In a quirky and completely unexpected twist, the organizer of today’s lunch unceremoniously ushered the umbrella-less Koala and I outside into the rain and a taxi. We pitched up several traffic lights away, a bit north of Awajicho, to sample the Italian cooking of La Testa Dura, cleverly hidden a touch off the main street.
The lunch menu at Y1350 is a pretty good deal (as it would need to be with this location) – you get a serious starter, a pasta and a proper coffee, and you get half a dozen choices from each. I went with the house-smoked swordfish and rucola, which was tasty and interesting, albeit a distressingly small portion compared to the veggie mousse and roast pork salads that the others had. For mains, two of us had lasagna, which was in the Japanese mold (at least to me) by being doused with white sauce and baked in individual portions in the oven until a bit crusty (in a good way). The other of us had a pasta, which looked properly oily. The coffees as well, as I said, were proper.
Evidently you can get here from Otemachi if you take the train for one stop. This seems a little excessive to me, but for semi-unemployed investment bankers it’s evidently all the rage. The card also says it’s open straight through from 11 AM to 10 PM, which is cool.
Semi-un is way, way better than fully-un.
03-5207-5267
Incidentally, isn’t the soba place right next door, Matsuya, quite famous?
Hey Jem-san,
Mr Cheesemonger, Uncle yabai and I are heading to Manten in Jimbocho this Friday – can you make it?
L Squirrel