Happy Happy Birthday, Nicholas!!

Summery flowers!!




On this special occasion, we went to the tea house "Mariage Freres" for the first time.
Why the first time??

Because...............

It's quite expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!

They do have a hundred kinds of tea on the menu, though.

After the waiter brought us various teas to smell, we finally ordered one ice tea, an "Earl grey with blue flowers", and one hot tea called "Himalaya rose".


The former was 945 yen, the latter 1575 yen. Wow wow.
He told me that Himalaya rose is only harvested in tiny quantities and isn't perfumed in any way. But it did smell beautifully of roses. It's a miracle!!

And here is the 945 yen cake, Chiboust with framboise!

On the tart base, tangy framboise compote with airy custard-meringue cream.

The top is burned. Very nice!

Another 945 yen cake, the chocolate tart with framboise jelly.

The chocolate had just the right bitterness, and when it started to melt a bit, it was absolutely delicious.

I used to wonder how it would look from the inside of tea room every time I walked past on the way to the 5th floor bookshop.

And this is it!!

Was the colonial atomosphere created successfully?

Hmmm...

But I can say, from inside, it's better than I thought it would be.




Many beautiful tea pots and lots of kinds of tea in the shop next to the tea room.


I asked the guy if there is a branch in England expecting him to answer yes and thinking, "then where it would be??... perhaps in Leicester Square? Hampstead??"







Then I heard him said "No".


"No, there isn't one in the UK, because, I guess, they have their own quite unique tea culture..."


What?!

"Yes, it's true. But in Germany, we have..." , he continued.
Wow. Very interesting.

Their own quite unique tea culture??

Hmm.

Maybe the Mariage brothers didn't like England and left a will which says to stay away from England.....

Can be!!!


By the way, I used to think that the name "Mariage Freres" means "brothers who get married".

Then last summer when I saw the Mariage Freres in Marais in Paris, where it originated, I thought "Yup! I knew it!" as Marais is the big gay culture area.


But today I learnt it was actually the family name, and 2 brothers founded the company together.
And Mariage wasn't Marriage.
Very Simple...........Oops!

A day off for the sun.

6:45 PM, we were in a hurry to go home.

Why?

Because Nick needed to take a shower and change from sandals to leather shoes.

Why?

Because we had a reservation for 7:30 PM at the french restaurant "Comme ci Comme ca"!!



This is the appetizer, "Shrimp in Dashi gelee".

Actually it was my favorite course.

With a slightly sour plum accent, it was sooooooooo nice.

Very cool and refreshing and, as a dish to make you hungry, it was perfect!!

That's a real appetizer, isnt't it?!!






Beautiful presentation!

The wine, a Sancerre, reminded me of Paris.

2nd dish was duck.

Crispy skin and spices with marinated vegetables.
It was Nick's No 1!



By the way, this was Nick's plate. His lotus root was mini and very cute!
The truth is, I wanted to exchange it with my plate, but I didn't ask.
Because it was his birthday...





This was mine.

Tapenade.

The bread to go with it was unbelievably tasty, too.

On each dish, we had choices to make, and we took quite a time.

"The evening is just getting started. So take your time", the madam said to us softly.

We were very relaxed by this point.

Foie gras with ripe mango, balsamic vinegar sauce and sweet corn. The white thing on top is meringue.

Sounds quite something, doesn't it?

It was!

The foie gras and mango melted together in my mouth, and I thought I would melt too...

Gaspacho with cappelini, sliced abalone on top.

The abalone's liver bits were crunchy and their bitter flavour was very good with the garlic tomato gaspacho soup!

Beautifuuuuuuuuuul!

Cappelini is such a must for me in summer weather.

I remember eating it, thinking, "how many courses have I had so far??" .

Wasn't sure anymore...

Finally, the main course arrived!

Veal with bechamel sauce.

Of course it was amazing.

But my favorite was the vegetables that came along with it!

The red and green pepper was baked very crispy, and when I bit into the beans, they made a big sound.

Japanese beef steak with Yuzu (Japanese lemon) mustard sauce.

Look at the pink!!!
You can tell how soft it was.

The thing is, we ordered 2 different dishes for the main course, and when they came, I let him choose, because it was his birthday. How nice I am! (^0^*)

And he chose this.

I'm looking at the wine list for a red.

Very serious........ as usual.............

Here it is again, beacause I couldn't resist taking many photos of it.
Good model. Very photogenic.

Satisfied, but a little bit sad.

Why do humans feel sad when we become full eating delicious food?

Another course, 3 types of cheese.

The little pot in the middle was honey to go with the blue.

All very yummy.

By the way, I think this Japanese little size is much nicer for things like cheese!

Curry??!

Again, as the course after the main course, we could choose cheese or curry.

When I heard that, I had to say, "Curry???!!! Now??!!"


Anyway, we ordered them both again, and I let Nick chose again.

And he chose cheese, but I gave him my curry too!! (Not because I am a nice person, but because I had to leave room for desert! Seriously, I was so worried by then!!)

It was just a mouthful of curry and nice, but I still think it's a strange thing to serve.

And the desert!!!!!!!!!!!!

I picked creme brulee with bitter chocolate ice cream.

When I put the spoon in, it made a snapping sound!

It was one of the best creme brulee I ever had!!

The chocolate ice cream was rich but somehow light and good with creme brulee.

I enjoyed my desert so much!

But..........

Even with my big appetite, I couldn't eat it all..........SAD!!!

Had to ask Nick to finish it off..............

Nick's desert, Coconut sorbet in a fruit sauce with dried pineapple on top.
It says "Happy Birthday, Nick! Enjoy being 34!" in chocolate on the very cold plate.

The truth, I secretly called ahead and asked if they could do something. Just a little something extra. It was the madam that answered the phone. We had a chat about it for a little longer than I expected, and at the end of the conversation, she was calling him Nick. Not "him".

So, when we were in the restaurant, she was addressing him as "Nick".

It was funny, but I kind of worried he would find out that something was going on...

And he did tell me later it felt weird that she knew his name even he didn't realize why!!

But anyway, it was nice to hear her call him Nick, instead of Nick-san (san is a term of respect). It doesn't happen often in Japan. Sounded more friendly.

The coffee and the petit fours, baby madeleines, sweet olives, and fruit jellies.

The end at last!!!!!!!!

More than anything else, the framboise jelly took me back to Paris!!

I couldn't help asking the chef if he had made them.

And when he said "yes, of course", I went quiet. I wanted to give him a complement, but I couldn't. That much I loved them!!

Wish they would sell it.........

Nick didn't put his spoon down till the last drop had gone.
Look, he is tilting the plate!

Like this, the marvelous dinner came to an end.

What an evening!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!