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Where to affordably experience Michelin-starred French cuisine...in Tokyo!
[Welcome to summer! Let's try to kill boredom with cool activities at home, awesome travel itineraries, and TV and movies!]
The first thing you need to do is parse the name of the restaurant by syllables so you don't trip over it when you recommend it to your amigas: Lugdunum Bouchon Lyonnais.
Lug. Du. Num. Bu. Shon. Li. Yo. Ney.
If you're taking the train, take the yellow JR East Chuo-Sobu Line and get off at Iidabashi. Take the exit where you can see Book-Off and that's the side you want to get on.
You can find the pin easily on Google Maps — if you're on the road where there's a Starbucks, you're heading the right way, you'll just have to walk a few more blocks to find the right alley.
The road where Lugdunum is on looks like a movie set...or a photoshoot location. There are quaint looking establishments like a Hajime No Ippo restaurant that offers garlicky dishes...which is sadly closed. Boo.
But, fret not. Lugdunum will offer a meal so exquisite, you won't want to eat anything else for a while. Sometimes hyping something kills the experience, but this is not hype. This is preparation. When you're mind is about to be blown, you're going to want to be warned.
Lugdunum offers the lunch menu, "Le Menu du Déjeuner", at ¥2850 (P1,401.16) per person from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm. They are very punctual, so expect the doors to be open at exactly 11:30 am. If you don't have a reservation, you might have a time limit for eating.
This writer personally recommends having the lunch menu, as dinners in Tokyo should be reserved for the izakaya experience.
There are six options for the appetizer (the full menu is available online). For our meal, we started with the Terrine of Venaison — wild boar and duck’s foie gras, nashi chutney — and the Lyon-style salad served with a cake of pig’s ears.
Visually, the salad looks stunning: A poached egg sits on a nest of greens and savory pigs ears. Staunch haters of croutons will find comfort provided by the texture of Lugdunum's version of the typically dry, tasteless cubes of carbs. It's a light enough starter for people who want to save room for a heavier entree.
The Terrine of Venaison is a slab of meat and doesn't score as high on the looks department, but it more than makes up for with flavor.
It's packed with pieces of game, savory venison and wild boar strewn randomly but melded together perfectly. The texture is firm, almost chunky, unlike many terrines that resemble pates (this had little or only natural gelatin). Duck foie gras added buttery fat and bits of pistachio added much needed crunch.
It was difficult to choose, but two entrees were eventually picked: Tatin de Boudin Noir and the roasted red partridge and braised leg, celery and green apple
The Tatin de Boudin Noir is a nice savory take on a classic French dessert.
The usual puff pastry base is replaced with a bed of mashed potatoes so smooth, the texture approaches that of custard.
Next comes a generous disc of blood sausage with a flavor akin to a rare, well-seasoned steak and a mouthfeel similar to our local betamax. It’s all brought together by a topping of crisp, caramelized apples and a mellow apple gastrique.
This writer picked the roasted red partridge randomly, just to find out what a partridge tastes like. Spoilers: They're impossibly juicy.
That's a word overused in advertisements for chicken meals and, after savoring this meal, your mind will be rewired to understand that juicy should be reserved for food that coats your mouth with flavorful jus with each bite.
Let's emphasize that again: Savor the meal.
On your plate are five or so dollops of the softest, creamiest mash potatoes topped with apples and an unspecified berry (this writer would pay to have it identified). Use them wisely.
When eaten together, the apple and the chicken and the berry and the potato —have you seen "Avatar: The Last Airbender?" It's an animated TV show, where one person is able to master the four elements — air, water, earth, fire. Basically, this is Avatar as food.
You would think gastronomy and all that is BS, but Lugdunum is proof that there's truth in food science.
Enjoy the braised leg with the purple thing on your plate as well. You don't need to know much about food to go gaga for what tastes good.
Pick whichever you like for dessert, but do be warned that the Baba au Rhum packs a punch. If you're into inebriating baked goods, you've found the one.
A perfectly baked apple pie with a crumbly crust and the right amount of cinnamon deserves its place in your heart, but Lugdunum's version is that classmate in high school that you couldn't maintain a relationship with because she was too rich.
The oven apple, rosemary biscuit, vanilla ice cream is an apple pie that says to other apple pies: "You're not bad. I just exist on a different plane."
Again, it should be emphasized that the three course meal only costs about P1,500 per person. Dress up, eat fancy, and stay on budget. What a dream.
It goes without saying that service is excellent and the aesthetic of the restaurant is impeccable and the large windows provide for perfect Instagram moments — for tourists or locals.
Once you step out, turn right, walk to the main road and you'll find yourself on a street filled with a diverse array of shops. If you're lucky, you might walk away with a P500 kimono, some ornate ceramic objects, or other handcrafted knickknacks.
Now, getting to Tokyo is another story. Hope you get to go some day! — LA, GMA News
Lugdunum Bouchoun Lyonnais. 1/F, Ebiya Building, 4-3-7 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo. 11:30-15:30 (L.O. 14:00), 18:00-23:30 (L.O. 21:30). Closed Monday, 1st & 3rd Tuesday. 03-6426-1201. Website.
