February 11, 2009
Wednesday, Tokyo
Cloudy, Damp and 4C
National Founding Day Holiday
I found out Dima is going back to Japan in March :((( so we decided to take advantage of the holiday and check out another famous French restaurant in Tokyo. Not sure what the holiday is about but Dima and I ended up spending most of the day working and were so looking forward to our girls lunch at Beige: http://www.beige-tokyo.com/e/index.shtml. Its an Alan Ducasse restaurant and is located in the Chanel building in Ginza Tokyo. Alan Ducasse created with inspiration from Madam Chanel - simple but elegant using the freshest ingredients from Japan and France.
The entrance
We entered a side door, got into a fancy elevator and was greeted by the French maitre'd when the elevator doors opened. As the name suggests, the decor was muted - elegant and modern. Although only a few tables were occupied about an hour into the lunch the restaurant was full.
The restaurant was full within the hour but quiet enough to have a comfortable conversation
We were presented with two menus - the a la carte and "set menu" for February and a special black truffles menu for 11000 yen. We decide on the 8000 yen "set menu" where we could choose 3 vegetable or meat/seafood dishes, a dessert and coffee or tea. We also decided to celebrate the lunch by having an aperitif of rose champagne! We both choose to start with the Velvety Chestnut Soup with Pumpkin and Smoked Bacon (Dima does not eat meat so hers didn't come with the bacon. For the second course, I had the potatoes gnocchi with mushrooms and Dima had the sea scallop served in the shell grenobloise. For the third course, we both had the sea bass covered with black truffles served with caramalized endives and a lobster sauce. We decided to splurge on the wine and per recommendation of the sommelier we got a bottle of Saint Aubin from Marc Colin and Fils which is a small winery and makes buttery chardonnays. It was expensive 15000 yen but delicious!! Our meal started with a palate cleanser of lentil soup served in a beautiful lacquer sake cup and home made gougeres. The breads were to die for - olive, baguette and a butter roll. The butter roll was out of this world. I've never had anything like it.
The lentil soup, champagne and gougeres
Our first course. The dish was first served with chestnut foam, bacon and pumpkin. Then after we admired the beauty of it, the waiter poured the pureed chestnut soup. The soup was very delicate where the taste of the chestnut, bacon and pumpkin was not overpowering
My second course: gnocchi with wild mushrooms. the best gnocchi I've ever had
Dima's scallop dish was soo beautiful
Our last dish -sea bass. Its topped with black truffles made to look like the skin. It was impeccable. I could have licked the sauce right off the plate!
Our fabulous bottle of wine
Then it was time for dessert. We both chose the Baba Bouchon with exotic fruits and whipped cream. But before our desserts arrived, we were treated to specially made macaroons which included chocolate, jasmine, vanilla, and pumpkin.
The Macaroons
Check out the filling!
Our dessert: the whipped cream flavored with vanilla was the best whipped cream I've ever had. We both cleaned the plate and ate all the extra whipped cream
Everything about the place was fantastic: the ambience, table art, service, food and of course Dima's company. We both highly recommend this restaurant.
Janet and Dima reached an elegant sufficiency!
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