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2018-05-17
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Figaro is a small restaurant located in the Gough Street area. It was something the caught my eye for it featured Japanese inspired French cuisine. Quite honestly, I love how the Japanese have created their own versions of Western food and it's often really fantastic and inspiring.I arrived at lunch. It was pretty full and I was given the last table. And there I sat. For a long LONG time before someone came over and asked if I was ready to order. I replied that I was provided with no menu. The
I arrived at lunch. It was pretty full and I was given the last table. And there I sat. For a long LONG time before someone came over and asked if I was ready to order. I replied that I was provided with no menu. The waiter apologized and then gave me the lunch menu. Before I could look at the menu, another waiter came over and stood next to me, pen poised. I didn't expect to be paying over a $100 for lunch to only have cha chan teng service. I told him that I just got the menu and so he so "Oh, I'll come back later. I see you're not ready to order." You're right, buddy! I just told you I just got the menu!
ANYWAYS .... Lunch menu is in English and Chinese. It includes a main and soup. You can upgrade with appetizers, drinks and dessert with a certain amount of money. There apparently is a minimum charge of $88 per person, so no sharing of one set.
They also have a daily special lunch sets. Of whatever they want to point out. This includes an appetizer, soup, main, drink and dessert for $218. I chose the Hiroshima oysters and clams Provence style.
The appetizer was (from left to right) tuna cerviche topped with black fish roe, Japanese potato salad and mixed greens with sesame dressing The cerviche was refreshing and nicely complemented with the crunchy roe on top. The potato salad was creamy and what I like about Japanese potato salad. The mixed salad, however, was ok but I found a number of browning greens.
The soup was a crab soup with a heavy handed drizzle of truffle oil and an odd streak of black pepper. This was disappointing because all I could taste was truffle oil. Though I did find lovely chunks of crab meat throughout. The soup was also very VERY creamy.
Then my main arrived. This was fabulous! Lots of clams with meat in each one. There were also 2 big Hiroshima oysters. The seafood was cooked perfectly. But it was the sauce was the winner. A rich tomato based sauce that was fragrant with an added kick of heat from the chili added.
This came with a plate of garlic black pepper rice. A welcome addition to soak up as much of that wonderful sauce as possible.
Dessert was a choice of roll cake or creme brulee. Roll cake was my only choice and I was not disappointed. A soft sesame roll cake with a sakura cream. It was not too sweet and was a total highlight.
My drink was an ice orange tea. This was nice and refreshing with a whole piece of orange in it. The tea wasn't infused with orange flavor so I had to poke at the pulp to release orange flavor.
The food was quite good. Well, aside from the mediocre appetizer and over truffle oil soup. But the rest was astouding. The only thing I didn't like and is reason I really won't be back or at least create extreme hesitation for me to return is the service. First, I wasn't provided with a menu. Then when I was provided with one, I was expected to order like some sort of cha chan teng. Next when my food arrived, the waiter noticed I had no eating utensils. Then he noticed he didn't even wipe the table. Don't you do these things before your diner sits down? Another thing was how fast everything came out. I had EVERYTHING in front of me (including dessert and drink) at once. I guess if you want a fast lunch, this is the place for you. If you want a quiet relaxing lunch this may not be for you. It's sad really as I did like the food. It's too bad the service made me think twice. And thus, my happy face gets pushed to an ok.
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