Newport

Suavignon, a biodynamic sauvignon blanc by Béatrice and Michel Augé of Domaine des Maisons Brûlées....

...in the glass, and a Hitachino Nest Weizen beer.

Newport
1-6-8 Tomagaya Mori
Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo

Notes:
Our last night in Tokyo ended with a drink or two at Newport bar, which we had stumbled upon after a quick, non-impressive stint at much-hyped and excessively priced Fuglen. B adored Newport, and really so did I. The decor is cosy, cute, and inviting, the audio backdrop was great, and the beverage list small but impressive. B went with a Hitachino Nest Weizen and me a lovely glass of French biodynamic vin nature from Touraine in Loire. Wines by the glass start at 550 yen, and beers at 600 yen. Highly recommended.

LB6

Olives, semi-dried tomatoes, and a bottle of Portuguese white wine: Quinta do Vallado Douro 2010.

Carpaccio of the day - sea bream - with olive oil.

Chicken liver mousse, pork ears "fritto" and a plate of assorted hams.

Feast overview - do notice the gorgeous bagna cauda setup at the very right.

LB6
1F, Landic Roppongi Bldg.
4-11-13 Roppongi
Minato-Ku, Tokyo

Notes:
B and I spent one of the most enjoyable meals of the entire Tokyo trip at LB6. A few days prior to our visit we had passed the restaurant and taken note of how lovely it looked and we thus decided to give a try on our last night after having pre-dinner drinks at nearby Orangé. The food is simple but the quality excellent. The bagna cauda we had was just right and perfectly accompanied by an extensive vegetable assortment served on ice. The sea bream was of an amazing, tender quality and the ham... oh, the ham... if you go there, get the assorted hams! Another plus is their varied yet affordable wine list. After 10 days in Tokyo our student bank accounts were hurting and we went for a bottle of white from Portugal, very competitively priced at just 2,500yen. Turned out to be a crisp, mineral wine and provided excellent value for money. The menu also featured beers from local Baird Brewing and a handful of cocktails. All this set us back less than 8,000yen, which I found to be exceptional for Japan standards. Highly recommended.

Orangé

Moët & Chandon Champagne Rosé + Cheesy pita snacks.

Crostini with smoked scamorza cheese, grilled red pepper and anchovies.

French Sauvignon Blanc, Black Heineken + Vegetable tempura

Orangé

Tokyo Midtown

9 Akasaka, Minatu-Ku

Tokyo

Notes:

During our last visit to Tokyo we lived in lovely Akasaka and on our first night we coincidently stumbled across Orangé, tempting us with their daily happy hour (which I believe run until 7:30pm). The place is a casual wine bar, quite popular among locals. Both of the times we were there, they also held wedding receptions, which was quite interesting to watch. But as to the happy hour deal, it is great. A glass of Moët & Chandon champagne (regular or rosé) will set you back 800 yen and other alcoholic beverages are discounted as well. Along side our drinks we were served little snacks, which were incredibly delicious. The places serves small plates as well, including fries with truffles, gorgeous ham or little crostini with scamorza and anchovies like the ones we had, shown above. Service is friendly but not super attentive. Still I will highly recommend this place.

Bar High Five

Negroni.

Blood and Sand.

Bar High Five

4th Floor, 26 Polestar Building

7-2-14 Ginza, Tokyo

Notes:

Japan's cocktail culture is fascinating! In a country where precision is key (accumulated delays for all Shinkansen trains are less than one minute each year), you can only start to image how they make cocktails. Hidetsugo Ueno is a master in his field and B and I felt very honored and lucky to be able to experience his cocktail-making first hand. We started off with our favorite drinks - what better way to test Ueno-san's craftmanship? I thus had a Blood and Sand, B had a negroni (which was made with Martini Bitter, a product we had not previously encountered and only recently were able to physically find in a Metro Cash & Carry in Southern France). Both were excellent, made with an attention to detail I have never seen before. Thereafter, we let Ueno-san use his creativity and I ended up with an excellent tea cocktail, the main ingredient being Fauchon Tea Liquor. In fact the cocktail was so good we decided to pick up a bottle for ourselves during our stay in Tokyo. You should however be warned that prices are steep! We payed +10,000 yen for four cocktails, which also included cocktail snacks such as crackers with brie and honey mustard and nuts and crackers served in interesting bowls that Ueno-san has found around the globe. Highly recommended.

Little Nap COFFEE STAND

Coffee menu

Coffee shop interior

Iced americano, iced coffee, and a brownie to go.

