I had some free time during a business trip to Tokyo, so I arranged to meet a friend. There was a French restaurant I’d really wanted to go to, but I was told it was already fully booked. So I switched the reservation to a restaurant that’s been getting good reviews lately. It’s a place called Boschetta on Platinum Street.
Come to think of it, I didn’t take a photo of the entrance. It wasn’t a very striking entrance. Even with a map it’s a bit tricky to find. It’s one block in from the main road to begin with, and apart from the tableware shop out front, you can hardly tell whether it’s a restaurant or someone’s house.
This street is popularly called “Urachina” (back-street Platinum). That’s because it hides shops with a different concept from the flashy places along Platinum Street itself that you easily come across in the media, like Shirokanetei / Quintessence / Blue Point / Toshian – shops that quietly do business mainly for the people who live in the neighborhood. They’re hard to find if you don’t know about them, and there are many places where you won’t get much of a welcome unless you’re a regular.
Not that Boschetta is that exclusive, but it’s not an easy place to seek out either, so I felt very grateful to the friend who introduced me to it. In that sense, lunch was my treat this time ^_^ And since I was paying anyway, I ordered so we could try as many different things as possible rather than going by my friend’s taste. My friend was really happy too.
Bread first
The bread was ordinary, but the plate wasn’t. All the tableware here is glass, and the designs are really pretty. Apparently they bring it in from somewhere in Italy. There’s also a small tableware shop run by the restaurant in front, but the prices are on the steep side.
Caprese Boschetta style, in one bite
Ah.. even looking at it now my heart skips a beat. How did they manage to arrange basil sauce, mozzarella and a jelly like clear water droplets so beautifully.. You can feel the freshness of the ingredients just by looking. Of course I ate it in one bite.
Today’s starter
The various ingredients and the clear jelly spooned over them like a sauce instantly bring back the textures you lose at the turn of the season. It’s modern Italian cooking that’s fun for the mouth and the eyes alike. But the next dish was even tastier than this one.
Marinated Ibaraki hard clams and vegetables
Fresh seasonal ingredients, cooked beautifully. The chef has great sense. Though it seems using jelly is all the rage these days. Jelly showed up in the starter at Igrek last time too. Of course it’s delicious, so I have no complaints at all.
Homemade cured ham of Aomori duck with papaya salad
The saltiness of the duck ham goes perfectly with the papaya. Just like prosciutto and melon.. It’s a dish that stays true to Italian basics while making good use of top-quality Japanese ingredients.
After the starters came the pasta, two plates per person
Chilled fresh sea urchin and green asparagus, carbonara style
A cold sea urchin pasta. The asparagus, which I love ^_^, was cooked so freshly, quietly supporting the rich, mellow flavor of the uni. I’ve eaten a lot of uni pasta over the years, but this gave me a new appreciation for it. And the taste of the bright green asparagus was full of the feeling of spring.
Fedelini with Chiba mantis shrimp and homemade dried tomatoes, garum flavor
Mantis shrimp tastes similar to shrimp or crayfish, and honestly there isn’t much difference ^_^ Anyway, it came out nicely salty and was delicious. The noodles were cooked just right, too.
Squid ragù sauce with maltagliati made with squid ink
Squid ink dishes usually look unappealing, but not this one. It looks bright, the squid has a nice bite, and you get to enjoy the deep flavor of the squid ink as well. One of the best dishes of the day.
Fedelini with Fukushima icefish and fuki no to (butterbur buds)
I’m not sure what fuki no to is called in Korean, but it’s a slightly bitter wild green that’s only around in spring. The icefish was well cooked too, but the seasonal bittersweet flavor got high marks from my companion. Usually I’m so busy with work that I live without noticing what season it is, and as I get older it happens quite often that only when I come to a restaurant like this and eat spring dishes do I realize the season has changed. I think I should be glad that at least I don’t forget it completely, and I’ll keep going around eating seasonal food ^_^.
After the pasta came the main dishes.
Lamb fillet steak and sautéed foie gras with Madeira sauce
I wondered what foie gras was doing at an Italian place, but I had no idea lamb and foie gras went together so well. You could call it an almost criminal flavor. At first I thought the small red things in front of the lamb were berries, but it turns out they were tomatoes. They were a bit hard to eat. ^_^
Today’s fish poêlé topped with Parma ham, with an organic Kagoshima broad bean sauce
Since we’d ordered meat, one fish as well~ The thick, healthy feel of the broad beans goes well with the fish. This is the first Italian place I’ve seen use sauces this well.
Tiramisu cake and fruit
At an Italian place, the safest choice, tiramisu, was within expectations, but I’d hoped for something a bit more flamboyant, so that was a shame. I suppose a small restaurant can’t hire a proper pâtissier.. Despite the slight letdown at the end, I’d rate it as a place with outstanding value for money.
Pound cake topped with ice cream, with fruit
I ordered this one, but it didn’t have a particularly distinctive taste.
Milk
My only complaint about this place was that the handles on the glass cups were really awkward. Design-first or not.. they’re far too hard to hold.
Tea
It was the first proper meal I’d had in a while – since Igrek.. With all this plus drinks, it came to about 14,000 yen. The basic course is 5,000 yen, but there’s also a cheaper 3,800-yen course for lunch. (Service charge not included, of course.) Really great value. Lunch at Enoteca was 15,000 yen for one person. I was so happy to find a hidden gem like this. And I find myself thinking it would be fun to live in this neighborhood someday.