Ristorante Quinto Canto, Osaka, lunch, September (Tabelog bronze)

So, this is the place in Japan that I have visited the most. Cooking wise, they execute everything properly and creatively. In case of the service, every guest here is treated like a royalty. The chef comes out for each and every table to greet his guests and he shows up again at the end of the course to distribute a leaflet containing the illustration and sometimes detailed explanation regarding the ingredients. The lunch course here consists of 9 dishes -including the tea portion- and with the addition of a glass of soft drink and the tea add-on, it costed me 85 dollars. Honestly, this is probably the best Italian restaurant I have ever been to, in terms of cost/performance ratio. The detail regarding today’s lunch will be added below.

1. Foie gras pudding, toasted black sugar on top (as in Crème brûlée), espresso sauce and mascaporne

2. Giant Octopus salad, sliced Kagome Kombu and also in foam, White kidney bean paste, dill

3. Pork cutlet, Grissinopoli style, Yamato pork and yamato yam, Yamato yam chips with fennel seeds

4. Pasta fredda, geoduck clam and Toro eggplant, tomato sorbet sprinkled on top.

5. Roast beef, Hiroshima beef from Nakamura ranch

6. Spaghetti pomodoro – as far as I know, this is the only pasta dish that uses in-house made noodles among all the menus here and it is included on every course they offer. I didn’t believe in handmade pasta before I had this. Simple, yet so great. My personal favorite.

7. palate cleanser, red shiso sorbet on top of figs and plum wine gelee, dried shiso flowers sprinkled on top

8. Dessert, Amazon cacao, whipped cream, caramelized apple, gelato and Ceylon tea anglaise poured to be served as zuppa

9. Taiwanese Kinsensou tea, Italian chocolate and biscotti