Kathmandu Gangri, Meguro カトマンズガングリ、目黒

Specializing in Tibetan as well as the usual Nepalese fare, Kathmandu Gangri’s menu offers more than you might usually expect from such a curry house.

Lunches, dinners and party plans are all reasonably priced, as are the drinks. As well draft Asahi and bottled Yebisu, the Nepal Ice proved to be a tasty beer. The service is reasonable too, although the staff could spend more time waiting the floor rather than lurking in the kitchen.

The décor, although new and therefore clean, leaves much to be desired. This basement restaurant is ruined by a spartan interior of bare white walls, wood floors and pale wood furnishings. Not a single picture or hanging rug adorns the walls. Clichéd it may be, but I expect my Nepalese restaurants to be bedecked in the familiar ethnic tat. The chairs seem to have been sourced from a church – the cross motif and Bible shelves on the back of each being a dead giveaway. This decorative deficit results in a lack of character and atmosphere, which is probably one of the reasons that the place seems always to be empty. 

Such gripes aside, the food is good. Certainly up there with Manakamana in terms of taste, portions and freshness of ingredients, although the garlic naan didn’t compare favourably. Overall, the food at Kathmandu Gangri has a stronger focus on herbs as well as spices, creating an aromatic flavour that sets it apart. Although delicious looking, many of the Tibetan dishes appeared to be rehashes of tired Chinese takeaway favourites.

Alu Ko Achar – a dry, spicy potato curry with a somewhat gritty texture. The vinegary flavour was quite memorable.

Suimai – cute, open topped dumplings with oily meat curry at the bottom of each compartment. Sauces are dropped in to taste.

Saag Paneer – thick, rich and flavorsome. Plenty of spinach in this and most welcome after the culinary travesty that is Magic India.

Chicken Curry – succulent pieces of chicken with rich, spicy sauce. 

Himalayan Shyabhale (“Himalayan Pizza”) – a stodgy pastry base with a herb infused meat pate between base and cheese, tomato and herbs topping. Delicious.

Chicken Saag – delicious, less spinachy than the paneer version.

Prawn Curry – Good, but the prawns were a little lackluster.

Chicken Stir Fry – basically a kind of sweet and sour dish.

03-3493-4712

Kathmandu Gangri

Tableaux, Daikanyama 代官山

Daikanyama’s Tableaux, just a few doors up from Mexican rooftop restaurant Hacienda del Cielo, turned out to be an excellent venue for the main bonenkai of the year.

It’s been around for what counts as an eternity in Tokyo, and by all accounts was once a favoured hang out for serious expat diners, although from what we witnessed the only gaijin (aside for some of our good selves, of course) in attendance are those among the waiting staff.

The gilded bar was a suitably comfortable starting point for the evening’s frivolities – the G&Ts excellent, and by all account the cups of tea pretty good, too. 

Once ushered into the inner sanctum and our table for the evening, surrounded by what must have once been an exuberant renaissance/ gothic décor, a surprisingly voluminous meal ensued.

The quality of the cuisine far surpassed the expectations of all, even those long familiar with the restaurant.

Each dish was nicely presented, without falling into the sorry style-over-substance trap.

Highlights of the meal included oyster chasers (despite the over the top bed of ice), the summer truffle pizza and the stunning beef cheeks. Indeed, the other cuts of cow, the wagyu in particular, were delicious.  

Besides a plentiful supply of fine wines, Tableaux gets my vote for being generous with the bread. A seemingly endless supply was dutifully served no matter how fast we worked our way through it.

Carpaccio of Nagasaki Grunt 

Beef Cheek "Sandwich"

Caesar Salad

Pork Terrine 

Grilled Snapper

Beef with Mashed Potato

Wagyu

Vegetables

03-5489-2201

Tableaux

Men Don Fuku-iken, Tokiwadai 麺・丼 二・一軒、常盤台

Fukuiken is one of several reasonable ramen shops in Tokiwadai. It’s located on the main shotengai on the south side of station, next door to another ramen shop (the name escapes me) instantly recognizable for the window full of photos of various TV “talent” and other famous visitors. 

