Bon Anniversaire Miyuki

Yesterday was my honey's birthday. We got a great present from Yuichiro and Yumi... they offered to babysit Nico for a few hours and (pick up part of the tab) while we had lunch at Le Midi, a French restaurant in town. It's actually one of several French restaurants in town. There's even a few patisseries about. It's odd, there's enough of a demand in Japan for French cuisine that even a little po-dunk city like Takayama can support several outlets. And the cuisine survives fairly intact... there's a conspicuous absence of mentaiko, natto or curry dishes on the menu. If only the Japanese felt the same way about bagels, NY style pizza and Mexican food...



Miyuki had a very nice lamb dish.



And I had a really good steak au poivre.



We almost didn't make it to dessert. We were already stuffed before the entree's came, from the generous salad and soup they served before hand. But good thing there's always the betsu bara, or extra stomach, that deploys just in case of such emergencies. We then had a bit of a stroll to get that betsu bara packed away again.

It was really nice having a few hours just to ourselves. But this is just Birthday celebration part 1. Part 2 comes in a couple of weeks when we, along with Nico, take a little mini vacation for a night at one of the local hotel/ryokans. Ah, a warm room and a warm bath... looking forward to it.

Tags: Japan | Takayama | birthdays | French cooking