This storied site has seen many gifted chefs pass through its doors over the years, starting with its previous guise as legendary La Tante Claire before Gordon Ramsay bought it from Pierre Koffmann in 1998. Aubergine transposed as it were, in all but name. Wareing,…
The word is the great Pierre Koffmann craves the stoves still, and is searching for another bricks and mortar to continue his Tante Claire revival. He shut the Berkeley reboot at the end of 2016, the reason apparently is to do with the hotel’s need…
MAR17 NOTE: Prices have gone up by quite some margin since I visited. Best to call ahead to check, especially if you want to do the Menu Choisi. Other meals: Feb 2017, Jan 2017, Oct 2016 My first visit to this brilliant family-run restaurant was…
Shinobu Namae really has carved a piece of serenity right in the heart of Tokyo; A pressure relief valve for those predisposed against this great and greatly hectic urban jungle. Judging by hypespacez’ series of blog posts across the years, this city garden has recently…
And that’s it. 2016. Done. To you, dear reader, who continue to read blogs in 2016, thank you very much. Have a jolly Christmas and New Years, eat and drink till you drop and see you in 2017. 16. Christian Parra Boudin Noir with spring…
2nd Visit – November 2016 (scroll down for 1st visit) I really enjoyed my second visit here, things have moved up and up. Nick Gilkinson tuned his FOH team like clockwork, meanwhile Mark Jarvis and Jack Cashmore are delivering their clean cooking with more precision,…
I love Paris’ Japanese-run French restaurants (chiefly Neige d’ete), a melding of two heavyweight cuisines which seem perfect together. Both heavily codified, both with schools of gastronomy that seek a similar sort of perfection, in terms of product selection and cooking technique to draw out…
Isn’t he just the minimalist. Sushi ya or Sushi house/restaurant (すし 家) is one which has built up a quite the following since it opened in 2012. The Itamae fronting this is Takao Ishiyama, barely 30, who has been widely lauded for his potential as…
Katsumi Ichikawa carries an interesting legacy, especially to Londoners, since you in the know, know him as apprentice to the great Mitsuhiro Araki. He worked for the sushi master for 4 years, including the year when Araki san won his 3 stars in 2011. Araki…
The next chapter in my quest for wagyu takes me back to Tokyo in the Fall of 2016, where colours are just beginning to show. This time round, I am in search of precision shimofuri and I am convinced I will find it between an…
*DEC2017 Update : Narikura is bib gourmand in the 2017 Michelin guide for Tokyo. I caught up with my old boss in Tokyo last week and he told us about the Japanese fondness for shortening names. For instance the omnipresent corner shop Family Mart is…
MAR17 NOTE: Prices have gone up by quite some margin since I visited. Best to call ahead to check, especially if you want to do the Menu Choisi. Other meals: Feb 2017, Jan 2017, Oct 2016 Not many places have its food fully attributed to…