Little Nap COFFEE STAND

5-65-4 Yoyogi,

Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo

Notes:

An endearing little coffee shop, ideally located on the West side of Yoyogi Park. B and I dropped by for two iced coffees and a piece of cake to bring into the park. The staff was knowing and helpful, and the coffee hit just the right spot in the July heat. Recommended.

Peter The Bar

Happy hour drinks: Spumoni and Tokyo Joe

Bar with a view.

Peter The Bar
The Peninsula Tokyo, 24F
1-8-1 Yurakucho
Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo

Notes:
A lovely venue for a quick pre-dinner drink in Ginza, Peninsula Hotel's Peter The Bar features a happy hour Sunday through Thursday from 5pm to 8pm. The happy hour includes a selected list of drinks which are all priced at 700 yen. B went with a classic spumoni while I went with the bar's self-invented signature drink, Tokyo Joe, which turned out to be a lovely mix of gin, umeshu, drambuie, cranberry and lemon juices. The presentation was slightly tacky but fit the Peter Pan theme of the bar quite well. Recommended.

TAKAZAWA

Akasaka side street. The TAKAZAWA entrance is just beside the oyster bar. 

Amuse bouches: In the background a sort of chip of dried seaweed and scallop. In the front, cherry tomatoes and basil on a salt rock as well as baby vegetables in a miso-sesame cream.

In the glass: Bubbly from Takazawa-san's favorite Champagne house, Gardet.

Amuses bouches, second round: Smoked salmon with a jalapeño pepper cream.

1st course: Ratatouille (2005). One of Takazawa-san's signature dishes. 15 vegetables cooked individually served with a bit of volcanic salt. Must be eaten in one mouthful.In the glass: A 2004 Komoiderochiku Koshu.

Corn bread with rilette of Okinawan Agu pork.

2nd course: Vegetables parfait (2011). A sort of gazpacho topeed with mozzarella mousse, caviar, seaweed chip and edible flowers. 

3rd course: SEA (2012). "The beach" featuring barnacles, oyster, shiro-hamaguri clam, Okinawan umi-budo seaweed...

3rd course: ...and a tiny pink crab and "sand" made of powdered shrimp.

3rd course: "The Sea" featuring uni, abalone flesh and liver in jellied dashi stock with peaks of lemon foam.In the glass: Yuko-no-bijin, a junami ginjo sake from Akita

4th course: Powdery Dressing (2006). White liver, guinea fowl breast, cauliflower, corn, lotus root and asparagus...

4th course: ...topped with nitro-chilled power of apple vinegar.
In the glass: Kido Chardonnay.

5th course: TAKAZAWA GOLD (2012). A take on Japanese energy drink Real Gold. Cream soup of asparagus and suppon turtle served with deep-fried asparagus and suppon meat.

6th course: Candleholder (2007). Foie gras crème brulée with mango purée served with thin, toasted slices of fig-nut bread.
In the glass: An unfiltered blend of Muscat Bailey A and Merlot from 2007.

7th course: SALTS (2009). Tempura of ayu sweet fish and vegetables. Salts of curry, matcha, sakura.

In the glass: A Japanese beer made from grapes.

Preparation for 8th course. Warm water is poured over and the little pill turns into a warm hand towel. The next course was to be eaten with our fingers.

8th course: Dinner in the Forest - WAGYU (2009). Covered by a branch of spruce...

8th course: ...we find grilled saga beef, baby corn, fingerling tomatoes and sort of mushroom which I have failed to remember.In the glass: A late harvested Chateau Mars from 2006.

9th course: Grated Cheese? (2009) Actually, this turned out to be a palate cleanser of frozen, grated apple.

In the glass: Sweet wine from Yamabe made from Niagara grapes.

10th course: Stone Pavement (2012). Supposed to be a picture of a narrow, paved Kyoto street. Featured mascarpone cheesecake with green yuzu and matcha powder, green tea ice cream, crunchy almonds and kuromitsu syrup.

Post-dinner tea (I chose "For the mothers") with petit fours of miso cookie, coconut cookie, mochi and umeboshi marshmallow

Takazawa-san in his kitchen.

TAKAZAWA
3-5-2- Akasaka Building 2F
Akasaka, Minato-Ku, Tokyo

Notes:
How do you even begin to describe the best meal you have ever savored? Impossible. But I have at least done my best to write down the description of each course in the captions. What else do I have to add? The evening B and I had at TAKAZAWA is among the most memorable we have ever shared. Takazawa-san's food challenged and pampered our senses so many ways. Takazawa-san's wife Akiko was graceful and delivered flawless service, answering even our most stupid questions. The beverage pairing were (except for the Champagne apéritif) all Japanese and thus new to us, which was incredibly interesting and an eye-opener in may ways. At +100,000 yen for 2 people this is also the most expensive meal I have ever eaten - but worth every penny.There is not doubt that we will return next time we are in Tokyo.

