Hardly anyone in Korea knows this, I suspect, but Asakusa has no fewer than four well-known Russian restaurants. Nowhere else in Japan, let alone Tokyo, has Russian cuisine concentrated like this, and when I looked into it, a restaurant called Manos is the original and the rest are offshoots opened by its former apprentices. I was curious how good Russian food had to be for four related restaurants to stay in business in one neighborhood, so on the weekend I went to Bona Festa, the one with the highest Tabelog rating. Bona Festa is actually closer to Tawaramachi Station than to Asakusa Station, and not far from Manos either.
Lunch is course menus only, at around 3,000 to 4,000 yen per person. Budget about 4,000 yen to be comfortable. Not exactly cheap, but I thought the value for money was good.
Butter
They said it is butter mixed with vanilla and honey from mandarin blossoms. Softer and sweeter than regular butter, and spread on bread it was just delicious.
Assorted seafood and vegetable salad.
They use fresh seafood. Simple but tasty.
Salad of house-made ham and loin ham from Japanese pork
This one was pretty good too.
Bruschetta
A bruschetta in a rather unusual style.
Cut in half..
There is tomato sauce inside. Small, but the kind of flavor that whets your appetite.
Rye bread
Soft and moist, as if it had been lightly steamed. Slathered with butter while still warm, it is delicious.
Chilled pumpkin soup
Far better than I expected. Smooth and nutty, almost reminiscent of chestnuts.
Hot gratin soup with tomato, two kinds of cheese and croutons
When the dish first arrived I gasped at how pretty it was. The cloth tied around the bowl like a ribbon, so you can hold it while it is hot, matched the food beautifully. The taste was excellent too, with the two cheeses giving it a rich depth. If it were not winter I would have said the chilled pumpkin soup was better, but in the cold this gratin soup is every bit as good.
Plump jumbo shrimp wrapped in potato and fried
An enormous shrimp coated in very finely shredded potato and deep-fried. The coating is crisp without being greasy, and it really brings out the bouncy texture of the shrimp. A side dish that moved me.
Beef stroganoff
One of the signature dishes here. They use plenty of Japanese beef, and the meat is unbelievably tender, even better when you dunk it in the sauce. It is on a far higher level than the steak at most Western-style restaurants. With all that Japanese beef the price is substantial, but it is well worth trying.
Rice
You can choose rice or bread.
Melt-in-your-mouth braised cabbage roll
A cabbage roll simmered for eight hours. It looks beautiful, and the taste is even more surprising when you actually eat it. After such a long simmer there is not much to chew on, but the tenderness was beyond any cabbage roll I have ever had. The mashed potato served as a garnish was seriously good too.
Dessert plate of mango sherbet, pudding and fruit
Every single piece of fruit was fresh. The mango sherbet and the pudding were delicious as well.
Everything on the menu here looks simple, but it all tastes great. I enjoyed every course from start to finish, so the slightly high price for lunch did not bother me at all. I would like to try the other Russian restaurants in Asakusa too, Manos in particular, and I am sure I will get the chance someday.
Russian tea
You drink it with a generous spoonful of jam.
Russian coffee
Russians seem to like their drinks sweet. When I asked, they said the coffee is good too.
After that thoroughly satisfying meal, I headed to Sharaku, a taiyaki shop in Asakusa Kannon-ura.
The front
It is a tiny place, and they only start baking once you order. Since they do not sell pre-baked taiyaki, the wait was fairly long.
Taiyaki in hand
That day I saw a whole new level of taiyaki. I had never in my life had one this good. The shell is incredibly thin and crisp, and the inside is packed with Hokkaido azuki beans. The head is a bit heavy on the bean paste, but at the tail the balance of paste and shell is perfect. Even famous taiyaki shops like Naniwaya hand you pre-baked ones, but this place does not do that at all, so you get to eat the taiyaki at its very best.
Kaede, a Japanese sweets shop I stopped by on the way back
I dropped in because I wanted some amazake.
It is roughly a makgeolli-like drink.
Amazake is a little sweeter than makgeolli and only about 0.5 percent alcohol, so it is closer to a dessert for a cold day than a drink. A cup is 200 yen, and it was really delicious right through the first cup. By the second cup the sweetness might get tiring, though. One of my missions for this winter, cleared.
The view at Azumabashi
Maybe because it is by the river, the sunset is even more beautiful. My weekend food tour of Asakusa wrapped up without a hitch.