Slightly Longer Lunch

I was at lunch at Estro the other day to check out some new dishes on their seasonal menu. It's been a while since my last visit (in June last year - I checked) but we were at Chef Antimo's crossover dinner at Tatler Dining event a few months ago. Anyway, it's great to sit down at his restaurant once again with the most relaxed vibe (the dark pastel color theme helps) at the table directly looking over the open kitchen. 

Eight Slices Tasting Menu

We have had tasting menus of different themes before but I believe this is the first time we have a "Menu Degustazione" around pizzas. We made the booking as soon as we heard the Pizza Bar on 58th at Mandarin Oriental Tokyo is doing a popup at Landmark Mandarin and very happy that we did - soon enough it was booked out. 

Two Years Later

Chef Leonard reminded me that we haven't been back to his restaurant Cultivate since their opening week - well, guilty as charged. We enjoyed our dinner last time but somehow we just procrastinated on making a return visit. Until a few weeks ago. 

Seasonal Get-Together

Felt like we are now doing dinner at Ryota at least once every season - thank to our host C who made the effort to organize - and this time with their winter menu on deck a few weeks ago. We were the only group of diners in that evening so we had the whole place to ourselves with undivided attention from their staff front and back. Chef Ryota was not in that night but I didn't see any change in quality of their dishes in spite of his absence, which is a good thing.  

CENSU

Censu has been on my list of restaurants to visit for a while. Technically I have never been but I did try Chef Shun's cooking at a pop-up event a couple years ago right before the restaurant's opening. 

Big Group Gathering

We had dinner at Neighborhood just a couple of weeks ago with a big group of friends (thanks to our friend P who put this together rounding up the group and working with the chef for the menu). We were happy to be back even though Chef David was not around this time – after all it’s been a while since our last visit to the restaurant. 

Same Same But Different

I went back to Aulis for a second time in a month, this time on an invited dinner tasting session and hosted by Chef Charlie Tayler from Aulis London who’s visiting while the Soho restaurant is undergoing renovation. I enjoyed the dinner here in early January and I was promised some of the dishes would be different this time, so didn’t mind a return visit this quick. 

First of the Year

We had lunch at Caprice a few weeks ago just as we wrapped up the long Lunar New Year holiday. What started off out of convenience some years ago – back then it was far easier to make a booking when people normally go for Chinese food during the festive season - has become our little tradition to start the year with one fine lunch date, even though their table has now become sought after all year round.