About food in Japan

Wanoba Japanesque Bistro, Ebisu

Sometimes it's a bit difficult to categorize a restaurant into our cuisine type classification. Wanoba is one of them. This time we have marked it for both "Japanese casual" and "International cuisine".  

The restaurant Wanoba is named as "Japanesque Bistro" by itself. It takes "bistro" or French style casual restaurant with a bar counter and it offers plates as starter, main dish and dessert in casual atmosphere. The dishes are suit for sharing by two or more number of people and for having with a glass of wine.

Look at the menu list carefully and we found that the restaurant focuses on Japaneses ingredients or takes some Japanese flavour into their European style plates.

Let's see the examples we had with photos. Sorry the quality of photos are not perfect this time though.

 

Starter

Assortment of "Obanzai" (vegetable side dishes cooked in home-made style from Kyoto)

Cooked eggplants and cucumber with dashi stock soup (left in the photo)

and 

Cooked potato and minched tuna balls (right)

Both are well cooked into tender texture and flavour.

 

Our second dish

"Fried" pumpkin gnocchi with anchovy sauce

Sounds like Italian food totally?

Pumpkin (or squash) is also often used in Japanese cuisine.

The unique "fried" gnocchi is never oily as we had imagined.

It is crispy like "tempura".

 

Main dish

Rolled "Hyuga" chicken and "hakusai" (Chinese cabbege)

"Hyuga" from Miyazaki, Kyushu is a brand of good quality chicken.

Again the way of cooking is Western style but it features Japanese ingredients.

 

Another Pasta...

This is the dish we liked the most on this day.

Peperoncino spaghetti with "Edo-mae anago" (Edo style conger)

The simple and popular Italian pasta

arranged with the Japanese ingredient, grilled conger fish.

 

They are modern style of "East meets West"!! 

 So they will match well both with wine and Japanese sake or shochu (distilled sake).

It could be a good choice when you would like to have both Japanese and Western style food and think over between these two.

To be an important point, Wanoba aims to re-dicover and introduce the beauty and excellence of Japan. Not only through the ingredients, the modern Japanese style bistro also introduces Japanese fine tablewares and fixtures. It means plates, glass and lamps you can find at the restaurant are also selected Japanese craftworks from that point.

 

Wanoba is located in Ebisu, which is one stop from Shibuya by Yamanote-line. It is within walking distance from Westin Hotel Tokyo and is not far from Roppongi or Shinagawa by taxi.

Restaurant name: Wanoba

Address: 3-1-1 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Official site: http://www.wanoba.com 

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Bills, the best breakfast in the world

You may know Bill Granger's restaurant in Australia, which attracts celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio by "the best breakfast in the world".

Would you like to try the best breakfast in the world? Of course, yes maybe.

Well you can try one in Tokyo or Yokohama  !!

Actually Bills has more number of restaurants in Japan than in his based country, Australia. There are 4 Bills restaurants in Japan with which he felt "strong connection", as per their official homepage. 

Everytimes Bills opened its door in each location in Japan, we found the restaurant soon filled up with guests during morning and even for lunch and afternoon. We guess that makes him created more units in Japan. Here again it shows how much Japanese people like to seek the best meal and to try new arrival.

BIlls' first unit in Japan opened in Shichirigahama, Kamakura (七里ヶ浜、鎌倉), being on the location overlooking beach of Shichirigahama. The next one in Yokohama (横浜) is in "Red-brick warehouse" shopping complex, standing beside Yokohama Port. Then Bills opened two restaurants in Tokyo last year and this April; Odaiba (お台場) bayside and Omotesando (表参道).

Odaiba unit stands in Odaiba beach park, overlooking panoramic view of Tokyo central area over Tokyo bay. The newest Omotesando unit is in Tokyu Plaza Harajuku-Omotesando. It is not facing to beach or sea, but is still surrounded by another type of nature, trees.

All are in selected location that may be suitable even for celebrities' breakfast and all have some tables on terrace where a pet is allowed to be in. Restaurant inside has expansive and bright in white color and narutal taste in every location.

Well, we will show you what we had at Bills Yokohama.

The menu is actually exlclusive to Yokohama unit.

 

Very berry pancake!! with berry butter.

  
Dish filled with berry flavour and the pancake is imaginably fluffy. 

In other units, still we can find another flavour of fine pancakes and other attractive menu such as fruit muffin, banana & chocolate bread, scramble eggs, and ausie breakfast set.

Bills provides different menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Even for dinner, it offers the pancake menu as dessert. 

 

Restaurant name: Bills

<Yokohama>

Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse Building 2, 1-1-2 Shinko, Naka-ku, Yokohama-city, Kanagawa    

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<Omotesando>

 Address: 7th floor, Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku, 4-30-3 Jingu-mae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

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<Odaiba>

Address: 3rd floor Seaside Mall, 1-6-1 Daiba, Minato-Ku, Tokyo

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<Shichirigahama, Kamakura>

Address: 2nd floor Weekend House Alley, 1-1-1 Shichirigahama, Kamakura, Kanagawa

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