is also a 13,000 yen C menu as well as a Degustation (tasting) menu for 15,000. I think you'd have to be a starving athlete to finish them. Here is their current lineup for Course B:

Menu B
*Small size Appetizer
*Tartare of baked eggplant and seafood
*Galette of calamari and marinated vegetables, cappuccino style
*Risotto of grilled “Ayu” with summer truffle flavor
*Sauteed spiced veal and asparagus
Or　
*Langoustine-stuffed pintade, red pepper sauce
*Assorted cheese or Fruit soup
*Today's special dessert
*Coffee or Tea, Herb tea + sweets

The dessert plate is by far the best I have ever had. Maybe it was because it was my birthday? I dunno, but I had 8 petit gateaux on my plate. It was like a dream come true. (Photo source: Monna Lisa)


MONNA LISA EBISU
Shibuya-ku, Ebisu 1-14-4
Tel: 03.5458.1887
Open 11:30-14:00, 17:30-21:30 daily
http://www.monnalisa.co.jp/index.html

Masquerade! Paper faces on parade!

It felt as though we had accidentally stepped inside the dress rehearsal of Phantom of the Opera or something, what with all the servers wearing black masks. Talk about intimidating! Little kids might start crying. But actualy, there was no reason to be alarmed because there was nothing hiding behind the masks other than very friendly waiters energetically bringing you great Italian food. Some waiters spoke so little Japanese (and English for that matter), we had a little difficulty understanding them while they explained the specials and seasonal entrees. But they meant it when they said, "itsa very very good," because we were not disappointed.

Ristorante e Pizzeria da IVO is all things Naples. Chef Ivo Virgilio's creations are Naples-themed Italian cuisine, including Naples' famous pizza and pasta, along with fish and meat. And to serve real Neapolitan style pizza, he brought one of the best craftsmen and materials to Tokyo to build an authentic oven. The tiles on the floor, the pictures on the walls, and even the door knobs were brought in from Naples.

IVO is a pretty highly rated Italian eatery within metropolian Tokyo. Located on Meiji Dori, it's a bit of a walk from both Hiroo and Ebisu stations, but that is probably the only drawback. The doors and windows are opened on warm days so as to create the feel of an open-terrace. We went for dinner the other night and enjoyed it immensely. We each paid around 7000 yen (including wine) so it was not terribly expensive. The appetizers, the pizzas, the desserts… are ALL very good. (photos here: http://r.tabelog.com/tokyo/rstdtlphoto/13005489/)

So what's with the black masks? Apparently they represent the Pulcinella which is the traditional clown costume of Naples. Despite the intimidating exterior, the characters are known for always having a positive approach to life. (Photo source: www.atelierdesarts.com)

Ristorante e Pizzeria da IVO
Shibuya-ku, Hiroo 1-6-10

Tel: 03.5793.3121

Open 11:30-14:00, 18:00-22:00 daily

http://www.eatpia.com/daivo/

Nobody puts Babbi in a corner

And rightly so. 'Cuz this Baby rocks too.

Ok, so I just wanted to use that line because who doesn't have Dirty Dancing in their DVD collection, right? And even if you don't, you're admittedly in the closet about liking the film. Just like we all secretly love Doug Dorsey and Kate Moseley iceskate their way into love in The Cutting Edge (man, I love that film...), we cheer for Johnny and Baby too, having the time of their lives in the summer of '63 somewhere in the Catskill Mountains. Unfortunately however,  this Babbi rhymes more with Pappi than with Baby, and sounds more like a mobster name than a Jewish girl in a pink summer dress. But oh well. 

BABBI is the famous sweets brand established in Italy some 56 years ago, specializing in chocolate, wafers and gelato. Their first shop in Japan opened in 2002 and now has 12 locations throughout the country. I go to the Roppongi Hills shop because it's most convenient for me... and is great for those occasional slow days where I don't have to be back in the office until 1:30pm and I feel that I've worked hard enough the day before that I feel I deserve an after-lunch dessert. 

I absolutely love BABBI gelato. I think I've tried about 20 of the 30 flavors available. My favorites being menta stracciatella (mint choco chip), fichi (fig), latte fragola (strawberry milk), nocciola (hazelnut), and kid's (marble chocolate). BABBI gelato is definitely high-end compared to Baskin Robbins' 31 flavors, Haagen Dazs or even Coldstone Creamery, so be prepared to fork out a little more money for these Italian babies. But I guarantee you that they won't disappoint! (Photo source: BABBI.jp)

BABBI Roppongi Hills

Minato-ku, Roppongi 6-9-1, Roppongi Hills Keyakizaka Dori 1F

Open 11:00-21:00 Daily

Tel: 03.5775.0070

http://www.babbi.jp/

I love dumplings!

There are a lot of dumpling places in Tokyo. I LOVE both the steamed kind (xiao long bao/shoronpo) as well as the fried potsticker kind (gyoza). Dumplings rank as one of my top 10 favorite foods. It's a total comfort food for me, just like mac and cheese... Anyway, I think the best shoronpo house in Tokyo is Jin Din Rou in Ebisu, hands down. Originally from Taiwan, it's very similar to the more famous Ding Tai Fung that you're probably more familiar with. There are several Ding Tai Fung locations within Japan and all of them are packed with people. I'm sure the ones in your area are popular as well. I actually went to the original one when I visited Taipei earlier this year. Of course, it was really good and more importantly, a whole lot cheaper! Dude, it's seriously overpriced in Japan. Anyway, back to my recommendation, Jin Din Rou. First of all, it's cheaper than Ding Tai Fung! 6 pieces of original shoronpo is 790 yen versus 820 yen at Ding Tai Fung. Similarly, the crab miso shoronpo is 1250 yen versus 1450 yen at the competitor. 

