----------------------------------- fvz Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:46 am Re: Iidabashi & Ichigaya - European food ----------------------------------- Those two French restaurants have already been reviews by sanji earlier in this topic. I had here my own comments... L'Habitude - French **** Address - 3-5 Minami Yamabushicho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Opening hours - From 11:30 to 2:00, and from 6:00 to 10:00 (LO). Closed on Mondays. Telephone - 03-3260-8784 Menu - In French and Japanese What a pleasant name for a restaurant ... to me at least, it carries a trace of stability, warmth and good, familiar smells. In this case, the name is apt, for this is just another venue of a chain of homely but excellent budget French restaurants including such gems as La Dinette, Pas-a-Pas, L'Amitie, Metro de Paris and Le Loisir. Like the others, it's a place of chequered tableclothes and reasonable prices, although it's more expensive than for example La Dinette. Their main set is 3900 yen, almost twice what you pay there. What you get in return is a little more attention to details and some elbow room. Being small, it's usually relaxing even when crowded. Those who know any other name of the chain will find no surprises here. The style is the same. The food is mainly classics here too. if you are like me, you will enjoy the lack of pretensions and the quiet atmosphere of the place. The rillette and the terrines are bought already made? Who cares: they are good. December 2004 Brasserie Gus - French **** Address - 82 Yarai-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0805 Opening hours - Open Mon. to Sat. 11:30am to 13:30pm (L.O.) and from 18:00 to 21:00 (L.O.) Telephone - 03-3268-0805 Menu - In French and English Credit Cards - No Take the Tozai line, get off at Kagurazaka, Waseda exit, go up the stairs, cross the street, walk straight on the left side of the street for about three hundred meters and you will be at Brasserie Gus. Obviously a neighborhood restaurant catering mostly to regular customers and unused to big numbers of noisy intruders, BG has just 14 seats, the mandatory chequered table-cloths in a dark, cozy interior, a diminutive staff of just two, and the sort of set menu we have half come to expect. For 2800 yen you can in fact have a very good meal, complete of appetizer, main dish, bread, butter, and dessert. The menu includes many classics in each of these categories: terrine maison, terrine de volaille, salade de jambon et homard, confit de canard, agneau roti au vin, tarte tatin, gateau au chocolat, and the like. Quality was uniformly high, so that the vegetables were boiled to the correct texture, the meat tender, the dressings just right. My sweethart, usually bolder or luckier than I, ordered something unusual that I recommend to everybody: ris-de-boeuf (veal) in ginger sauce, juicy, slightly spicy morsels of soft veal and a joy to the palate. In short: while hardly an adventure, Brasserie Gus is a good place to relax and have a quiet meal in peace without spending a fortune. Just one criticism: a French or Italian restaurant should always serve fresh bread. I for one cannot accept anything else. And the wines? I don't like wine. But hey! I went with Claus Regge, my personal enologist, who will assist me as well as usual in this case too. This is one restaurant that you will want to visit for the quality and good value of their food, not for their wine list. Wine at Brasserie Gus appears to be more of an afterthought than an attraction in itself. The wine list gives no vintages, which is always a danger sign, and the waiter didn't even know the word 'vintage.' The glasses are those tiny 'Paris goblets' that serious wine lovers hate because they don't provide the volume and air that a wine needs to develop its bouquet in the glass. There are seven whites, one rose, and fifteen reds including eight from Bordeaux. The red house wine was a '98 'Figaro,' a vin de pays from Herault. Hardly any nose (the glasses?), very little fruit on the palate, pretty dull. But then you can't expect much for Yen 2400 a full bottle. We next tried a '95 Chateau Loudenne (Medoc), nuts and raspberries on the nose, pleasant enough on the palate but without much sweet fruit, long but slightly bitter finish. The most expensive wine on the list is a '94 'Connotable de Talbot,' rather overpriced at Yen 6300 for a second wine from a poor vintage. There are also one champagne (Yen 8000, no name listed) and one other sparkling wine at Yen 4000. Verdict: Enjoy the food. Drink beer.