Escoffier Dinner

Jason and I had such a great time last year at the Escoffier Dinner at the New Sanno hotel that we decided to go again this year.  They put on this event every few months, I wish we had taken advantage of it more often!  If you ever find yourself stationed in Japan, look into it.

Of course, Jason got stuck at work late so we paid the extra 400 yen ($5 US) to ride the "romance car', which gives us assigned seats and doesn't stop between the time we get on and the time we arrive in Tokyo. It's a special treat for us and it was the perfect, relaxing way to start off out evening.

We had just enough time to change our clothes and rush off to dinner.

Dinner was an 8 course meal which usually isn't my thing because I'm such a picky eater but both times we've gone I've tried everything and enjoyed more than I expected to.

Course 1, duck pate

not my favorite, but I tried it which 5 years ago, I wouldn't have.

The soup course which is usually one of my favorites was consomme mirei or basically beef broth so I wasn't very excited about it.  It was garnished with shiso leaf which is one of my favorite Japanese herbs so that made it much more appealing and I actually finished all of it.

The seafood course was far and away my favorite!  This was the first time I've ever had scallops that were cooked properly and they were divine, plus one of our friends that we were with is allergic to shellfish so I got his portion of lobster.  YUM!

 After that, I was about finished.  The seafood portion was HUGE and I don't typically eat a lot at one time, but I managed to push on.

Next was the game course which was roast quail.  This one I wasn't going to try but Jason insisted that I would like it so I tried it and really enjoyed it but knew if I ate more than one bite I wouldn't make it through the rest of the meal.

Sorbet was passion fruit which was SO tart I could barely eat it.

The entree was a beef filet.  I don't eat beef so I didn't touch this one but the veggies were good!

Salad was Caesar with smoked salmon jerky.  I had high hopes for the jerky but it was just weird.  I didn't care for it.

Finally was dessert!  The chocolate gateau (or cake) was way too rich for my taste but the vanilla bean ice cream and fresh fruit were the perfect end to the meal.

We had a great night with great friends.

The next morning we went out in search of this tiny cafe an Instagram friend had told me about.  All I had to go off of was this top picture and some vague directions.  After hours of searching on Google street view, I finally realized that the street view of the alleys in Tokyo hadn't been updated in 3 years

We finally found it though!

Their only menu item is French toast but it was the only thins I would have wanted to order anyways.  It was like having dessert for breakfast!

After breakfast we did a bit of shopping in Tokyo before heading home.  I then spent the rest of the day watching Downton Abbey.  I'm hooked!  I just started watching a few days ago and it's consumed my time ever since.