Hungry Tiger — Restaurant in Osaka

I really wanted to love this place … however I feel the food has let it down tonight.

The restaurant itself is comfortable with a lovely atmosphere, soft music and decorated nicely. The staff were warm and welcoming from start to finish and walked us out to the door upon leaving, which is a beautiful touch.

The appetisers started well, we had the fried fish and garlic bread which were both delicious and I was hopeful the mains would follow suit.

We had the prosciutto pizza, which honestly lacked flavour - there was no sauce or cheese on it apart from some store bought Parmesan on top of the prosciutto that you would buy pre-grated in a jar or packet, it was not freshly grated Parmesan. The pizza could be enhanced with a tomato base or some cheese on the base when cooked. Even some mozzarella or bocconcini cheese balls would have made it better. It was unfortunately dry pizza dough with the meat and rocket, very basic, we had to add chilli oil and Tabasco provided to give it any sort of flavour.

There was some confusion with the pasta. Upon ordering we were asked what size we wanted - the English menu didn’t state different sizes and this would have helped because we struggled to understand the waiter with the language barrier, who said the regular size was a small, then a medium was a small … so we ordered a large. Perhaps putting the weight (grams) of pasta for each size on the menu would make it easier to understand the sizes. The large pasta portion was enormous and enough for 2 people. I’ve never seen an Italian restaurant give such a large pasta portion in all my years.

I had the red sauce seafood pasta (pescatoro Rosso), unfortunately it lacked salt and the pasta was not cooked al dente, it was perhaps 1-2 min overcooked making it too soft for a truly Italian dish. The pasta would also be elevated if the mussels were served inside their shells. Overall the seafood pieces were very small and not what I’ve experienced elsewhere with larger, generous seafood… I suspect it may have been a pre-prepared seafood mix.

As an Italian-Australian who has visited Italy twice and grown up on Italian food, I was a little disappointed and as much as I wanted to enjoy the food, I have had better both in Japan and abroad. I do hope the chef can take the constructive feedback and continue to elevate the dishes served. At our last Italian feed in Hiroshima, the staff did ask if we wanted our pasta cooked al dente, so I can appreciate that they may be trying to cater to a more Japanese clientele that prefers a different level of cooked pasta to Western diners…. But if you are going to be an Italian restaurant I feel it should be true to the cuisine in...

素晴らしきかなダニエル

こちらは1967年東京虎ノ門にて創業。令和と昭和を融合させる名店。 事前に予約し、個室に案内される。

生ビールを注文し乾杯。喉を通る刺激と共に、その日一日の業を洗い流す。

◾️スープ マッシュルームのスープ。濃厚なマッシュルームの薫りの破壊力と、旨味の爆発力によりスタートから悶絶する。

◾️冷前菜 平目のカルパッチョ、蛸とケイパーのサラダ、ラム肉のロースト、生ハムとブラータチーズ。特に、蛸とケイパーのサラダはディルが効き、蛸の食感との重奏が素晴らしい。またラム肉はほんのりラムの薫りが残り味が複雑化する。これをビールで流し込む。余韻が何物にも変え難い。

ここで角ハイボールをオーダー。

◾️温前菜 サルシッチャと水茄子のソテー。まずはサルシッチャ。肉肉しい豚肉の旨味が口中を突き抜ける。その後ハーブ（セージ）が薫る。ソーセージとは異なる荒々しさがそこにはある。またトロトロに火入れされた水茄子が主役級に主張する。これらとハイボールで、新しい扉が開く。

◾️魚料理 サーモンのグリル、トマトソース。サーモンは皮面はカリッと身はフワッと加熱され、タイムが薫る。そこに酸味のあるトマトソースやアサリの旨みが加わり、閃光が走る。

肉料理の前に赤ワインをグラスでオーダー。

◾️肉料理 ビステッカ、パルサミコソース。これも素晴らしい。牛肉は想像を超える厚切り。赤身ながら、しっとりとしており、心地良い弾力から最高の火入れと分かる。噛み締めると上品な肉汁が溢れ、旨味が弾ける。暴力的な美味さとボリュームに敗北。

◾️ダニエル 通常のコースのパスタをダニエルに変更して頂く（予約時）。こう言ったところの対応が嬉しい。 この期におよんで、パスタは一人一皿でサーブされる。そこには悲鳴か歓声かわからない唸り。 太麺で柔らかく茹でられたパスタに玉子がふんわりと絡む。そこにたま葱の甘味、ベーコンの塩味、マッシュルームの旨味、ブラックペッパーの刺激がアクセントとなり、ガーリックとバターの芳香が融合し、唯一無二のダニエルとなる。これと同時にチーズ、タバスコ、醤油、胡椒などの調味料がサーブされる。大量にチーズを投下しワシワシと嗜む。 市民権を得て久しいアルデンテパスタなどとは一線を画す。満腹中枢への攻撃を代償とし、ここでしか出会えない至高に打震える。

◾️ペスカトーレバジリコ 追加でもう一つのこちらの名物であるペスカトーレバジリコをオーダー。バジリコと言いながら紫蘇であり、アサリや海老などの魚介が柔らか太麺のパスタに絡む。あっさりではあるが魚介の旨味が凝縮し、紫蘇の薫りが爽やかな余韻を残す。 そして静かに満腹中枢へ打撃を与える。

◾️デザート　アイスコーヒー セミフレッド。フワッと半解凍されたアイスにラズベリーやドライフルーツなどが投入される。甘さ控えめで食感が楽しく拍手喝采である。

店員の皆さんの動きも素晴らしく、声掛けやサービスのタイミングなど適切で、何より皆さんの笑顔に平伏する。

Cコースにバジリコ追加し、ビール、ハイボール、ワインをしこたま頂き、11,000円強。

ご馳走様でした。...

The staff were all friendly and accommodating even though I came in half an hour before the last order. Even though i couldn’t speak Japanese, the wait staff were polite and nice about it. She was also nice enough to recommend me to change my drink order from milk tea to other tea as i had cream sauce and scared that it will be too much for me. The risotto was delicious, and I don’f mind to...