A family business, Fukuiken closes at 6pm on Saturdays – plenty of hapless souls were turned away whilst I wolfed down a ¥900 ramen set consisting of a good-sized bowl of shoyu ramen, three paltry little gyoza (which after lunching at Kitchen Tachikichi earlier in the day were laughable) and a nice mound of cha-han.

The gyoza aside, both the fried rice and ramen were good, although after seeing the less generic ramen ordered by other customers I got the feeling that those included in the set were probably the most mundane on offer.

03-5966-6164

Men Don Fuku-iken

Outback Steakhouse, Shibuya アオトバック、渋谷

Birthday parties often provide the chance to try somewhere different, and this one was no exception. 

I get the feeling I must have been one of the few left in Tokyo not to have tried an Outback Steakhouse. In fact, I couldn’t even picture it, until checking it’s location and realizing I’d known it all along. Anyhow, it proved to be an enjoyable distraction.

Spacious, kind of cozy, packed with a mix of parties (we sang happy birthday many times – for young and old), lovers, coworkers and gaijin.

The service was okay. But just okay. They tried hard to do the genki thing, but didn’t come across as all that sincere. Drink orders took forever to materialize, so in the end we resorted to ordering two at a time, after a few rounds of which the staff grasped the concept of thirsty diners and got their act together.

The menu had plenty to offer, and pretty pictures to make ordering simple.

I’d been warned by a trusted source that if I wanted to eat more than one dish the Bloomin’ Onion ® was best avoided. Advice followed, but I have to admit that it looked bloomin’ tasty.

Aside from the slow beers, margaritas and Cassis sodas, we had the customary bread and butter, which was sweet tasting, and the perfectly naughty Aussie Cheese Fries. Bad for you, but enjoyable in the way the bad things usually are.

We ordered various steak sets, each of which was accompanied by a choice of soups, salads, and sides. The soups were poor, afterthoughts at best. The salads little better, with even the ubiquitous Caesar Salas being less than it could have been. The jacket spuds (that means potatoes) looked okay, but I neglected to sample. I went for mashed potato instead, which to be honest wasn’t great – good mashed potato should be done with enough cream and butter to make even the sturdiest lady cow wince. 

There was rice (but no peas), coleslaw and veggies, too. All were passable at the price point. And as for the steaks… 

My filet (apparently recommend, as highlighted in red on the menu) was somewhat disappointing. Flavor mild to say the least, and screamed “Japanese style,” which is to say it was kind of buttery, or like marshmallow. Steaks should have more substance.

The Outback Special, favoured by three of my dining partners, was far superior. For a start it was bigger, and the juicy flesh and full flavour was much better than expected. Finally, the NY Strip was pretty good, too. Less filling than the Special, but overall a more accomplished steak.

I wasn’t too miffed at my poor choice, as (luckily) my dining partners all being ladies, they decided to give me half of their steaks. Helping them out seemed like a good idea, but by time I was finished I was less sure.

Desert was suggestively shaped sugary death in a bowl. I didn't go there. 

03-5459-7751

Outback Steakhouse

The Lockup, Shibuya ロックアップ、渋谷

This horror-jail themed chain-izakaya is exactly the kind of place I try to avoid like the plague. Cheap, tacky, noisy, overdone and big on time wasting.

However, a pair of visiting dignitaries from Blighty expressed a desire to try the place and, being persuaded by the promise of a generous nomihōdai plan, I acquiesced and, shame be upon me, thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Half the “fun” is the interior – dark, filled with fancy dress horror props such as zombies, skeletons, cages and spongy floors. Although not really scary I was truly terrified that I might be injured.