Nogizaka Uoshin

Oolong + lemon highball

Squid in a bitter soy-ish sauce

Nokkesushi: 8pcs of kappa maki topped with (from the back) kani (crab meat), uni (sea urchin), ikura (salmon roe) and negitoro (minced, fatty tuna).

Tempura smelt

Nogizaka Uoshin

9-6-32 Akasaka

Minatu-ku, Tokyo

Notes:

After a glass of champagne at Orangé, B and I headed for Nogizaka Uoshin. The latter in fact implies that it is a chain of izakayas, owned by the Uoshin group. This one was specialized in fish and seafood. Before our visit I had seen pictures of the nokkesushi around the net, which looked incredibly tempting. And I was not let down - apparently too much of a good thing, is not necessarily bad. At 1500 yen not a bad deal either. I was not overly impressed with the squid but very much enjoyed the smelt tempura. It all went well with our large highball and the lively atmosphere in the smoky izakaya. Recommended.

Blue Frog

"The Montana" and "The Zone"

Blue Frog
3/F Sanlitun Village South
19 Sanlitun Lu
Daily, 10am-2am
 

Notes:

Blue Frog is a Beijing burger instituion with their 1+1 burger deal every Monday from 4pm-close. Expect a bit of waiting time as the place is usually packed with burger-craving expats and exchange students. On this occasion we tried "The Montana" including onion rings and their low-carb burger "The Zone" served sans bun. The onion rings were sub-standard and drenched in bland BBQ sauce but other components such as the bacon and cheddar were of decent quality - same went for "The Zone" which also included pickles. Both burgers were grilled to our medium-rare preference but the total impression remained rather bland. The sweet potato fries option was however a good alternative to their normal, very standard fries. A decent value proposition on a Monday.

Gung Ho! Pizza

Pesto chicken/four cheese pizza + Thai beef salad

Ready to eat! 

Gung Ho! (Lido Branch)
Shop 2 / Hairun Int'l Apartments
Cnr Jiangtai Rd & Fangyuan W Rd
Daily, 11am-11pm - also for delivery

Notes:
In my opinion Gung Ho! Pizza is one of Beijings more endearing food concepts. Not only do the delivery guys tour the city in a pink unicolor outfit on pink scooters with a little pink flag - the concept also features a wide range of inspired pizze, let it be baby squid and lemon aioli, pumpkin and sweet potato or Beijing duck with hoisin sauce. At our last visit B and I decided to share a pizza and a salad. Gung Ho! gives you the possibility to have "half and half" which we decided to go for - this time four cheeses and pesto chicken on a wholewheat crust. Crisp and boasting lots of flavorful blue and goat cheese on a more subtle base of ricotta and mozzarella. The thai beef salad included some very standard beef but also incredibly tasty marinated mushrooms, very crisp salad and a spicy, tangy dressing - generously served. Accompanied by a bottle of Grace Vineyards Chardonnay, this was a perfect meal for a low-key Friday night. Gung Ho!'s prices might be above that of other generic concepts such as Annies but sets itself apart by the use of high quality ingredients. Previously mentioned delivery service is easy even for expats like us to use - so Gung Ho! is highly recommended even if you just feel like enjoying a Beijing duck pizza on your own couch a hangover Sunday. Branches can also be found in Sanlitun and Shuangjing.

Brasserie Flo

Foie gras terrine with balsamic glace and toasted, fruity bread.

"Confit de canard" with carrot purée.

Profiteroles with warm chocolate sauce on the side.

Madeleines, warm from the oven, to go with the coffee.

A little something to bring home. It turned out to be very delicious canelés.

Brasserie Flo
37 Guangfu Road
Italian Style Town
Hebei, Tianjin

Notes:
B and I decided to take the high speed train to Tianjin for the weekend and were pleasantly surprised to see that Brasserie Flo, which is also located in Beijing's Lido district, had a branch there. For dinner service they serve a three course dinner priced fairly at 300 yuan. It includes French bistro classics like escargots (which B had), terrine de foie gras and profiteroles. We had a very enjoyable evening in Flo's Tianjin settings. The ambience was light and positive, service quite attentive and the food was as classic as can be. Highly recommended.