Hyperlocal Tokyo

We visited for a weekend lunch. The popovers are all-you-can-eat, but it can be hard to get the attention of the staff when they're busy. The food is generally delicious, and it makes sense that it's good since it's part of the Tantabocca group in Kita-sando. It's a reliable Italian restaurant. It gets crowded, but if you go at off-peak times, you can usually get a table without waiting, which is great.

This Italian restaurant is located on the 1st floor of LaLaport Toyosu 3 (New Building, Toyosu Bayside Cross Tower). It's a trattoria-style restaurant (Italian public eatery) with a total of 54 seats, including tables and counter seats. For lunch, they offer various pasta lunch sets, as well as lunch sets featuring salmon fry, seared chicken breast with browned butter, and beef sirloin steak, along with salad lunch options. All menus come with a plate of salad and unlimited pop-overs (hollow, fluffy bread). Recently, I had the colorful bell pepper and ground meat penne arrabbiata and seared chicken breast with browned butter lunch. The bell peppers in the salad were thick and sweet, and the main dish was generous in portion. The pop-overs can be enjoyed with salt and butter alongside the meal, or you can have them with maple syrup as a dessert. All this for a price in the late 1000 yen range, making it quite reasonable.

I had pasta for lunch! There's this bread-like thing that you can get refills of, and it's super delicious. If you put maple syrup on it, it tastes like a pancake, and I can't help but eat too much. Be careful, or you won't be able to finish your pasta! The pasta itself was probably fresh, because it was so chewy and amazing.

I arrived around 2 pm. Even though it was past lunch time, I waited about 20 minutes. They had a ticket system. There were groups behind me, so it was a popular place! I ordered a pasta from the lunch menu. It came with a salad, a hop-over (refills were free), and pasta. The hop-over was warm and had a texture like the outer crust of a cream puff. It felt like I was eating air, but it had a distinct egg flavor, making it taste like French toast. It was delicious with plenty of whipped cream and maple syrup! I ordered the pasta with oysters and carbonara. The pasta was made with fresh noodles, giving it a chewy texture. The carbonara itself… the oysters and cream felt like separate entities, so it would have been better if they were more integrated. It was a bit pricey for a lunch.

I always saw empty seats so I would just pass by, but the value for money, service, and taste were all excellent. I wish I had come in sooner. First of all, the vegetables and dressing in the salad were delicious. It wasn't a cheap salad with just lettuce and cucumber, but a stylish salad with even carrot pepe, and the dressing was as delicious as homemade Chianti dressing. The bread, which was refillable, was freshly baked and fluffy, and they even served cream cheese and maple syrup. I chose the cod roe and squid pasta for my main course. I've eaten cod roe and squid pasta at many restaurants before, and there have been hits and misses, but this one was a hit. The pasta was chewy like fresh pasta, the saltiness was just right, and the perilla leaves on top were perfect. The staff were very well-trained, and the service was excellent, from the timing of clearing the plates to the timing of refilling the bread. I forgot my umbrella at my seat and was about to leave when they immediately noticed and called out to me. With the price increases continuing, I thought this was an amazing value for money at around 1,000 yen. I will definitely come back again.