This post was written in 2006. Shop details and prices may have changed since then.
Having come all the way to Fukuoka, I couldn’t just eat ramen the whole time. I’d decided to skip sushi, soba and wagyu on this trip, so I was thinking of trying a French or Italian place, and this one in Tenjin, listed in the Fukuoka volume of a tabearuki (food-crawl) guide, caught my eye. Apparently the chef trained in Italy. I had a feeling I’d get a top-notch pasta here, so I dropped in at noon on a Sunday.
The entrance.
They don’t do a lunch menu on Sundays, and in the end I’d have been better off with lunch if there had been one. The regular courses were pricey and would have gotten in the way of my second meal of the day, so I ordered à la carte. For a chef with that kind of résumé, there was nobody waiting for a table, and I found out why later.
A glass of wine.
It seemed like a Chablis. Not a bad choice.
Garlic bread
They charge for it ^_^ Nicely toasted and crispy. Once again I could tell the chef really knows his stuff.
The star of the day: fresh sea urchin pasta with extra-thin noodles
The portion is a bit small, but the noodles, cooked perfectly al dente, were fantastic. And the uni was sweet. It goes a different way from the uni pasta at La Bettola, but it’s delicious all the same. (Personally I prefer La Bettola’s version with its rich sauce, though..)
And the dessert in question, a chocolate terrine.
The worst dessert I’ve had in a long while. On top of that, there were only three desserts, and this was the one that looked best. A place that can’t get the basics right like this will never do well, no matter how good its pasta is. At most it’ll sell a few lunch menus to office workers. A place with bad desserts can’t draw in women, who are the main source of income.. Personally, I think dessert in Western cuisine matters about as much as the main.
It’s a decent place, so it was a bit of a shame.. If I get another chance to go, I’ll either try the lunch course or order à la carte and skip dessert. (Actually, next time I should just find a place with good desserts ^_^)