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Issue 43 - July 1996 City Eats and Drinks |
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Issue 43 - July 1996 City Eats and Drinks |
There's a secret culinary institute that has been attended by most chefs in Japan at one time or another, called the Institute of Bland Pseudo-Italian Pizza. Graduates are able to make dainty little 1000 yen pizzas frilled up with some carefully laid out basil leaves that are sure to have the OLs oohing, aahing, and oishiiiiiing right on through to the taramisu dessert (made according to the standards of the Monotonously Faddish Italian Dessert Institute, somewhere near the now defunct Nato de Coco Appreciation Society). Such is the success of these institutes, that you are virtually guaranteed to be served an identically uninspired pizza no matter where you go in town. These pizzas, in fact, are more successful at attracting 20-something women than even the most successful Kevin Costner lookalike. They are perfectly edible (the pizzas, I mean), but they lack any sort of memorable character (still talking about pizzas here). What they don't do is what a pizza is supposed to do, which is stuff you until all you can do is lie down in front the TV with a contented smile on your face for the next three hours. What we need is a pizza made with care, with passion, with lots of cheese, and without the least homage paid to food trends, a man's pizza. Well, such a pizza can be found tucked away in a little shop in Yakuin called BONITA. We are a bit concerned that the owner might not even care to be written about, since the shop feels very much like you're sitting in his living room, a man's living room. With only a couple of tables and a tiny counter, the room is made even more cluttered by a television, which is usually on, a wall-full of video tapes and fishing memorabilia, and numerous masculine odds and ends, telescopes, globes and what-not. As the room reflects the owner's personal preferences rather than some ill-considered marketing theme, it is an extremely comfortable place to be. The food, at least the pizza and tacos, equally reflect the owner's personality. When you've left BONITA, you go away with the feeling that the food was made just for you. The homemade quality of the pizzas (vegetarian, meat, or seafood, and tons of cheese) only remind you how long it's been since you've had a decent pizza in this town. The pizzas are enhanced by side servings of spicy pickled onions and whole peppers, all of which were devoured along with everything else. The chicken tacos are not tacos in any familiar sense, but at 350 yen each, a few of them will make a fantastic meal. None of those packaged attempts at Tex-Mex, but a deliciously marinated chicken served with homemade sauce in a soft taco. The menu is not varied, but the pizza and the chicken tacos alone make this one of the best spots in town for a meal that offers substance over cuteness.
Where: BONITA is open until 2:00 AM, and is located in Yakuin 1-chome, #10 block. From Yakuin station walk about 700 meters west to the signal before Volk's Restaurant. Turn right and walk to the very next signal. BONITA is on the far, left corner, with a British Flag inexplicably on the door.
BF
Ngoi SaoVietnameseThe relative wastelands of Hakata-Minami have never been much of a hunting ground for good food. A faceless area of offices, warehouses, and apartment buildings, all equally indistinguishable from each other, it's never held much attraction for restaurateurs. They seem to prefer the intensely competitive atmosphere of Tenjin as a group, with a few good neighborhood spots around town. Osho has long been the exception, its obscure location being part of its charm. Nevertheless, there are a couple places worth a visit down there. One is an authentic Vietnamese restaurant called NGOI SAO. NGOI SAO is a family operation, with the son and daughter, mother and father all pitching in with the work. Its a small shop so reservations are always a good idea. The menu includes Vietnamese harumaki, both fried and raw, that are delicious. The stuffed tomatoes are a popular dish, as is the steamed snapper. The atmosphere is the kind you can only get in family restaurants, which is sincerly friendly on most occasions. Because it is in Hakata-minami, describing its location would be an unreasonably hopeful endeavor. Instead we'll leave you with the phone number and an address. If you haven't already got yourself a city map, on which you can pinpoint almost any address, please do so. NGOI SAO, Hakataeki-minami 4 -12 -27. Tel. 474-6932 Open daily including Sunday. BF
I'd better own up now that I'm no gourmet - gourmand - yes - and a rather unsatisfied one on my few forays into French food outside France. While Fukuoka may be a great place for the discerning glutton, few restaurants in the city can deliver that "night out" feel that sets one's companion's heart a flutter and melts eyes previously focused coldly on recent sins. If your better half has a birthday coming up, then consider Ile de' France. The lady who built it up sadly died last year and the daughter took over, but it is still one of the few restaurants here which understands the western concept of "service". It has an integrity, what a Yorkshireman would call "bottom" that is elsewhere rarely found. The food was quite delicious - I'd forgotten how good fish could taste, but it was the service that stood out. Dishes appeared with immaculate timing and were served naturally and entirely without the fuss one often has to endure regarding the precise provenance of monsieurs asparagus. They were flexible enough to deal with a non-meat eater without prior notice. There wasn't a French accent in sight and the chef stayed in his kitchen where he belongs, but one's glass was refilled precisely when it should have been, without the alchohlic harrasment so common in Japan. When The Imp made a phone call the waiter had thirty yen out of the 'till and in her hand just as she was realising she didn't have change. In other words attentive service - with due attention being payed to not getting in the way. It was The Imp's birthday, so before we knew it we had posed for a polaroid still and she was being presented with two little handkerchiefs. It's not cheap - evening set menu starts at 5000yen, with others at 8000yen and beyond. But that's comparable to what you would pay in the UK. Wine starts at about 3,500yen a half bottle. Lunch sets are cheaper.
Where - Walk down Showa dori towards Nakasu. On the right side, just before the old brick western-style building is Ile de France. Call 721 6985
NM
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