The 1000 yen lunch sets are a steal. I like going there on the weekends with friends. You get 4 dumplings of your preference as well as 1 entree (the shrimp fried rice is SO good, but the spicy tantan men noodles aren't bad either). For dinner, I like to eat a la carte because I tried the 4000 yen course a while ago and could not finish it. It was so much food I thought I was going to explode. I recommend the course meals if you have a party of more than 3 people. 

(Photo source: Jin Din Rou)

Jin Din Rou（京鼎樓　恵比寿本店）

Shibuya-ku, Ebisu 4-3-1, Kuizu Ebisu 2F (2 min. from JR Ebisu station, east gate)

Open 11:30-15:00, 17:30-24:00 M-Sat, Open til 23:00 on Sun

http://jin-din-rou.net/index.html

'saiya later alligator!

May 2008 marked the 5th year anniversary of Roppongi Hills. With it came a whole bunch of store renewals and expansions, including a massive new Adidas superstore (where I got to attend the opening party to see some celebs like our supermodel, Shiho. She was so cute!!) and  a Tiffany's store just for men (is this even necessary? there's a regular Tiffany's around the block). One of the new restaurant openings was Motoyama Milk Bar, which I already featured in my previous post. Yummy. So let's talk about Yasaiya Mei now, shall we?

Final verdict: Disappointed.

We were all so excited for this place because it features organic vegetables and lunches especially targeting the working gal's wants and needs for a healthy diet. So we went as a group for lunch on their opening day, May 09. We were handed the menu and our first reaction was, "where's the rest of it? I think we're missing a page." There was the vegetable shabu shabu lunch for 2900 yen, the vegetable course for 4300 yen, and the vegetable curry for 1400 yen. That's it. It was an outrage. First of all, if you open shop in an office building, you have to offer a variety of lunch choices around the 800 to 1500 yen level. We can't spend near 30 bucks on lunch everyday. We'd go broke in a month. And second of all, there's not a single salad at the vegetable house. What? Are the salads on haitus or something? Aren't salads the first thing that pops to mind when you feel you need to recharge your veggies intake? So bizarre.

Anyway, so we all tried the vegetable curry (because we can't afford the other two). While it took them forever to serve us, I have to admit that the taste was good. It was nice. The presentation was lovely with all the various vegetables neatly stacked on the plate. But... why is this cold? The artistic vegetable creation atop the curry probably took too much time to construct, so by the time the waiters brought it to your table, the curry and rice had gone cold. What a shame. The curry was too mild for my taste as well. I think all the vegetable additions made it sweeter by accident. Bummer. 

We all haven't been back to Yasaiya Mei since our first unfortunate visit. But I checked their website just now and it seems they've added 4 more items to the menu since May. And they started a take-out lunch box for 1000 yen. Good girl. But it's going to take a lot more than that to impress us. Seriously, all we want is an awesome salad.... until that day comes, I'm not going back.

There's a Yasaiya Mei is Omotesando and Gotanda as well, but I'm sure the story is the same there. I'm disappointed because this comes from the same house (the EatWalk Group) responsible for AW Kitchen Tokyo, which is a lovely pasta place in Nakameguro.

Vegetable House Yasaiya Mei

Minato-ku, Roppongi 6-10-1, Roppongi Hills Westwalk 5F

Open 11:00-23:00 M-Th, 11:00-26:00 F-S

Tel: 03.5775.2960

http://www.eat-walk.com/roppongi/index.php

Creamy and Dreamy

There's a new shop in town. From the great plains of Yakumo, Hokkaido comes Motoyama Milk Bar. It opened this past April at Roppongi Hills, taking over the space that used to be Tofu Cafe. There's a big fat Daisy cow standing in front of some blue and pink doors. You can't miss it. It's the first thing I see going up the escalators every morning. The milk stand opens at 8 am so you can actually buy a bottle of milk on your way to work. I like the coffee milk (320 yen), personally, but what's cool is that they all come in a glass bottle with a paper tab lid. Just like the old days! (well, old days like for our parents... I'm sure we all had paper and plastic in our generation). 

After lunch, you can grab yourself a softserve ice cream (480 yen) too that is just pure heaven. Creamy AND dreamy! And when you see a group of grown men in suits sitting at a table eating ice cream, you can't help but smile. I have yet to actually go inside the place (I just settle for the window stand) but they apparently serve more elaborate things for eat-in guests, like parfaits, pancakes, and even curries and gratins. I bet they're good too. Motoyama even has online shopping so if feel like it, I can have them deliver milk (and coffee milk!) to my door for up to 6 months! Awesome. The only thing is though, I try very hard to stick to nonfat milk every day, so I'll have to pass on the delivery thing. I've gained too many pounds because of rich milk sold and served in Japan. Any more and I won't be able to moooove. (Photo source: Motoyama Milk Bar)

Motoyama Milk Bar

Minato-ku, Roppongi 6-4-1, Roppongi Hills Metrohat 1F, Tokyo

Open 8:00-22:00

Tel: 03.6273.2248

http://www.motoyamamilkbar.jp/