Tag Archives: 3.5 stars

{  Ivy Place  }

Ivy Place
Ivy Place
Ivy Place

Ivy Place opened recently on December 5, 2011 and it is located inside of a brand new shopping center in Daikanyama called Daikanyama T-site Garden. It has the most amazing Tsutaya Book store that has all sorts of high-end artsy books, music, and movies with a very sheek lounge/book bar for relaxing with a nice book or magazine.

Ivy Place is located just behind the book store. It’s a cafe, restaurant, and bar that is open from 7:00~26:00 daily. Their pancakes were certainly above average but not entirely memorable. However, their Flatbread Pizza was delicious! We had the Roasted Vegetables, Basil Pesto and Mozzarella for 1400yen. Also, their Crunchy Thai Salad with Chicken and Bean Sprouts with Chili Lime Dressing (1300yen) was good as well.

Overall it was a pleasant experience and now that we’ve been to this place a few times, it’s gotten much better from when it first opened. One great plus (maybe part of their lunch special?) was that they give you free iced-tea (it was peach ginger tea when we went) as well as unlimited coffee refills (which is rare in Tokyo). The lunch set also included salad and unlimited bread which was nice.

Address // 16-15, Sarugakucho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-6415-3232
Website // http://www.tyharborbrewing.co.jp/en/ivy/

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{  Huit  }

Huit Nakameguro
Huit Nakameguro

Huit Nakameguro is a very chic french inspired cafe, and it’s easy to see why it’s a popular place amongst fashionistas in Nakameguro. It also helps that it has delicious food with a cute vintage decor. Everything we ate was quite good and as you can see from the photos the portions are larger than usual for Japan. This cafe is located along the famous Nakameguro river so you can get the added bonus of beautiful cherry blossoms lining the river outside the cafe during the spring time.

Address // 1-10-23, Nakameguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-3760-8898
Website // www.ctn139.com/shop_huit.html

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{  Dinner at Aila  }

Dinner at Aila
Dinner at Aila

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Note: According to their website, looks like Aila will be temporary closed/remodeling. They plan to re-open sometime between Fall 2014 to Spring 2015.
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Aila for dinner is very warm, romantic, and refined. The dinner menu and the food style  are completely different from the lunch service. Dinner is presented in the form of a course menu which includes an amuse bouche, appetizer, main dish, and dessert. Surprisingly, the appetizer I ordered (tomato gazpacho soup pictured towards the top right) was my favorite dish of the night – truly delicious! The main dishes were also good, but the desserts left me a little disappointed for some reason.

Overall, it was a good meal but if I had to compare their lunch and dinner, I would choose lunch without a doubt. Their lunch dishes are just too good to be true for incredibly low prices. I would still recommend dinner at Aila for a special occasion though :)

Address // 1-16-3, EbisuMinami, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-5721-6063
Website // www.rvs.jp/aila

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{  Sushi Sei – 寿司清本店  }

Sushi Sei - 寿司清本店
Sushi Sei - 寿司清本店

Sushi Sei (寿司清 本店) is located in the middle of Tsukiji Market in a highly competitive sushi district which is right next to the Tsukiji Fish Market. People come here to eat the freshest sushi early in the morning to get the best of the best.

We randomly walked by this restaurant after checking out Tsukiji Fish Market and got very lucky that we were able to sit down at the counter without making reservations. Apparently Sushi Sei has a 2nd floor with table seating only, and a new location somewhere nearby –  but this original location has the highest rating and they certainly had fresh fish.

We happend to pick a good time to go since they had a special New Years 11-piece sushi set menu for 2000 yen (the average price for a similar lunch set in this area is 3000~4000 yen). We ended up ordering a couple extra pieces aside from the special because we wanted even more of the yummyness. I’m sure all the sushi around this area is good but if you happen to walk by Sushi Sei, I recommend it (but make sure you sit at the counter!).

Address // 4-13-9, Tsukiji, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-3541-7720
Website // http://www.tsukijisushisay.co.jp/

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{  Le Souffle  }

Le Souffle in Hiroo is the first genuine souffle restaurant I’ve ever been too. As soon as you enter, you imediately feel as though you’ve walked into a classic restraunt that’s been around for ages. This restaurant serves both lunch and dinner but we went only for the dessert.

Who knew there was so many different types of souffles?! Vanilla, Citrus, Mint, Amande, Grand-Marier, Cassis, Coconuts, etc. We went with the Vanilla since it was our first time. It takes 20 minutes to make from the time you order. The wait went by quickly as I sipped on a latte and looked forward to trying the dessert. Once ready, the fluffiest picture perfect souffle i’ve ever seen was brought to our table. I hope the photo taken with my iPhone does it justice because it was art that came to the table. The souffle was so delicate, as soon as you put a spoon through it, it deflated. It wasn’t too sweet – which allowed me to finish the hot and fluffy souffle very quickly.

Love that they have instructions on how to eat it a souffle properly :)

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本格的なスフレが楽しめる数少ないお店の一つが広尾にあるル・スフレです。本物のスフレが頂けるレストランに来たのはこれが初めてでした。お店はクラシカルで歴史を感じるただずまいです。ランチもディナーもやっていますが、私たちはデザート/お茶目的で来店しました。

メニューを見て驚いたのは様々な種類のスフレがある事でした。バニラ、シトラス、ミント、アーモンド、オレンジリキュール、カシス、ココナッツetc. 今回が初めてだった事もあり、王道のバニラを注文しました。オーダーしてから20分かかりますが、実際そこまで長くは感じませんでした。テーブルに運ばれてきたスフレは、今まで見たこともない程のふわふわ感でまさにアートでした。iPhoneで撮影した写真でそれが伝わると良いのですが… スフレはとてもデリケートでスプーンを入れるとすぐにしぼんでしまう程。熱々でふわふわのスフレは甘すぎず、あっという間に完食してしまいました。

親切にスフレの食べ方の説明書きがありました！

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Address // 2F, 3-13-10, Nishiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan (map)
Phone Number // 03-5474-0909
Website // n/a

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