Once seated in our cell, we endured roughly half an hour of ear splitting Thriller-like “music,” screams, maniac laughter, squeals from neighbouring diners and voiceovers from the netherworld while all the time watching the clocking ticking on our two hours of nomihōdai plan – torturous.  

The first five minutes were kind of funny, but after a while all too similar to listening to the majority of Japan’s “talent” infested TV. The cloven-hoofed hordes of freeters dressed as zombies, ghosts, demons and ghouls rattled our cages, but not in the way intended.

The entertainment dispensed with, at last we could hit the menu.

The nomihōdai plan offered lots of choice; the test tube cocktails proved popular as well as colourful. These aside, my dining partners and I got through a truly horrifying quantity of bottled Kirin beer, and so all was well with the world.

The food was, just about, at the higher end of the budget chain-izakaya spectrum.

Our course included Caesar salad, bacon and leak on a stick, salmon drenched in dressing and mayonnaise and shrimp and broccoli salad…

… and then some chicken karaage, French fries, pork, seafood spaghetti and a bit of cake for dessert.

Judging by other reviews of The Lockup from a few years ago it used to be a little more polished, probably somewhat more expensive and possibly scarier. Now it has the distinct feel of a themed chain-izakaya on its way out. Still, ¥2,500 for a mountain of gut-liner and access to endless drinks for a couple of hours isn’t all that bad. Even better if you want to show visitors some of “whacky Japan.”

03-5728-7731

http://www.kitanokazoku.jp/lockup/index.html

The Buck & Bell, Long Itchington （英国）

Long Itchington, a picturesque Warwickshire village complete with village green and ducks waddling freely about the local pond, boasts not only a genteel calm, an abundance of charmingly appointed timbered buildings and lush foliage, but also three excellent pubs serving decent food.

One of the trios, The Buck & Bell, has welcomed visitors since the mid-17^th century. Despite having rung time once and for all in the 1980s, it has since been restored and thrives once more.

A spacious well appointed interior, gleaming wood and polished bar pumps, and neatly dressed attentive staff provide a comfortable dining experience. The food, all sourced from local suppliers, made for a pleasing menu of pub grub classics – each well presented and cooked with care – without resorting to the pretention and over-priced, minuscule servings that so often mar gastro-pub offerings.

The starter of note was the field mushroom topped with smoked bacon and blue cheese rarebit – the bacon and cheese worked perfectly, as might be expected, while managing not to overpower the flavour of the mushroom. The mushroom could have been more substantial, a little more “meaty,” but was delicious all the same.

A double baked soufflé with mature cheddar cheese served with apple and celery salad went down well, too, as did a manly portion of crispy whitebait. The bread accompanying these crispy fish was quite uninspiring – something more rustic, grainier, would have suited the fish better.

The mains were a success, too. I had my eye on one of my dining companions’ wild mushroom risotto for the longest time. She thankfully struggled to finish the dish. The beer battered cod with crushy peas, chunky homemade chips and tartare sauce held it’s ground, yet failed to live up to the standards of cod I’ve come to expect from a certain Warwickshire fish and chip shop. The batter, however, was crisp and flavoursome.  

Perhaps the most enviable of my companions’ meals was the Lighthorne lamb kebabs with feta salad, sunblazed tomatoes and sauté potatoes. This was certainly the most appetizing plate to be served, and appeared to be the most substantial. Should I ever return (I’d happily do so) this is what I’d have.

Finally, for the mains, sea bass fillets with smoked bacon polenta cake, chargrilled Mediterranean vegetables and tomato compot. Good, but the fish was not all it could have been. Certainly something else was needed to fill out the plate.

Only one desert was sampled; a rich chocolate brownie with ice cream and peanuts smothered in caramel, I believe. Excellent, the peanuts in particular.

The Buck & Bell does what it sets out to, well. If only this kind of place would stretch to baskets of fresh bread, butter and olive oil to soak up the beer and fill the corners for male diners.

01926 811 177

http://www.buckandbellpub.co.uk/index.htm