Sunday May 24, 2009
Ueno Station , Tokyo
Brasserie L'Ecrin
On a cloudy, rainy day, although instinct was to stay home, watch movies with hot chocolate, my friend Bill and I decided to head to Ueno to Toshogu Shrine to go to the Peony Garden. Its supposed to be one of the prettiest Peony Garden's in Japan. You see, peonies are one of my favorite flowers. In Malibu, they are expensive because very hard to grow in the dry warm climate. But in Japan they are supposed to be abundant. I've seen them in Ikebana displays as late April, early May is peak season, but have not seen them grow wild around Tokyo. So although it was past peak season, I kept my fingers cross as believe it or not, I've never seen a peony plant! Unfortunately, when we got there, we found out that the garden is now closed for the rest of the year.... It re-opens again in January for the winter peony season but I'll be home in California by then. So yet again, I've missed the peony season in Japan. Next year, I'm going to make it my mission to travel somewhere to view peonies. Bill tried to cheer me up by buying me a bouquet of peonies from a flower shop but after stopping by 2 that we found, none of them had peonies! Both stores told us that peony season is over :((.
So we gave up and decided to head back to my place in Akasaka, but while at Ueno station we noticed an authentic looking French Brasserie called Brasserie L'ecrin. Looked so authentic and charming that we decided to have lunch there. I found out that it is a branch of the restaurant L'Ecrin which is one of the oldest and most prestigious French restaurants in Tokyo. The main restaurant L'Ecrin is located in the Mikimoto building in Ginza. We chose the chef's recommended menu for 3900 yen with a bottle of the house red wine which was a Cote de Rhone. We liked the ambiance a lot as the waiters and the maitre'd were very old school but very friendly. The whole atmosphere was french brasserie and the food was fantastic. I would definitely go back. I also learned that there is a Rotisserie L'Ecrin which specializes in roast chicken so I definitely am going to try that restaurant before I leave Japan.
Our meal started with a salad with scallops dressed in a very refreshing vinaigrette. The scallops were roasted perfectly.
Our second course was roasted Isaki- a local fish in season- in a herb butter sauce. The sauce was very good and the fish was very fresh and light.
Our third course was filet mignon. It was cooked perfectly and served with a burgundy sauce. The potatoes were very very good.
The meal ended with dessert ( I had the homemade icecream and sorbet special, Bill had creme brulee) but we got so engrossed in talking that I forgot to take a photo!
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