Lyla restaurant

 Chef Narikiyo (picture from Figaro Madame Japon) 
Chef Narikiyo (picture from Figaro Madame Japon) 

Since Prunellia has written a post about the restaurant Abri in Paris, I couldn’t help writting a post about the restaurant Lyla in Tokyo, which was recommended to Prunellia and Aurore by the chef at Abri when they came to Japan last February. So we went there together to discover and really appreciate the refined, delicate cuisine prepared by chef Narikiyo. And since then went again to enjoy some more seasonal food. 

Each time the food was perfect, with special attention to each member of the party likes and dislikes and with a genuine style to prepare vegetables mixing French cuisine and Japanese kaiseki. The plating is also a delight, and desserts are as good as the rest. As a personal policy I don’t take picture of food in this kind of restaurants and prefer to remember the taste and colors, so you won’t see anything I have eaten there. I can only give you hints like bisk sable, greens with carrot leaves jus, lemon curd in kuzumochi…

Since I’m not a big eater I always picked the “carte blanche” menu which was just perfect in proportion, and allow you to enjoy everyhing from start to end.

Even though Lyla has received a lot of attention in the press, the chef is always there to say good bye and chat with you, and for the moment it is still possible to book a table on late notice which is really apppreciable. 

http://www.lylatokyo.com

Once the booking’s made the staff will call you back to verify your likes, dislikes, allergies, special diet etc…  because there is no menu, it’s all up to the chef.

 Sardines, radish and comte cheese (picture from Asahi) 
Sardines, radish and comte cheese (picture from Asahi) 

Winter sport in Japan

The valley of Hakuba

Why traveling to Japan for winter sports when you have pretty snowy mountains in your country? I reckon that wouldn’t be worth the hassle, the jetlag, the exhausting travel even if recently magazines have been spreading the word that Niseko is a must destination! But when you live in Tokyo it’s quite easy to go skiing and there are closer places than Niseko. Nagano prefecture and Niigata prefecture offer nice slopes with good snow and welcoming infrastructures. After trying several destinations, our favorite is definitely Hakuba and La Neige hotels, both the “honkan” and the “higashi kan“.

La neige honkan

While the former is a lovely place, a bit retro Japanese-western style (Taisho and Showa period), if your primary purpose is winter sport the latter is really amazing and offers incomparable services. Both are nested in the forest Wada no mori and a 5min walk from the lifts. Great!

Lobby of La Neige higashikan

Hakuba is also a genuine place for delicious local food and restaurants. My ultimate favorite is the Hummingbird, which over the past years has been quite popular and now reservations are absolutely needed!! Rumors say also that summer and autumn are beautiful in Hakuba… Can’t wait to see that too because so far I’ve only seen it covered in white!!
The valley of Hakuba

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