C'est cool! Cakes found around Kagurazaka

I found a very nice cake shop called "K. VINCENT(カー・ヴァンソン)" near Kagurazaka (神楽坂). It is located a bit away from both Kagurazaka and Iidabashi(飯田橋) Stations and there are few shops around. Even so, many customers came to buy cakes.

Outside of "K. VINCENT"

Amer 80%

Mille-feuille

Mont banc (1/4)

It is said a female chef of this shop trained under Jean-Paul Hevin and her specialties are cakes using chocolate. One of representing cakes is "amer 80%", chocolate cake which consists of different chocolate layers. It was so cool! Delicate and pleasant. As the name indicates, bitter chocolate taste leaves strong impression. Other cakes are also nice. Mille-feuille was very crispy even time passed and the combination with rich custard creme was so tasty. Mont blanc was also good. 

Each cake costs around JPY600. My rating is 4.2 out of 5. I wish I could go more frequently. Gochiso-samadeshita!

K. VINCENT(カー・ヴァンソン) http://www.k-vincent.com/

My mom's birthday at a local french in Ibaraki

To celebrate my mother's birthday, I went to a local French restaurant named "Jyunon(樹音)" in Ibaraki(茨城).　Jyunon is a house restaurant surrounded by trees and the natural atmosphere is very good. Though it is a bit way from main streets and residential areas, all the tables were occupied on Saturday. 

Entrance of Jyunon

Inside

Amuse, canape with crab mousse

Starter, ratatouille with poached egg

Soup of potato

Main, beef steak

Dessert (for my mother)

Dishes are not so delicate but good averagely. Each portion is large enough (I couldn't eat up the beef steak). Set meals are available from JPY3,150. Most striking things in this restaurant might be other than dishes, namely cozy atmosphere as a house restaurant and piano performance at night. As BGM, a pianist played many popular musics. In particular, he kindly played a birthday song for my mother when dessert was served. Other people also celebrated my mother and it became a good anniversary. My rating is 2.3 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Jyunon(樹音) http://www.jyunon.com/index.html 

One of my best ramens

Ippudo (一風堂) is one of my best ramen restaurants. Ippudo has started in Fukuoka (福岡) city, the biggest city in Kyushu (九州) since 1985 and developed its branches all over Japan. Recently they also have branches in US, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Korea. Though they have widened their business, the quality is always maintained high.

Every restaurant of Ippudo is stylish with the essence of Japanese modern and jazz. Even so, waiters are very cheerful and friendly, and we don't have to hesitate to enter. I always see many individual customers, even woman until midnight. 

Exterior of Ippudo near Okachimachi

Interior

Pickles and variety of seasonings 

Shiromaru, basic ramen

Akamaru, a bit spicy ramen

So delicious!

Some pickles are always offered free of charge and we wait for ramen over eating them. Ippudo provides rooibos tea, instead of cold water, which seems to alleviate our guilty for eating high-calorie ramen. The feature of their ramen is tonkotsu (豚骨) soup, made by pork-born bouillon, which is popular in Kyushu. Sometimes, tonkotsu ramens tend to be rough taste which we can easily tired of, but Ippudo's tonkotsu is very sophisticated and distinctive. Noodle is very thin and it is the best combination with the soup.

Anyhow, a bowl of ramen in Ippudo is perfect. We can easily eat up quickly and want to order additional noodle (actually many people do so). If you have chance to find Ippudo and have no dietary restriction on pork, please try it! You never regret. Shiromaru, basic ramen in Ippudo costs around JPY800. You can taste their ramen until 3 am. My rating is 4 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Ippudo (一風堂) http://www.ippudo.com/index.html

Favorite creperie

I regularly want to eat galette, French buckwheat crepe for some reason. In Tokyo, the number of cafes/French restaurants offering galette has been increasing compared to before, but the best galette is always the one of creperies of "Le Bretagne (ル　ブルュターヌ) " Group. The Group has developed creperies around Tokyo and the one I can frequently go is BREIZH Cafe CREPERIE in Ginza (銀座), just close to Yurakucho Marion (有楽町マリオン).

BREIZH Cafe CREPERIE in Ginza

Inside

Galette with cheese, egg, ham, tomato and mushroom, salad and dry cider 

Crepe with caramel and vanilla ice cream and cappuccino 

Whenever I eat, their galette and crepe are fantastic! The galette is crunchy and delicious. The balance of salty taste is also adequate with the combination of galette and filling. The portion is larger than expectation and I can be full (though big eater men could not be so). 

Crepe for dessert is much softer and sweeter than galette (that is the ordinary image for crepe). Even though I'm full, I can eat. Namely I have room for dessert. My favorite is a crepe with caramel and ice cream. Melting ice cream on the hot crepe is super! Oh, I wanna eat again so soon.

