Score for Lunch!

Russell came through on his lunch selection of the day. He has been using Tabelog ("Tabe" (食べ）is the root of "eat" in Japanese). So Tabelog is where you go to find ratings on good places to eat near you. I cannot recommend this site enough if you are in Japan and hungry. Russell is hooked and we rarely eat at non-Tabelog restaurant anymore. There's just so many good restaurants to choose from. There was a restaurant that he had noticed in our neighborhood before and he wanted to try. Unfortunately, the entrance was none to clearly marked and while we had found a sign for the restaurant (Saint Marc), we were nervous about wandering around the premises looking for the entrance.

Today, Russell saw the listing on Tabelog again and decided to finally find the place. I came along - I mean, good food is a strong motivator for me.

We found the sign again and the expansive white retaining wall that seemed to barricade the building behind it. We saw an entrance for Saint Marc Furniture, but that didn't seem to be what we were looking for. We wandered up the side of the retaining wall and found a staircase. At the top of the staircase we could smell bread, so we knew we were getting close. Around the corner, we found the entrance. Saint Marc is both a baker and restaurant. We entered at the bakery and were directed to go up the stairs to the restaurant.

The restaurant itself is very cozy but was bordering on snooty. We were a little worried about what prices would turn out to be. Italian wine was displayed everywhere as well as Italian wine magazines. Fresh from our omurice fiasco in Ginza, we were feeling a bit twichy - but Tabelog had never led us too far astray, so we stuck it out.

As it turned out, Saint Marc was awesome. The food ran about $16 for lunch - so not the kind of place we plan to eat at often - but also not completely ridiculous. The food was extraordinary. The portion size was modest but adequate (good for not over-gorging, American style).

I never quite understood what Russell ordered (it was beef with a dipping sauce, but I can't explain beyond that.) I had the Japanese style hamburg steak (hamburg steak with Japanese seasonings and a shiso leaf with grated daikon on top). There were also two large steak fries and about 10 pasta salad noodles on the side. It sounds small, but it was just right and absolutely delicious.

Both Russell and I ordered our meals with the bread and drink set. This turned out to be the most awesome part. Since there was a bakery downstairs, they made sure to constantly bake small batches of fresh bread rolls. There was a waitress whose job it was to retrieve the fresh rolls and bring them around to every table as they came out of the oven. During our stay at the restaurant she visited 4-5 times and offered around 10 different varieties of breads. You could take as much as you wanted (though we tried not to overdo it TOO much.). The bread was all delicious and eating piping hot bread from the oven was a treat I have not had in a very long time. Quite the luxury.

Our drinks (hot coffee and hot tea) came out after lunch and lingering over our cups allowed for maximum enjoyment of the bread service, which just kept coming, even though our main course was long finished.

Five stars.

(Sorry for using another stolen image - I forgot to take pictures I was enjoying lunch so much!)