About
travels for friends, food and wine - in exactly this order
From
San Sebastian, Spain
Born
July 21
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Restaurants
- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Lunch at Azafrán at Azafrán
A big steak in Mendoza, Argentina before the Aconcagua climb. I think the in Argentina they always overcook the meat, but the quality is excellent
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at Boragó at Boragó
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Back to my neighborhood Lyonnaise bistro. This time as my fellow diners never had been there or in Lyon, we took the classic menu with only Lyonnaise dishes. Always a treat.
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New Restaurant by Bertrand Larcher, the guy who brought Crepes and Cidre to Japan about 25 years ago. He already has a small restaurant empire in Japan but now expanded to add this place.
It was the opening night so you would expect logistical problems which surely occurred but my main problem is the concept. It is a French restaurant in a Japanese... More
New Restaurant by Bertrand Larcher, the guy who brought Crepes and Cidre to Japan about 25 years ago. He already has a small restaurant empire in Japan but now expanded to add this place.
It was the opening night so you would expect logistical problems which surely occurred but my main problem is the concept. It is a French restaurant in a Japanese setting with, naturally, the crepes mixed in. So you end up with a mixture of something not clearly defined. Anyway, it is early days and I am sure the concept will evolve and hopefully be refined.
The food, when it arrived, was very good, some dishes lacked a little acidity and were served too cold. Another problem as the kitchen is in the basement and the food gets transported in a food elevator to the ground floor.
I am sure all of this will be ironed out.
The wine list contains a whole page of fine Cidres. For somebody who loves this beverage, this is best cider list I have seen in any restaurant, France or Japan.
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Brand new Yakiniku restaurant in Kagurazaka.
Beef from Yamagata prefecture. Flexible private dining room, great service.
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Daniel Carson is the director in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Tokyo and responsible for the 10 restaurants they have there. However, I suspect his real passion and blood is in the pizza bar.
A 8 seat counter serves mainly pizza with a few starter dishes to ease you in. The pizzas are only served there and cannot be ordered elsewhere in the restaurant.... More
Daniel Carson is the director in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Tokyo and responsible for the 10 restaurants they have there. However, I suspect his real passion and blood is in the pizza bar.
A 8 seat counter serves mainly pizza with a few starter dishes to ease you in. The pizzas are only served there and cannot be ordered elsewhere in the restaurant. He gets supported there by Yuichi and Paulo, both from the Philippines and have not been in Italy, but only got trained by Daniel in the MO Hotel in Tokyo.
He also is a scientist by heart, experimenting constantly with the dough to get the best possible result. The latest outcome of his experiments is that he produces 2 different doughs, one for a cheese based pizza and another one for the non cheese pizzas. The cheese based dough contains up to 25% rye while the non cheese one only up to 2%. For both of them he uses sparkling water, of course San Pellegrino! This distinction makes interesting tasting as one really tastes the difference. He also does not fall into the Roman (even though he comes from there) or Napolitanian category of his pizzas. He falls somewhere in between. The bottom is thin and crispy while the outer crust is thicker, fluffy and doughy.
He kindly prepared an Omakase tasting menu, kicking off with a grilled shikakumame (winged beans) from Okinawa, following up with his signature tomato salad with stracciatella cheese topping. A small course, pizza bread with mortadella and truffles provided a first highlight but the absolute standout was the Maitake pizza. Of course, we had to eat the benchmark Marinara to wrap up the savory dishes. This is comfort food at its best.
Fantastic place, great food, pushing pizza to its highest level.
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One of the best in Tokyo and by extension in the world. Great team, constantly pushing to improve the dough to get the best result.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Lunch at CLAMATO at Clamato
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AM is the creation of Alexandre Mazzia. The restaurant is tiny, with a kitchen so small that many domestic kitchens are bigger. It contains 24 seats of which there are 5 counter seats where you basically sit right on the pass.
Mr. Mazzia was born and raised in Congo and claims to be still influenced by his childhood experience.
The menu is composed... More
AM is the creation of Alexandre Mazzia. The restaurant is tiny, with a kitchen so small that many domestic kitchens are bigger. It contains 24 seats of which there are 5 counter seats where you basically sit right on the pass.
Mr. Mazzia was born and raised in Congo and claims to be still influenced by his childhood experience.
The menu is composed differently than in other restaurants as he always has six servings and the diner just chooses how many little plates each serving contains.
I, of course, went for the jugular and the pricey (€380) biggest menu. This contains 36(!) small dishes grouped together in what seems to be a random order of 6 servings.
I have been at AM before a few times but for obvious reasons not in the last three years. Mr. Mazzia has not only developed but made a quantum leap. This is so far the meal of the year (276 as of the end of October, not counting any meals in Ryokans where I stayed overnight) and given the advance state of the year, maybe it will stay that way.
His compositions are bold while at the same time delicate. The layering of flavors is sometimes subtle and sometimes aggressive. The execution is always flawless, which is a feat when serving 36 dishes. But most of all the combination of ingredients and thus flavors is simply stunning. Dishes like Goosefoot in tempura-vodka, pike roe, chili, shell dust or Seaweed, sweet potato ointment, licorice, bottarga sound like they could never work but they do. Very much so.
Mr. Mazzia does all of this in a tiny little kitchen with three other cooks while chatting with the regulars who are of course placed at the counter. To churn out such a kitchen this number of dishes for 24 dinners is by itself an accomplishment, but doing it at such a quality and tastiness beggars belief.
The front of the house is very competent in being able to explain all dishes. It is quite an accomplishment to be able to announce what must be hundreds of ingredients during the whole meal.
There is a champagne, wine, sake and non alcoholic pairing available which gets managed by the team flexible depending on the speed of drinking.
All together this makes not for a good, but a great meal. I cannot wait to go back. It truly is worth a journey.