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Great deal gourmet lunches

Great deal gourmet lunches

Old Aug 15, 2006, 3:59 pm
  #31  
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Originally Posted by stockmanjr
Any chance this could be stickied or included in the master thread? I think it's a great thread.
cheers
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Maybe we'll have to "bump it" every once in a while.

In any event - I had another take on this for a tourist who will be in Japan for at least a while. To me 2500 yen (about $25) is neither here nor there in terms of restaurants. If I had my druthers - I'd pick a really cheap place one day - and then an expensive one. Or maybe 2 cheap ones - and one expensive one depending on one's budget. For example - the fixed lunch menus at top places like Beige (Ducasse) and L'Osier (also French) are about 6000 yen. We had a fixed lunch at one of the best tempura places in town for 4800 yen. Lunch at high end restaurants is almost always a bargain compared to dinner - and there are plenty of places where you can eat a decent lunch in Japan for less than 1000 yen. So I would tend to do a "barbell". Robyn
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Old Aug 16, 2006, 12:41 am
  #32  
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Originally Posted by robyng
Maybe we'll have to "bump it" every once in a while.

In any event - I had another take on this for a tourist who will be in Japan for at least a while. To me 2500 yen (about $25) is neither here nor there in terms of restaurants. If I had my druthers - I'd pick a really cheap place one day - and then an expensive one. Or maybe 2 cheap ones - and one expensive one depending on one's budget. For example - the fixed lunch menus at top places like Beige (Ducasse) and L'Osier (also French) are about 6000 yen. We had a fixed lunch at one of the best tempura places in town for 4800 yen. Lunch at high end restaurants is almost always a bargain compared to dinner - and there are plenty of places where you can eat a decent lunch in Japan for less than 1000 yen. So I would tend to do a "barbell". Robyn
I consider a lunch for less than 2500 yen to be "cheap". If it is "gourmet", of course, that's better. However, I don't think I've had a "cheap gourmet" lunch for less than 1200 yen or so. It is possible, though to spend more than 2500 and your lunch end up being not "gourmet" which is to be avoided.

I went to dinner at Beige a couple of weeks back. It is most most excellent ("gourmet" but certainly not "cheap"). I had the 3 course dinner (17000 yen), which was more like 6 courses, since it included an opening amuse-bouche, an outstanding cheese course, and a large dessert. Plenty of food. The bill for two, however, ended up being about 60000 yen. That's what happens when you polish off 3 bottles of wine with dinner at Ducasse.
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Old Aug 16, 2006, 2:55 pm
  #33  
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Yes - dinner at high end places is rarely a bargain. But lunch frequently is. Plus - if you're like me - well I don't drink at lunch - just dinner. So your bill for beverages isn't going to double or triple the cost of the meal. Robyn
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Old Sep 21, 2006, 11:51 am
  #34  
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Seafood Ramen (no meat)

Veering away from the aim of the thread slightly, but I wanted to post this information in case it's useful to any other non meat eaters who want to try 'Ramen'.

The Ramen Museum in Yokohama kindly furnished me with this suggestion when I asked if they knew of anywhere in Tokyo that did Ramen with fish but without meat stock ^ . They couldn't comment on if it was good as they'd never been.

Kunigamiya
address:1-6 higashihon-cho,higashikurume-City Tokyo
〒203-0014 東京都東久留米市東本町1-6

It has its own web page: www.kunigamiya.com (now expired - try this instead http://www.kawasakionline.jp/gourmet/noodle/kunigamiya/)

Last edited by LapLap; Feb 16, 2008 at 11:34 am
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Old Sep 21, 2006, 1:45 pm
  #35  
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I suggest Pierre Gagnaier (4F, RF Minami-aoyama Square
5-3-2 Minami-aoyama, Minato-ku Tokyo, Japan 107-0062 Phone:+00 81 3 5466 6800). Pretty French, sort of Japanese, and you can have lunch for around $100 a person if you take it easy on the wine.

I was there last month and liked it. I'd even pay to go back.

The lunch is a bargain only 'cause the dinner is really pricy!
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Old Sep 21, 2006, 3:22 pm
  #36  
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Originally Posted by biggestbopper
I suggest Pierre Gagnaier (4F, RF Minami-aoyama Square
5-3-2 Minami-aoyama, Minato-ku Tokyo, Japan 107-0062 Phone:+00 81 3 5466 6800). Pretty French, sort of Japanese, and you can have lunch for around $100 a person if you take it easy on the wine.

I was there last month and liked it. I'd even pay to go back.

The lunch is a bargain only 'cause the dinner is really pricy!
Surely this belongs on the crazy prize gourmet thread - which is supposed to be the antithesis of this one!
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Old Jan 28, 2007, 5:02 am
  #37  
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Originally Posted by LapLap
Took me a while to get the information (I knew how to get there, but not the name of the place or address)
Here's my favourite place to eat in Tokyo: http://www.flyertalk.com/reviews/rev...?review_id=181
good prices at Lunchtime AND at dinner.
The Uokichi is currently closed (and so is the attached basement restaurant). Apparently, they are moving the fish store (not clear where), and the attached restaurant is expected to re-open sometime in mid-February.
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Old Jan 28, 2007, 9:16 am
  #38  
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Glad to see this very important thread back in action. ^

By the way, on a recent trip to Paris I had occasion to compare the prices at Pierre Gagnaier Paris with those in Tokyo. Tokyo is way less expensive. Of course, the two experiences are quite different.
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Old Jan 29, 2007, 12:35 am
  #39  
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Originally Posted by jib71
Tokyo Station Area (Marunouchi side)

