There aren't as many restaurants in Daikanyama as in other locations like Shinjuku or Shibuya. I've only dined in here once with friends, and another time was in Cafe Urth, a typical coffee shop. You could say I'm still not familiar with this area, even though I come here almost every Saturday recently.
Every time I go to the sports clinic to have my therapy, I will always pass by this intriguing restaurant that has a pig statue outside. Last Saturday after my therapy, I decided to hang out in Daikanyama before going home and even called my partner to come. It's dinner time, and we're looking for food. I recommended the only restaurant I've been here with my friends but my partner saw the pig statue and decided this is it.
Of course, I wanted to try something new, but when we went upstairs, it's as if the restaurant was closed. The outdoor dining wasn't available and it really seemed like we're not welcome.
I tried to go back down the stairs, but when I turned, I saw a group happily chatting inside the restaurant, as if they owned the place as they were the only ones I saw. Probably they're open. With that thought in mind, I told my partner and he tried opening the doors to the restaurant. After a while, we're seated in the farthest corner, just how I like it.
I liked this seat because besides it's on the corner, I could view Daikanyama from their floor-to-ceiling window. When we were ushered to our seats, we passed by the restaurant's kitchen and a fridge containing lots of pork that seemed top class. We later learned this restaurant serves Canadian pork, and you can even get it grilled!
Since it's dinner time, it's required to order one drink per person so my partner got a highball and mine was their homemade ginger highball.
Are you one of those people who don't like ginger? Well, I am so why did I even order a ginger highball? π But surprisingly, the ginger-y flavor wasn't that strong, so this was tolerable. Actually, it's better than I imagined.
Our food came one by one. The table wasn't that big enough to put all our orders.
For appetizers, we ordered dried ribs in buffalo, and salt & pepper flavors. They were so good! It's more like a good complement to your alcoholic drink. You could get the dried ribs in 5 flavors. We wanted to order another flavor but we stopped ourselves. If you asked me what's the best flavor, I couldn't decide and neither was my partner. They're both delicious! Definitely recommended to order.
Our pulled pork arrived not long after the appetizers. I wasn't even finished with the appetizers and this came. I thought the staff would demonstrate some kind of performance but it was just slicing the pork and pouring sauce on it. Nothing fancy.
The Shoulder Loin Butt Pulled Pork HyLife Style wasn't a favorite. It's a bit bland, or maybe the soup was. The flavor was weak and I was kinda hoping for more. The pork though was so tender, as expected since they slowly steamed this for 2 hours.
The Roasted Pork Flavored with Soy Spices came soon after. It was a thin slice of pork but unexpectedly so good we wanted more. It's just 2 slices, of course, we would want more. The taste was more like a ham but it's a nicely thin pork. Juicy, yes.
Our last dish was Pasta with Lemon And Parmigiano Cream Sauce. It's delicious but it doesn't stand out from the pasta flavors I've tried. The pasta wasn't as creamy as I thought it would be and when it goes to your mouth, there's a hint of lemon in it which makes it playful.
Service in this restaurant was superb, and the food was extremely delicious. The only turnoff was the price. We paid around 8,000 yen (or around 53.5 USD) for this dinner. Well, we got full but my partner didn't feel like it because he thought he wasn't eating a lot. He didn't like how luxurious this restaurant's ambiance felt. We're used to the local vibe and this restaurant was so high-end for us, a luxurious pork restaurant.
If you asked me if I would come again, probably I would but not in the near future. Lunch seems nice here, and it's cheaper than dinner. They have a Halloween Special buffet too so after hanging out in Shibuya for Halloween, why not dine in here, away from the crowd in Shibuya? Shibuya is just the next station or a 15-minute walk from here.
Thanks for reading!
See you around! γγγγγΎγγοΌ
With love,
All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.