Service and atmosphere are also good. The problem might be price. Not so cheap. Each galette costs more than JPY1,000(approx. USD13) and the highest one is more than JPY2,000. Beverage is from JPY 650. So, if we order as we like, the total cost would be more than you expect. So, I recommend to go at lunch time as they offer reasonable set menu comprising a salad, a galette, a crepe and a beverage at JPY1,680. That's not so bad. My rating for the lunch set is 4 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Le Bretagne (ル　ブルュターヌ) http://www.le-bretagne.com/index.html

Cake of TAKANO

TAKANO（高野） is one of posh fruit shops, which sells not only fruits but also variety of cakes using fresh fruits. The showcases of TAKANO's cake shops are like jewelry box of fruits. So colorful! I can be just like a small girl who is excited with choosing cakes.

The other day when I celebrated my mother's birthday, I bought a lovely cake of TAKANO.  Especially two-stage cake is so fancy, isn't it? Heart shaped strawberries are also cute! Not only the good appearance, inside was also wonderful. Sponge cakes are very rich and soft. Fresh cream is milky but not so sweet for highlighting the sweetness of fruits. Actually, melon and mango were ripe and delicious.  

Same as every cake shops, if we say that the cake is for celebration, TAKANO kindly decorates a message plate of chocolate and gives some candles free of charge. Thanks to that, my mom was so smiling and I became also happy. My rating is 4 out of 5 for this lovely cake! Gochiso-samadeshita! 

TAKANO（高野） http://takano.jp/   

Authentic hamburger near Kagurazaka

According to kind advice of Mr. Bergman, owner of "MARTINI BURGER(マティーニバーガー)" near Kagurazaka (神楽坂), I went to the restaurant on weekend! The restaurant is located between Edogawabashi (江戸川橋) and Kagurazaka, which needs less than 10 minutes walk from each Subway Station. We arrived around 2:00pm, but all the tables except one were occupied!  

Exterior of MARTINI BURGER

Inside

Menu and fresh NY beer "Brooklyn Lager" 

Brooklyn burger 

West side burger

The restaurant seems new and the interior is so clean and bright. White and blue colored wall makes the space stylish and wooden furniture makes it chic at the same time. I found a lovely flower was decorated on each table and I liked it.

At lunch time, wide variety of hamburgers and sandwiches are on the menu. If we order a set meal, one preferable side dish like mash potato, salad, creamed spinach, etc. are coming together. MARTINI BURGER focuses on cocktails using vodka and prepares only one beer. But the beer was super! I tasted "Brooklyn Lager", fresh NY beer for the first time and it was so nice! The combination with burger was perfect and I ordered two large glasses. 

Burgers were so tasty. Bands, hamburg, potato were well grilled and the smell stimulated appetite. Sauces and cheese were added enough and juicy! The volume of meat was also big enough. Around 200g? After eating, I was so satisfied. Each burger costs around JPY1,000.

The atmosphere is nice with showing an old Hollywood movie of Gene Kelly and good music. My favorite Taj Jackson was also played. We could spend a good afternoon having a nice burger branch. My rating is 3.6 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

MARTINI BURGER(マティーニバーガー) http://martini-burger.com/

Popular Indian dishes among women

Near the JR Okachimachi(御徒町) Station, there is a South Indian restaurant called "Andhra Kitchen (アーンドラ・キッチン) " which has obtained a name through word of mouth on the web. The restaurant is located on the semi-underground in a building and not so large for 20 customers at a miximum. At a night when we visited, many female customers including individual woman enjoyed eating.

Exterior of Andhra Kitchen

Inside of Andhra Kitchen

Dosa, crepe made of rice flour 

Sheek Kabab 

Fish Tikka

Two types of curry and naan

The atmosphere of Andhra Kitchen is casual and a waiter is kind and very chatty, that anyone can enter and be relaxed even alone. Reasonable variety of set meals seemed to attract female customers (though we ordered from a la carte menu). For instance, a set of four different curries, rice, naan and some side dishes is around JPY 2,000. 

What I liked was a dosa, thin crepe made of rice flour. The taste and its distinctive texture was really nice. I suppose few Indian restaurants in Japan likely provide dosa. On the other hand, other standard menus like curry, naan and grilled ones are average. If you want to try South Indian dishes or a bit different ones like dosa, Andhra Kitchen might be recommendable.

The waiter is always trying to talk to each customer and it greatly contributed to a cheerful and good atmosphere. I felt that service is more than the taste. My rating is 2.5 out of 5. Gochiso-samadeshita!

Andhra Kitchen (アーンドラ・キッチン) http://andhra-kitchen.com/index.php?page=home