Despite the name, Nakameguro is actually a fair way from Meguro. It’s closer to Ebisu and Daikanyama, and like Daikanyama it’s a quiet, stylish neighborhood. A small river called the Meguro River runs all the way to Meguro, and good restaurants and accessory shops line its banks. It’s famous for its cherry blossoms in spring, but this spring I was busy with one thing and another and never made it.
I’d been waiting for a chance, and finally went with some friends on a weekday evening.
Along the Meguro River
Hmm.. the main strip is probably on the other side, not this one, but I was short on time today..
Il Lupone is a small place like this.
There’s a wood-fired oven in the kitchen, so this is a place serving the real deal when it comes to pizza. Prices aren’t too steep either – around 2,000 yen per pizza, which you could even call cheap – and the atmosphere isn’t bad. Being a small place, the interior is a bit lacking, but the service didn’t feel sloppy. It’s an open kitchen, so you get to watch a fairly handsome garçon bake the pizzas in the oven, which makes for a nice bit of show. I’d thought about going somewhere pricier, but hey, it’s my first time in Nakameguro, so I figured I should start with something modest.
Mozzarella, tomato and basil
Well.. compared to what I had at La Bettola before, it’s very ordinary. ^_^ The ingredients aren’t great. The basil was all wilted too.. But leaving La Bettola aside, places that use top-quality ingredients usually cost 1.5 to 2 times what this place charges, so in terms of value for money I’d call it a thoroughly average restaurant.
Bread
Nothing special about this one either
An eggplant and tomato dish..
With ordinary ingredients, whatever you order tastes ordinary.. meh..
D.O.C pizza
The pizza, though, is above average. Baked in the wood-fired oven, the crust is delicious. Eaten piping hot, it’s pretty good. The D.O.C pizza turned out to be something like an upgraded Margherita – apparently it uses a better cheese.. Since the ingredients aren’t top-notch it falls a little flat, but most people would say even this is more than delicious enough.
Eating this pizza suddenly reminded me of Salvatore Cuomo’s pizza. They also bake in a wood-fired oven and use better ingredients, so objectively theirs tastes better. The interior is stylish and there are plenty of serving staff. But it’s about 1.3 times pricier, and the vibe is more casual than cozy, so I can’t say it’s always the better choice. Sometimes a place where you can eat in a calm atmosphere is better, even if the food is a bit worse. It made me think for a moment about how hard it really is to choose and recommend restaurants.
This is the mushroom pizza.
One pizza is pretty much like the next.. not much difference in taste. Well.. pizza was always food for ordinary people anyway..
Today’s wine
Orvieto is a cheap, tasty wine. If anything, the problem is that it’s too cheap ^_^ At a supermarket it’s about 1,000 yen, and they charged 4,000 yen a bottle. Well.. it still beats an expensive wine that tastes bad.
Gorgonzola pizza
I took this one halfway through eating it -_-;; I asked for honey to go with it, and it was even better. By this point, though, I was getting pretty full.
Today’s main: sausage
Ugh.. I ordered it after picking up a tip on the review site Tabelog that the sausage was good, but it tasted awful. Sure enough, the people who post on review sites vary wildly in their standards, so you can’t trust them. Best to use them just for checking popularity and the latest info.
At this place, I think filling up on pizza gives you the most satisfaction for the price. They use cheap ingredients, but the pizzas are baked in a wood-fired oven and priced accordingly low. This kind of place seems to fit the bill for younger people. It’s quiet, so it works well for a date too, and if you don’t go overboard, wine and pizza will come to under 3,000-4,000 yen per person. Of course if you do go overboard there’s no limit ^_^ It suits the Nakameguro vibe well, so I might end up going back sometime.
Actually, there’s also a legendary Italian place in this neighborhood that supposedly takes only one party a day. I really wanted to go there, but held off this time.. There’ll be plenty more chances, so if I take my time and make the rounds of this place and that, I’m sure I’ll get to the famous spots someday.