We've moved over to Wordpress! Check out this post here Tanta Bocca
Italian food with a side of Wagyu
Welcome to Tanta Bocca. It's located a short walk from where the 2020 Tokyo Olympic stadium is being built. It's a quiet, fashionable part of Tokyo that's bound to get a bit crazier in the lead up to the Olympics. One of our very good friends lives there and he found an Italian place that was well worth dragging a camera to. So off we all went.
I was pretty much sold as soon as we got there. You can smell basil and garlic wafting out the makeshift patio seating area. There was also a frequently used chalkboard covered in daily specials and prices for various cuts of wagyu. The inside has a nice, warm feel to it with lots of amber lighting, hence the afternoon feel of the photos in this post. The place was crowded when we arrived for an 8:30 reservation. All signs were pointing to nom nom.
While the menu is adorable you can go ahead and put it to the side. You wont be needing it just yet. It has some English inside as well as their pasta menu but this place is all about the antipasti.
Appetizers for days
This is the specials and appetizers menu. He'll do his best to explain in English or Italian and I've got plenty of advice for you. Those prices and grams on the right are all for different cuts of Wagyu, hence the steeper than usual Taste Tokyo blog prices. If you're in Tokyo and have never tried Wagyu just know that you wont find it for prices this cheap outside of Japan. For reference, that A5 Rump for 4500 yen (40 USD) that is listed on the chalkboard would cost around 100 USD in the United States. Even then, it's potentially American bred Wagyu and not the Japanese born stuff. If you've had wagyu in the US and thought "meh, what's the big deal?" read this terrifying article about why that 30 dollar hamburger probably had zero connection to actual Japanese Wagyu. Spoiler alert, regulations protect your wallet from opportunistic asshats.Buon Appetito
Refillable, made in house bread. A rarity in Japan so enjoy it but don't overdo it. This isn't the Olive Garden and unlimited bread sticks is a trap!
Refillable, smoked, whipped butter....REFILLABLE. SMOKED. WHIPPED. BUTTER. This alone was reason enough to come here. That bread was gone before our drinks arrived. This was a first for me and it's basically a savory version of ice cream that you can put on top of steak.
San shurui antipasti. The chalkboard menu featured three daily appetizer specials. One of the options is a small sampler set of all three, san shurui meaning three types. Today's plate included sea bream carpaccio, avocado and snow crab tartar and an octopus marinade.
Calamari. The Japanese know their squid and this place serves it up perfectly fried with a slice of lemon. The house butter probably works too.
Primo Piatto
Wagyu bolognese! Bolognese is the dish that would become America's spaghetti with meat sauce. Back in Italy spaghetti wouldn't be served with meat sauce since the thin noodles don't actually hold any sauce when you pick it up. It's served with wavy tagliatelle so all the sauce gets stuck in the nooks and crannys and each bite is loaded with meat and tomato. Brilliant. They've knocked it up a notch by using wagyu to make the bolognese even meatier and covered it in parmigiano.
Linguine genovese. This place nails genovese. It had an awesome sauce to pasta ratio, crushed and whole pine nuts, tons of parmigiano mixed in so it sticks to the pasta. Loved this dish and you better believe every last bit of sauce was mopped up with bread.
Il Secondo
We were getting pretty full at this point so it was time to wrap things up with the main course, wagyu. First came a huge plate of shungiku. Shungiku is a very flavorful, leafy vegetable that is usually found in hot pots. It has a strong but not unpleasant aroma to it. I think, but am not sure, that it was served as a palette cleanser to get ready for the wagyu.
A5 grade Misuji wagyu. This is 200 grams of A5 brisket that would cost a small fortune outside of Tokyo. Here it cost about 40 USD. By no means cheap but worth saving up for if you're planning a trip to Tokyo. It came served with a bit of fresh wasabi and some soy sauce.
I cut mine up into four supremely decadent bites and had it with my shungiku salad. This is where we threwin the towel. We were so full at this point.
Dolce
Not full enough to skip a little dolce though. Tanta Bocca makes a mean tiramisu and it's massive. Four of us shared this and it was perfect.
Digestivo
I forgot to take a photo but for drinks this place does an Aperol Spumante Spritz that is delicious but a bit too expensive. So we went with wine, which I also forgot to take a picture of. I remembered to take a picture of the grappa though! The restaurant had cleared out at this point and my friend Matt and I went for a little digestivo to wash down all the steak and butter. I know nothing about grappa other than it seems to be rocket powered vodka and the two times I've tried it have left me weak in the knees. So enjoy.
Buon Appetito
Tanta Bocca in Sendagaya
Closed Mondays
Sundays
11:30 AM - 2:30 PM
5:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Tues - Sat
11:30 AM - 2:30 PM
6:00 PM- 10:30 PM
Nearby Stations:
Kita Sando Station
Yoyogi Station
Sendagaya Station
Nearby Attractions:
Shinjuku Gyoen (Sendagaya Gate Entrance)
Comments
Post a Comment