Having A Course Meal In Japan: Ningyocho Iseri

My friend wanted to eat something high class so we decided to try Ningyocho Iseri. As written in the name, the shop is located in Ningyocho.

Ningyocho Station is on the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line and Toei Asakusa Line. The nearest exit is A3 and it is only about a 2 minutes walk.

This little restaurant is actually an old Japanese home that has been renovated to a restaurant. The seats on the ground floor are counter seats and there are only four tables on the upper floor at the moment. I'm not sure if the third floor is open to the public.

This restaurant was under the "Go To Eat" campaign so we made reservations beforehand.

"Go To Eat" is a campaign where you can book certain restaurants who joined this campaign, and you can get either a meal discount voucher or points when you book online (which you can use in future online reservations). This is to encourage people to eat at restaurants after the pandemic's damage. The campaign will run till the end of January 2021.

Once there, we were lead upstairs when we got there. The steps are really steep so please be careful if you are wearing heels or if you are wearing a long skirt.

Our course (JPY3000) had 5 dishes and one drink in the beginning and another at the end.

There was a choice of soft drinks or sparkling wine to go with our meal. Both of us went for sparkling wine. It came in beautiful flutes!

The alcohol wasn't too strong and it was on the sweet side. I recommend you go for this because the wine flute itself gives off a very rich lady (or guy) kind of feeling and I don't think it's something that you can enjoy in your own home because the atmosphere is completely different.

So why not use this opportunity to savour this awesome feeling?

Let me tell you this appetizer was SO good. I think this is one of the best appetizers I have ever eaten in a long time.

The green stuff in the cup is broccoli, whitebait and couscous. This was SO yummy. I cannot get enough of it. If they had this in a bigger version, I would so go for it.

The white one is onion potage, which was thick and creamy. Really good too. The fish is Sanma (Pacific Saury) which is a kind of autumn fish. The sauce was really special and zesty too.

The bread came next. It's a piece of baguette served with smoked butter and olive oil. The smoked butter was fantastic. It was smooth and lightly salted. It was so fragrant and really so good. The bread is refillable. All you need to do is to let the staff know.

The first piece for us was so tough. It was still good but at every bite, the crumbs would fly everywhere. The next few pieces after that were heated up and extremely delicious with the butter.

Next up is Foie Gras with Black Sesame Pancake & Figs. This dish is something you can pick from a couple of dishes. When I was there, there was a Salmon & Golden Kiwi Tartare. I wished I went for that instead.

The figs were good but the combination between the foie gras and black sesame pancake was a little strange to me because the textures were really similar.

The next dish was also something you can pick as well. I picked the pork which had grilled pork and vegetables on the side. The sauce was a something citrusy and really refreshing. The pork was really tender as well.

My friend went for the duck. The sauce is the same as the one served with the pork. It looks raw but it's actually cooked. The pork was a lot more delicious.

The dessert was Montblanc. It had cocoa powder sprinkled on top of the chestnut cream over whip cream, bits of apple and sponge cake. The combination was interesting and pretty good.

Lastly, between the choices of coffee, tea and herb tea: both of us went for the herb tea. It was well-infused and good!

Overall, if you are aiming for a chic and (slightly) high-class full course meal, this is a pretty good place because the seats are limited and the food is quite worth the price. I give it about 3.5 over 5!