Azabu-Juban is an upscale residential neighbourhood, and it has plenty of long-established restaurants. I’d heard that a lot of interesting new places have been opening around here lately, and I think the number one among them has to be Quand l’appétit va tout va. It stays open late, but I went early, right at opening time. Hardly anyone was there yet, so it was relaxed. By the time I left it was almost full.

Flower arrangement

It’s a wine bar on the second floor, where you’re served at a huge counter and can eat proper French food. I was surprised at how perfectly the atmosphere was tuned for a date. Most of the other guests were couples, too.

I asked for a wine recommendation and this is what they showed me.

After a short wait they brought all of these out of the cellar.

Good vintages of Burgundy that are hard to find back in Korea, and the prices are barely different from what you’d pay at a shop. A truly excellent wine collection. With wines like these, no wonder the place is popular.

Out of those I went with the Chambolle-Musigny.

It’s a powerful wine, not what you’d expect from Musigny, but nicely aged and delicious. And it was only 15,000 yen. (They even knocked a bit off the price…)

Starting with champagne…

Good value for money.

Quiche

I ordered the 7,560-yen chef’s course, and what came out was French cooking at a fine-dining level, not bistro level. The service is fine-dining level too, by the way; only the counter atmosphere is casual. This quiche was delicately made, with the seasoning just a touch on the salty side, so the wine went down very easily. Not just this dish either: everything was optimised to go with wine.

Bread

Delicious.

Marinated Hokkaido sanma (Pacific saury) with a hint of kabosu

It’s autumn sanma, so it’s nice and fatty.

Poêlé of foie gras with caramelised fig

A dish where sweet and salty came together nicely. I’m not really a foie gras lover, but I enjoyed it.

Poêlé of autumn sawara (Spanish mackerel) with grilled aubergine and saffron vinegar

Fatty sawara needs no explanation. The flavours stayed faithful to the fundamentals of French cooking. Even though it’s a wine bistro, I could tell they put as much care into the food as a fine-dining restaurant.

Roast French veal with vegetables

Premium ingredients cooked well to suit the wine. The meat was good, of course, but the vegetables underneath were what really impressed me.

Dessert

Hmm… the dessert was ordinary, though.

Dessert

Dessert

The savoury courses rival a proper French restaurant, so it was a bit of a shame that only the desserts were at ordinary bistro level. Considering how reasonable the price is, I suppose I should be satisfied with this.

Vanilla-flavoured tea

It’s a flavoured black tea from a brand called Tea Forté, and it was an enormous vanilla bomb. It was so good that I searched for it to buy some, and found the price in Japan is double what it is in the US.

The tea, which I photographed because it looked so unusual

Pretty. But I drank it because I was told it was herbal tea… thanks to that I couldn’t sleep for a few days.

And finally, even the wine label

The service is nearly at top-restaurant level. I came away satisfied in every respect, and I’d love to go back. Of course, that’s only possible if I can round up enough people to split the bill.

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