ambiente

My friend Hiromi had some time off so she asked if I would join her for lunch at Ambiente.

They have many different lunch choices, but the most popular are their raclette & fondue lunches.

So that is what we ordered.

The lunch comes with appetizers...quiche, smoked duck and ratatouille.

Some salad. Some foccacia.

The raclette cheese is "poured" over chicken and veggies. The skin of the chicken was so crisp!

The fondue comes with many veggies (even hard boiled quail eggs) and some pieces of ham to dip.

To end, you can have coffee or tea.

It was a great lunch. I'm glad Hiromi asked me to join her. (Thank you!)

I want to go back to try other items on their menu...I'll be back.

Ambiente
1-10-5 Ishibashi, Tsuda Building 2F
Ikeda, Osaka
Phone: 072.762.1328
Hours: Sunday-Thursday 11:30-23:00, Friday-Saturday 11:30-2:00

kohaku

Phil is in town for a quick visit and it was nice of him to take some time out of his busy schedule to contact me to meet up.

We had drinks and some pupus (appetizers) at Kohaku.

This bar is a French-Japanese fusion type of place.

Let's start with the bad...chintzy servings of wine...and a bar atmosphere way too loud (you can barely hear each other talking)

The food...so-so.

We shared this daikon covered with a porcini cream sauce.

The daikon is cooked until tender then smothered in a rich porcini cream sauce.

We also shared this "okonomiyaki". Lots of cabbage and some beef is smothered in a fondue cheese sauce and topped with a red wine tomato sauce.

Since the waitress asked if it was our first time eating there (and it was) I think she should have told us about ordering bread on the side to mop up all that melted cheese...grr! (actually I think more places should serve bread (for free) with their dishes that have sauces that need mopping up)

Our ears blasted from the noise of the bar, we then headed up to quiet Tsutaya to hang out and chat.

Phil was kind to bring a foodie magazine from Australia for me, which I look forward to reading. (Thank you!)

The day was nasty humid and I probably won't be back to that bar, but the company and conversation was nice as always.

Thanks for meeting up Phil it was nice catching up with you!

Kohaku
Lucua 1100 Bar Chika, B2F
Phone: 06.6341.5089
Open 11:00-24:00, when Lucua 1100 is

que rico

Dinner was at Que Rico which opened a shop in Lucua 1100. I've had this place on my list "to try" for awhile.

Their amuse bouche (the stuff that comes out without you ordering it) were these chips and salsa...200 yen per person...um, for that price I think we should've received at least another plate.

Satoshi ordered the SOL beer 650 yen...meh, he wasn't impressed and switched to Sapporo beer (450 yen) afterwards.

I ordered a strawberry margarita...600 yen (cute, yeah?!)

We ordered a plate of nachos...650 yen. Good flavor, just not enough food...

Tako ceviche...500 yen. Super spicy.

More tomatoes than tako.

Shrimp Ajillo...500 yen.

Two large shrimps and some teeny shrimp and some mushrooms.

Overall, the flavors were good just not enough food for the price.

Sadly, I don't think we'll be back here again.

Que Rico
Lucua 1100 Bar Chika (B2F)
Umeda, Osaka
Phone: 06.6151.1546
Hours: 11:00-24:00, open when Lucua 1100 is.

tachigui mitterand ni-sei

We recently tried a "tachigui" place called Mitterand Ni-sei. It was my first time at a tachigui.

Tachigui is literally "stand and eat". In Japan there are many places like this. There are also tachinomi (stand and drink) places too.

At the front of the shop you'll see a curtain blocking the doorway and lots of legs...the customers eating and drinking.

I'm not too sure but I think the curtain is there for privacy so you won't be there judging who is eating and drinking early in the morning or late at night...

Anyway this tachigui serves french food which is why I wanted to try it.

If you order their lunch specials on the weekends and holidays, they knock off 80 yen off their glasses of sparkling wine and glasses of white or red...whoo!

I ordered their Japanese sparkling wine, a little sweet and very fruity...300 yen. Satoshi had a glass of white and then a glass of red...300 yen each.

Satoshi ordered their salmon, which was served with an olive tapenade, some ikura (salmon roe) and sauteed mushrooms. We loved the crispy salmon skin!

I ordered the pork belly with mustard sauce.

Their knives were what I call butter knives, so cutting this was nearly a workout for me...hard.as.rock.

Problems with this dish was the thickness of the meat and the knife. Being a thick piece, I think this should've been cooked until tender.

Flavor-wise I loved this especially the lentils and sauce. We used our bread to mop up the rest of the sauce.

Their lunch specials also come with some salad and bread...950 yen each.

This shop is cash only and service is kinda spotty but we enjoyed the atmosphere and for the most part the food.

We'll be back.

Mitterand Ni-sei
Osaka Fukoku Building B2F
Phone: 06.6365.0399
Hours: 11:30-23:00
Days closed not set, call before going

niku bar mooh

There is a bar that opened rather recently near our train station called Niku Bar Mooh (which literally translates to Meat Bar Moo)

Most of the items on their menu starts from 500 yen.

They don't have a large beer selection, mostly cocktails.

Meals start off with their tsukidashi (amuse bouche) which on this day was a sliced duck and thinly sliced onion with a vinaigrette...648 for two servings.

We ordered their caesar salad, this comes with a poached egg on top...626 yen.

Ratatouille, this also comes with a poached egg...626 yen.

Shrimp and button mushroom ajillo. Shrimp and button mushrooms come out boiling in this garlic olive oil "soup"...842 yen.

They serve it with 4 slices of baguette...up the bread slices please!

Sausages with the bone in.

Must've been chicken because that was what bone was used...626 yen

Steak...um, you need to rest the steak before cutting and also, maybe not serve it so rare.

Turned all the fries underneath an unappetizing red. 150 grams for 1620 yen.

With drinks, our total was 6554 yen (tax included). Not bad with drinks, but the steak really turned me off.

Would I go back here? Probably not.

Still, I'm glad we tried them.

Niku Bar Mooh
2-1-10 Ishibashi
Ikeda, Osaka
Phone: 072.760.5539
Hours: 17:30-24:30
Closed Mondays

entrata

The other day for lunch Satoshi and I tried Entrata.

They have 3 different sets for lunch...pasta, secondo or their course.

We went with the secondo...1200 yen each.

This started off with 3 starters (frittata, marinated mushrooms & broccoli sauteed in garlic) and a salad.

There is also warm baguette that comes along with this lunch too.

The main dish that day was a grilled pork with basil sauce.

Simple flavors but really tasty.

We also liked that you could have more salad and baguette if you wanted.

We'll be back.

Entrata
Hankyu Kappa Yokocho
Kita-ku, Osaka
Phone: 06.6374.3066
Lunch 11:30-15:00, Dinner 17:00-24:00
Closed when Hankyu Kappa Yokocho is

azzurro verdura

We tried Azzurro Verdura the other week.

Since Grand Front Osaka opened last year, we've avoided this place because there was always too many people.

Things have sort of calmed down a bit, so we've been slowly checking different places out.

Satoshi and I both ordered the daily pasta lunch.

Our meal started off with a l-o-n-g plate of appetizers for each person...delicious!

After taking the photo this way, I realized I should've done a panoramic one so that you could see all the different appetizers.

It is after this that our meal kinda went downhill.

Our pastas was a spring cabbage meat sauce. And while it looks really delicious, this was way too salty!

It was so difficult to finish. For us, it is pretty rare for us to walk out on a meal or complain (unless there are bugs in the dish...)

I would go back to try other items on their menu, but am scared that everything will also be oversalted...

Azzurro Verdura
Grand Front Osaka North Building 6F