Blue Butcher

I walk by Blue Butcher several times a week but only finally got around to trying it tonight. I'm not exactly sure how we even ended up there - when we left the house this evening for dinner, the plan was to head to Life Cafe, an organic vegetarian restaurant in Soho. Instead, we somehow ended up at Blue Butcher, one of the most carnivorous restaurants in the city. I'm glad we did though, because the food was fantastic.

Belgian endive salad with candied bacon(!), oranges, blue cheese and truffle dressing. This dish was a fine starter, but not an absolute must-try. I did like the candied bacon.

 Lamb chops served with eggplant, mint sauce, au jus gravy and feta. The lamb is slow cooked sous vide, then finished over an open flame, and it is absolutely delicious. My husband, who hates lamb, loved this dish. The meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender, seasoned perfectly and complemented by the smoky eggplant.

 Beef tenderloin topped with ravioli. I don't recall how this dish was described on the menu, but it was basically a thick cut of tenderloin topped with a meat-filled ravioli and a sauce very similar to hollandaise. It was fine, but not the best steak you're going to eat in your life. The sauce was overly heavy, perhaps not the best complement to the meat. To be honest, while the meat itself was fine, we just didn't really understand the ravioli and sauce that accompanied it. The dish would have been better with a side of potatoes or spinach. The lamb chops were much, much better.

Granny smith apple crumble with port ice cream. If you could put an American summer in a dish and bake it, this is what you'd end up with. One bite and I thought of sunshine, apple orchards, a grandmother's love, a warm cozy kitchen. What's lovely about this dessert is that it stays true to the homey simplicity that is an apple crumble. Nothing gimmicky or overly creative - just well-cooked, sweet apples topped with a not-overly-sweet, cinnamony brown sugar crumble and complemented perfectly by the creamy port ice cream.

Food rating: ****
Bang for buck rating: 4

The essentials:
http://www.facebook.com/BlueButcher
Location: 108 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan Hong Kong
Average price of dinner for two: $1400

Steak Rosso Rosso

Delicious appetizers. Mouthwatering, tender, juicy, succulent steaks. Amazingly well-priced international wine selection. Need I say more?

After an exhilarating day on the slopes in Niseko, dinner at Steak Rosso Rosso is absolutely the perfect way to end the day.

Caprese salad and prosciutto & melon appetizers

Bacon-wrapped scallops

Hokkaido sirloin

Wagyu filet

Food rating: **** and a half
Bang for buck rating: 5

The essentials:
http://homepage2.nifty.com/rossorosso/
Location: 167-61 Yamada Kutchan-cho, Abuta-gun, Hokkaido
Average price of dinner for two: 9000 yen (~$100)

37 Steakhouse & Bar

From my review in the Tokyo Weekender: http://weekenderjapan.com/?p=18180

Roppongi Hills added a new restaurant to its already impressive roster with the opening of 37 Steakhouse & Bar. Located on the second floor of Keyakizaka Terrace, across the street from the Grand Hyatt, 37 has the sophisticated ambience of a New York steakhouse with cozy, private booths and muted, dark-toned wood furnishings.

37’s extensive menu includes Australian wagyu and black angus aged for 21 days, as well as lamb, pork and seafood offerings. Side dishes include steakhouse standards such as garlic mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, grilled asparagus, and macaroni and cheese.

The creamed spinach is a perfect balance of creamy and savory, and complemented the juicy bone-in black angus ribs. 37’s Caesar salad, tossed with a rich, creamy parmesan dressing and topped with buttery homemade croutons and a generous shaving of parmesan cheese, is a contender for Tokyo’s best—it’s hard to imagine a more perfect version. The snow crab cakes are prepared with generous chunks of crab, panfried to a perfect golden brown, and should not be missed.

Where 37 needs some help is in the dessert department. The "incredible chocolate cake" was anything but, leaving us fairly sure we could score a better version at the nearest conbini. The "NYC baked cheesecake" was also disappointing. Lacking the sweet and dense creaminess of real New York cheesecake, 37’s version was so firm and dense that it more closely resembled a hunk of cheese (think mild cheddar) than a slice of cheesecake. Then again, steakhouses are rarely judged for their dessert offerings.

Bone-in black angus rib with creamed spinach and garlic mashed potatoes

NY Cheesecake - like a hard lump of cheese

Nothing incredible, or even very chocolate, about this "Incredible Chocolate Cake" - please get a new pastry chef!

Food rating: ***
Bang for buck rating: 3

The essentials:
www.37steakhouse.com
Location: on Keyakizaka Street, 6-15-1 Roppongi
Average price of dinner for two: 10,000 yen (~$110)

Lawry's Tokyo

Power lunch in Akasaka - Lawry's salad and soup bar followed by beef rib curry plate, finished with a tiny portion of creamy panna cotta and coffee (forgot to take a picture of the panna cotta because usually it goes directly into my tummy as soon as it's on the table). The rib curry plate is 1800 yen (~$20) and includes the salad bar, dessert and coffee. You can also just get the salad bar, which also comes with dessert and coffee for 1300 yen (~$15).


Make your own salad: mine consisted of a little bit of lettuce topped with potato salad, Lawry's corned beef (the stuff that looks like tuna on the right), corn, chick peas, olives, roasted kabocha squash and sundried tomatoes. Sometimes they also have little toasts with foie gras mousse - divine!


Beef rib curry - a gigantic, falling-off-the-bone-tender rib similar to Korean galbi jjim, decent curry (I'm not the biggest fan of any curry that's not Thai or Indian)

Food rating: *** and a half
Bang for buck rating: 4 (for lunch only)

The essentials:
http://www.wondertable.com/app/tenpo/tenpo?code=Lawrys
Location: Akasaka Twin Towers building, Akasaka, Tokyo
Average price for meal for two (lunch): 3500 yen (~$40)