Sunday, November 30, 2008

9th Wedding Anniversary




We went out last night for dinnner to celebrate our ninth wedding anniversary. This year, no kids, but we got the dreaded phoone call beofre the main course arrived! Lena had a fever, and Erica didn't have any nappies. Sigh. We convinced Baachan to hold the fort while we finished dinner - which took ages, because I think the chef went out and shot the bird for the coq au vin - in France.

However our plans to go to Tropicoco for a drink after, chat to Rachel about her wedding, and Raoul about the New Year concert that Kanji's band is perfoming in there, but we had to skip that.

It was delicious food, but too slow and not enough! I don't usually complain about small servings, as it allows you to have several courses, but the gap between the courses was so long that there was no chance to fill up. I think EITHER you have to have small servings, served fairly promptly in the Japanese way, so that the meal is completely over within the hour, OR you can take your time between much larger courses. But waiting AND small sizes just resulted in me arriving home hungry.

The wine was excellent though. A French Bordeaux, not as fine as NZ's chardies and savvy blancs these days, but damn good anyway!


I think the appetizers was my favorite! On the left, Kanji's choice, the duck liver pate, which was very good, and on the right, my choice, blue cheese with honey! Mum would have loved it!



Ceasar Salad. And yes, it was better than Joyfull's, although I think they both use the same dressing from Costco! But the croutons were better and the ham was gorgeous premium ham.

Above, Kanji's main choice, the fish, which was so tender and soft, served in a sauce with sea urchin. On the right, the Coq au Vin, also very delicious. I love those French sauces!




Above, I really wanted the creme brulee, but it was unavailable, so I went for this chocolate cake and 'purin' set. Those are berry puree drops around the edge, they were nice, but the purin was a bit bitter, and just didn't feel very special, since a similar thing is available for 100yen from any convenience store! Kanji's choice was more inspired, so I ate half of it. A poached banana, ice cream, and a divine caramel sauce.

6 comments:

Lulu said...

Happy anniversary!!!!
You look stunning in that first photo!!!

The food looks yummy although I am sorry to hear it took so long to get it. Sometimes when you are starving that makes it really hard to enjoy it when it does finally come!

I am a creme brulee fan also!!!!! Yum-mo!

illahee said...

omedetou!! wow, nine years. that's about as long as i've been in japan. lol

yummy looking dinner, too bad about the waiting. maybe only one chef? those french (cuisine) chefs seem to be jealous of their kitchens...

Sherry said...

Happy Anniversary. We just had our 9th anniversary a few weeks ago too. We did nothing.

Anonymous said...

Lovely photo of you Rachel. Congratulations on your 9th. Our 8th is coming up so I took the opportunity to point out your lovely looking celebration to hub accompanied by many "iinaaaa"s. I think he got the gist. No point in being subtle with him...

Sara said...

Happy Anniversary!!
You look absolutely lovely in that picture!!

9 years seems like such a long time from now since my DH and I are only coming up on #1

Hope to be as happy as you guys when we get there!

Gaijin Wife said...

Happy Anniversary!

You are looking very glam. I hope when we get to nine we can go out kid-less. Although that's four years away yet and Granny K might not be up to it.

The weather here is beautiful and i am pigging out (thanks to the bun) on pineapple lumps! A poor substitute for savvy blanc but good none the less.

hope the fever has gone done.