As usual, my day started with breakfast, which this morning was minimal, for I was planning on a monumental Shinkansen bento meal, and, tonight, dinner at Robuchon:
This was a rainy day in Tokyo, again, but note in particular the hugeness of those two grapes, about the size of a ping pong ball. I noted that there were no seeds because a device extracts them out:
The Max Toki I took has two levels. If you're bringing a heavy suitcase, you need to deal with steps going up or down.
However, I had nothing to carry and the vantage point so high affords a better view. The view inside:
Niigata is known for rice and sake:
That's about all you'll get about Niigata because I spent all of 45 minutes just at the train station solely to purchase what could well be the final bullet train bento I'll ever again consume:
Niigata beer, Niigata sake, salmon bento and Kentucky Fried Chicken. One flavor was teriyaki:
This lunch cost me $25 and was a fitting conclusion to my one week on the Shinkansen. It will be raining over Tokyo for the next few days, but from the train, that surely looked like Mount Fuji:
Getting off the train in Tokyo, I noticed that this is the year of the Shinkansen:
I stopped by Ginza to shop at Uniqlo:
I've now been in Japan for a week, and will have only my second real restaurant meal. I dressed up for Robuchon located across the street (the French mansion closest to my room):
Joel Robuchon has 31 Michelin stars, and his restaurant across the street from my hotel is one of three 3-stars.. One floor below is his 2-star diner. And a floor below that is his bakery.
Getting a last minute reservation at his 3-star temple can be a challenge. However, I somehow bullied my way into a table.
I ordered their house White Burgundy and Bordeaux (a Margaux). They use Riedel glasses here.
The bread display is wheeled to your table:
Here are portions of the menu:
For the record, I ordered the egg, artichoke and chocolate souffle' dishes. You can read the French version. But it began with the amusement, something to do with quinoa, but I think those grains below the eatable pieces were the quinoa:
An okay start. Next came the assortment:
This photo doesn't do justice to the french fried egg with caviar, which looked like this inside:
This could have been the highlight of the night, but the next is that caviar and sea urchin spaghetti, and I unfortunately mixed it up before taking the photo:
So which spaghetti was better, this, or the one I had yesterday (scroll down to the next posting), which cost $15, including salad and a glass of red wine? The supplement just to add this dish at Robuchon was $30. The classical Italian versus enhanced French Italian fusion. I'll spare you the financial details, but I felt that the 15 times cheaper pasta was actually superior.
The chocolate souffle' was exceptional, and came with a sherbet:
But that was not all. There was a cheese wagon, and I selected two blues, with a glass of Port wine:
Then came two more dessert carts. Here is only one:
After all that, just the below with a cup of cappuccino:
I only got a quarter-way through the souffle', and just could not fit any more food into my body. The bill came with my photo.
And this one came from my camera:
I'm not that fat. My suit is the same color as my seat, which is more like a sofa. Incidentally, this the the last time you'll ever see me so well dressed. Tonight was a dress rehearsal for tomorrow, when I provide my five-minute testimonial, and no one who will be there reads this blog.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index again broke it's all-time high, up 166 to 23,329.
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The more important matter has to do with Typhoon Lan, which is now up to 115 MPH, but will strengthen at least into a Category 4 tomorrow.
The crucial issue, for me, is the timing. On Sunday night at 9PM, Typhoon Lan will be sufficiently south of my presence. I leave Narita at 6:25 PM for Bangkok. The projection remains a path straight to Tokyo.
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