Last Meal In Tokyo

First had a Degustation at Sadaharu Aoki..   just so-so, taste heavily of sugar…. since i already sold my soul to Hidemi Sugino cakes…

Returned to La Bettola da Ochiai again…

Appetizer – Grilled Anago ( huge portions, could easily pass of as a main)

Pasta – Spaghetti al Bottarga ( got this since they ran out of the other one, which had crabmeat and stuff)

Main – Grilled pork with balsamico sauce

Dessert – Custard Pudding ( Flan)

Not bad, but i couldnt finish the pudding, too much food… also should have tried their lamb chops instead…looks better than my grilled pork!.. also my fav waitress gave me their restaurant stickers…  nice memories..

looking forward to my next trip there again! BEST PLACE TO EAT ON EARTH..

 

Napule, Omotesando

This place took me 2 trips to find it. AT first i thought they had closed down this and moved to some other place, and given the small lanes that the buildings had, i kept circling round and roun that freaking place, juz as i was about to give up to go to the train station(very near), i saw the landmark building that this restaurant was beside. So i found this small lane, which i wondered why i did not notice when i was walking pass like some freaking at least 10 times.

Before i went it , i said to myself, how good can a pizza get? thou i had some knowledge of neapolitan pizza, i figured it would be different from ur normal pizzas from spizza, valentino , or what else “pizzas” this places in singapore were creating.

Took a few pics before i started eating..Ordered the Magherita with bufala di mozzarella extra.. lunch set salad and coffee ( less than 2k yen, the salads are limpid thou)

Took my first bite, WTF! This is really nothing i had eaten before. This totally brought me to a new level that all the “pizzas” in Singapore are literally shit.  Thou the ingredients were good, but it did had some place for improvement, what really wowed me was the crust. This is NOTHING like the pizza u tasted anywhere, it was more remiscent of naan but much less greasy and it had a more crisp charred feel that could only be acheived by a very very hot oven.

The crust was very light, soft but had a very light crisp surface(just the surface not the entire crust) and easily digestable, almost every other seats could finish 1 whole pizza by themself .  You have to wait a while to get ur seats, this place is very packed.. u can see junichiro koizumi and some other pictures taken with the Head Pizzaiolo(Hisanori) .. Some more pics.. look its the man himself!

Please take a look at the videos and notice how he makes the pizza. Incredible speed and technique, not to mention the specially handmade neapolitan oven..

Note, they also have a branch at Midtown Tokyo, but of course not made by Hisanori, thou they still use the same equipments..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxwHDybbZi4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNiDsgb78T4

 

How to eat the best in tokyo part 2

This italian place La Bettola da Ochiai is super popular in tokyo. I think the chef always goes on tv and i can see from their restaurant blog that he is also a friend of iron chef french & chinese Hiroyuki Sakai & Chen Kenichi.  Getting a dinner reservation should be very hard given the cult status, also heard there is a 2 month waiting list.. thou i do not really know.

Lunch spot might be relatively easier to get, since they do not allow bookings, you have to go down to the restaurant to secure a spot. They start their lunch reservation at 1030am, so if your are damn kiasu and want to get a lunch time at ur desired timing, go at that timing. The 2 times i went was at around 12pm, and had to wait for an hour later time slot at around 1pm. The crowd also seem to lessen after 2pm…

So i had the Pranzo Set C ( 2940 yen , 1 appetizer , 1 pasta , 1 main )

The Caprese was very good, firm and very sweet tomatoes with the boccocini(might be buffalo mozz)

The STAR is of course the Spaghetti Al Riccio(Uni Spaghetti) , da no 1 dish at this place!  Is just damn good, it is not cloying at all, so i think there may be no cream maybe just eggs(my guess based on the colour of the sauce, hehe).  The pasta is also 100% al dente, absolutely very consistent with their pasta cooking!  Although this dish is quite simple, it had more satisfaction than the famous Cabonara from La Strada (shaw orchard)… This might be my favourite pasta dish in my life, unless gunther manage to kill me off with his caviar pasta dish…

Then the Cotoletta(Veal Milanese), first time having this, coz i nv ordered this in singapore italian restaurants.. Hmm, i guess this was properly made, but it feels like hainanese pork cutlets..haha

This place feels sort of like a bistro, not very much on the decor and stuff.. Locating it may also be quite hard for some of you guys, be sure to print out the map before u go! Nearest station is Shintomitcho,Takaracho & Ginza Itchome Station, thou walkable from Ginza.. around 15mins.  Fell in love with the very friendly waitress which reminds me of someone!!

Bought this while waiting for my reservation at La bettola..The sake manju from toraya, a really tough bun, is this how it is suppose to taste like??

To be Continued( Hidemi Sugino & reports for sushi mizutani)!!