lunching @ betterave bistro jiro

Boo-chan and I wanted to try something new in the hood (代々木八幡 Yoyogi-Hachiman) so we decided to try Betterave Bistro Jiro (ベトラーヴビストロジロー), a French restaurant.

There is a picture of a beet on the sign, and I didn’t understand why, until I found that Betterave means sugar beets in French–go fig. The restaurant has an open terrace surrounded by various potted plants, which gives off a cozy atmosphere. It also has indoor seating, so we decided to sit indoors as there were sudden gusts of cool wind.

1. The inside of the restaurant was small and comfy, with 6 tables clothed in red and white gingham. 2. I liked the chalkboard menus hanging over the bar, with a cute cartoon character drawn on each board. The walls are the same color as a sugar beet.

The lunch menu was simple with 7 different choices; fish, veggies, chicken, pork, gratin, and two different choices of beef dishes. All lunches cost ¥1,050 except for the beef lunches which are 1200 and 1500. Drinks are not included in the price.

I was debating what I wanted to order, so the waitress recommended the Mexican Skirt Steak Steak with a Red Wine Sauce (メキシコ牛ハラミステーキ赤ワインソース). We should have ordered different things, but Boo-chan and I both listened to the waitress and decided to order the same thing. It came with french bread or rice, and a vegetable soup. We also ordered a glass of white wine.

This delicious soup was filled with a variety of veggies, such as onions, carrots and daikon. The restaurant gets all of its veggies from Kagawa.

Close up–the skirt steak was about 2cm thick and there were three big slices. I was surprised how much meat there was. Under the skirt steak was garbanzo beans and veggies covered with a tomato paste sauce. The skirt steak was covered with the red wine sauce which was both sweet and sour. The salad was big and leafy and came with a cream sauce.

As we paid the bill, they handed us two little treats as dessert. It was a small piece of chocolate cake that was moist but not as sweet as I wanted it to be. But it was still good.

This was such a satisfying lunch. I am so glad we decided to try this restaurant. The lady who sat next to us ordered the gratin, which looked great. Next time, I think I will try that. Boo-chan and I left happy and we walked to Shibuya to go shopping.

xxxo,

ms fancy pants tokyo