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.

Heaven Supermarket

Young's Double Chocolate Stout and Blue Star Wheat Bear - RMB20 each

Heaven Supermarket
Sanlitun Bar Street Xi Jie, Chaoyang

Daily until late.

Notes:

Heaven Supermarket has for long been a Sanlitun institution among the city's youngsters - and for good reason. The shop might be host to spartanic interior, but the square-shaped room boasts an extensive selection (by Beijing standards) of imported beers, wines and spirits at very reasonable prices (again, by Beijing standards). By evening the room quickly fills up with groups of people, sitting in clusters on little stools enjoying a cold beer, a bottle of wine or something as classy as "一瓶 Captain Morgan with mixers" (overheard during our last visit). A great and cheap pitstop in the middle of Sanlitun. Recommended - but do remeber to go before it gets too messy as bar street tends to do on Friday and Saturday evenings.