Closest station: Otemachi Mita Line, Chiyoda Line or Hanzomon Line
Restaurant Name: Endor
Type of food: Sashimi set with an additional dish - two choices per day
Link: Located in the restaurant area underneath Citibank at the crossing of Eitai Dori and Hibiya Dori (very close to Palace Hotel)

Review: Arrive before 12noon for a 100yen discount on the 1000yen lunch set. You have four or five choices per day. Two or Three of them are sashimi plus an additional dish (one of which is usually grilled or boiled fish of some kind). One choice is always maguro don and the other is always chirashi don. So there is always something for a "fish only" eater. And it is wonderful... Really this is the only "home style" cooking that I can find in the Marunouchi area. Even the rice here just tastes "better" - as if mummy made it.
Went to this place today for lunch. Verdict: maa maa. The rice was cold, the fish was OK but not memorable, and the wasabi looked like it came out of a tube. Maybe the chef was in a bad mood. My standard for this is Kifune in Ginza-8, and there is no comparison. Sorry, jib71.

Speaking of jib71, at least let me link to a place we all agree qualifies as a cheap gourmet lunch: Chef Chin's of Mabodofu Nemawashi fame.
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Old Jan 29, 2007, 4:53 am
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Fixed

Originally Posted by Pickles
Speaking of jib71, at least let me link to a place we all agree qualifies as a cheap gourmet feast: Chef Chin's of Mabodofu Nemawashi fame.
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Old Jan 29, 2007, 11:19 am
  #41  
 
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Originally Posted by Pickles
Verdict: maa maa. The rice was cold, the fish was OK but not memorable, and the wasabi looked like it came out of a tube. Maybe the chef was in a bad mood.
So sorry to hear it. I have not been there since November because we moved office. But from your review I guess something must have changed....

Rice - This is what makes me think that the owner or the chef may have changed. I always had a very "natsukashii" inaka feeling as I tucked into their rice. It was truly one of the differentiators.

Wasabi - Not sure. It might have been tube stuff.
Fish - Was generally very good. Maybe not up to ginza standards... but this is Otemachi.

I'll check it out when I get back to Japan. I'll be so disappointed if it is no longer worthy of a place on this list.
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Old Jan 29, 2007, 5:26 pm
  #42  
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Originally Posted by jib71
Rice - This is what makes me think that the owner or the chef may have changed. I always had a very "natsukashii" inaka feeling as I tucked into their rice. It was truly one of the differentiators.
I had the maguro don, and the rice was definitely cold. The other sets looked better, but don't know if the rice was cold there.
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Old Jan 31, 2007, 10:48 pm
  #43  
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Originally Posted by jib71
Closest station: Tokyo (Marunouchi side)
Restaurant Name: Mahorama
Type of food: Fish and huge bento trays (you will feel full)
Link: http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g763363/index.htm
Located in the restaurant area underneath the newly reconstructed Mitsubishi Shintaku bank (take the stairs leading downwards from the Dean & Deluca cafe)

Review: Prices from 1000 to 1300 for super big lunch trays including grilled fish, sashimi, rice, soup, pickles, chawan mushi and other favourites...
In my quest to eat at Mahorama, on the first try, I thought that the D&D was South of Wadakuramon. It turns out it is North, so I couldn't find it, and ended up eating at the Imahan in one of the buildings in Naka-Dori. Imahan is a Sukuyaki chain, but the Marunouchi branch has much cheaper lunch sets than the other branches (the Ginza branch will charge you twice or so), so it gets a ^ .

The second time, after I looked in the map, I did find it, but the ahos close for lunch at 1:30, and I arrived at 1:32, so no go. But it did look good. That time, I ended up eating at a place called Hibiki, on the opposite corner from the D&D. Not bad, cheap good lunch: www.dynac-japan.com/hibiki

Furthermore, I noticed that the Caves Taillevent wine shop (yes, run by the Taillevent after his fight with Robuchon over the castle in Ebisu) serves lunch, a very reasonable 1,575 yen without dessert and 2,100 with dessert. You can also get wine carafes for 1,000-2,000 yen, and you can have any bottle from their cellar served to you for a corkage fee of 1,575 yen. It looked pretty good, too.
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Old Feb 1, 2007, 3:16 am
  #44  
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Originally Posted by Pickles

Furthermore, I noticed that the Caves Taillevent wine shop (yes, run by the Taillevent after his fight with Robuchon over the castle in Ebisu) serves lunch, a very reasonable 1,575 yen without dessert and 2,100 with dessert. You can also get wine carafes for 1,000-2,000 yen, and you can have any bottle from their cellar served to you for a corkage fee of 1,575 yen. It looked pretty good, too.
Whoah!!!

If ever there was an example of what this thread is about - it's uncovering something such as this.

Thank you for cataloguing your current quest to sample a selection of these suggestions. It seems very heroic. It's obviously for the greater good of FT!

(and I'm flattered you took on my most strongly recommended suggestion - shame that an establishment that's been around since 1911 had to change - and just 5 years shy of its 100 year anniversary!... I hope its still good when it reopens.)
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Old Feb 14, 2007, 12:10 am
  #45  
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Originally Posted by Pickles
Honda. Kita-Aoyama 2. Italian. Appetizer, main course, dessert, coffee/tea in a high-end setting, excellent food. 2,100 yen for lunch.
In the 2007 Zagat guide, this place is rated as one of the top 5 Italian restaurants in Tokyo. Get there before the crowds finally discover it.
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