Lobstar Abalone and Seafood Suzuki Suisan Naikumae 鈴木水産 (Ise, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

An hour was all it took for us to get to Kintetsu Ujuyamada Station (宇治山田駅) from Central Nagoya. After we got off the train station, we took a cab straight to Ise Grand Shrine (伊勢神宮) where we will be spending our entire afternoon.

But turns out, the shrine was closed in preparation for an upcoming event. With nowhere else to go before our dinner, we turned our attention to nearby Okage Yokocho Ancient Street (伊勢內宮前 托福橫丁).

Okage Yokocho Ancient Street, located right in the centre of Oharaimachi (a small town attached to the Inner Shrine of Ise Grand Shrine) is home to many relocated and reproduced historic buildings from Edo Period (1603 – 1867). On the same main street, there is also a variety of souvenir shops, art galleries and small eateries.

Lobstar Abalone and Seafood Suzuki Suisan Naikumae (鈴木水産) quickly caught my attention thanks to the fragrance of shellfish being slightly cooked over the grill.

Creamy sea urchin on its shell. Custardy and fresh, with the mild heat that cut through the creamy richness. So goooood.....

We don't have to ask how yummy these sea urchin was; just look at Jelloman's face! A picture is worth a thousand words.

The big clams weren't bad too.

Ise's prized abalone and lobster were their bread and butter here but since we were running low on cash (and they take cash only), we had to take a pass. But it won't be more than a couple of hours before we get to taste these two special ingredients from Ise (Grill Katayama グリル片山).

Food Rating: 5/10

Price: ￥￥￥￥

Address: 1-6-19 Ujiurata, Ise, Mie 516-0026, Japan

Closest Metro Station: Nil

Tel: +81 (0)596 20-7701

Shoya Yakiniku 昇家正々堂 (Nagoya, JAPAN) ★★★★☆

There's a lot of good Yakiniku (Japanese grilled meat) places in Nagoya that specializes in Hida beef but normally, I just go to Shoya because their quality of food (including Hida beef) is second to none.



On this night, we are just doing the charcoal grill because I miss those smokey flavors from my chargrilled meat.



Hida beef steak is a must at Shoya. Look at that amazing marbling!



The skirt steak looks interesting too. This is extremely flavorful but slightly chewy comparing to the last piece of steak we have.



If there's a knock with Shoya's food menu, it has to be their slim selection of seafood. We went with the grilled Hokkaido octopus and it was decent but not something to write home about.



The sound of food sizzling on a metal net never felt so good!!!



This bibimbap looks like the Korean mixed rice but with a Japanese twist. It was served in a sizzling clay pot with minced meat, egg and assorted vegetables. Pretty good to go with the grilled beef!






Food Rating: 7/10
Price: ¥¥¥
Address: 3 Chome-13-7 Sakae, Nakamura, Nagoya, Aichi 460-0008, Japan
Closest Metro Station: Fushimi / Sakae
Tel: +81 (0)52-242-4030 
Website: www.shoya.com

L'Auberge de l'ill (Nagoya, JAPAN) ★★★☆☆

L'Auberge de l'ill Nagoya is the first ever overseas branch of L'Auberge de l'ill , a famed 3-star Michelin restaurant from the Alsace region of France. The Illhaeusern-based restaurant boasts a rich history going back to 1878 and is currently enjoying one of the longest streak of 3-star dating back to 1967 (currently at 45 years in a roll).

The Nagoya branch of course does not have nearly as impressive of a reputation but situated on the 42nd floor of the Midland Tower, it does possess a skyscraping view of the city unparalleled by others.

The dining room is an impressive combination of elegance, comfort and modernist. My personal favorite is the wooden chandelier located up high in the middle of the room. It goes extremely well with the wooden floor, white tabletop linen and the framed photo of L'Auberge de l'ill taken during the winter time.



Of course, we did ask for a window seat.



There were all together 4 lunch sets available, 2 of which (Set A and B) involved simpler and less sophisticated dishes while the remaining 2 (Menu d'Alsace and Menu des Vosges) offered more choices and dishes with more sophisticated cooking tecnhiques.

Amuse bouche was a small green pea mousse topped with a soft mozzarella cheese ball and thin slice of biscuit (5/10).

Spinach velouté, langoustine ravioli with mozzarella cheese, 5.5/10

The soup itself was very light for a velouté. The langoustine ravioli with mozzarella cheese provided a bit of variety in terms of texture and taste but it was not as savory as we would like.

Poached egg, asparagus, 5/10

We were fully expecting an onsen egg but it turned out to be just a simple poached egg with fresh asparagus and mushroom sauce. That was a bit underwhelming coming from a team as highly touted as this one.

Slow-cooked beef shoulder, 6/10
The beef shoulder, which was supposed to be one of the more flavorful cut of the meat, was slow cooked or braised. It was then served with a yuzu and honey foam.

I thought this dish had a lot of Chinese cooking inspiration in it and the braised shoulder was fairly tender with decent fat content spread around. However, it did not have the flavorful taste that was best known from their particular cut.



Salmon and salmon mousse wrapped in a pastry, 5.5/10
One of the most memorable signature dish from the Illhaeusern-based L'Auberge de l'ill has to be their salmon souffle. Over here in Nagoya, they offered their own version of salmon wrapping underneath a pastry.

This special version of "Salmon souffle" used both salmon fillet and a mousse with minced salmon. I thought they had something going with that innovative idea but unfortuately, the execution was just not up to par.

Another downer was the sauce - tasted a bit like gravy!

Far breton with prunes and armagnac, 5/10
Fast forward to dessert now, our first dessert was a custard pudding cake with prunes and armagnac which was just average.


 

Profiteroles in a mixed berry sauce, 4.5/10
But the profiteroles with mixed berries were even more boring.



In all honesty, I was a bit surprised how weak this overall performance was, especially coming from a storied franchise like L'Auberge de l'ill.



Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: ￥￥￥
Address: 42/F, Midland Square, 4-7-1 Meieki, Nakamura-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi, Japan
Closest Metro Station: Nagoya
Tel: +81 052-527-8880
Website: www.hiramatsu.co.jp/eng/restaurants/aubergedelill/index.html