Agadir - Moroccan ****
Reviewed by Allan Miles
Address - Tokyo-to, Shinjuku, Kagurazaka 3-6
Opening hours - Lunch available only after booking and for parties of 8 people or more. Open from 17:00 pm to 24:00 pm (Last order at 23:00 pm)
Telephone - 03-3266-1767
Menu - In English and Japanese
Credit Cards - OK
Run by Moroccans, the food is very tasty but the portions very small and we left thinking it wasn't value for the money. With a few beers we spent 6000 ¥ a head. We ordered à la carte and my "main" course turned out to be a small vegetable pastry more like an appetizer than a main course. My friend had couscous and you would have to order this to help you fill up. The soup and the salad were very nice but very small. There are several set courses from ¥ 3800 - 4600. The ¥ 3800 set has 4 dishes and I doubt it would be enough. Our waiter spoke French, no English and he was unable to answer in basic Japanese our questions about the menu and his recommendations. It is possible that better speakers of Japanese would have got more useful information from him, but we both agreed that his Japanese seemed limited.
A second opinion from a reader:
I was interested to see your review of Agadir the Moroccan rest., particularly because I went there for the first time on Tuesday. It was my girlfriend's birthday and she said she'd like to go there. I've been to Morocco twice so I know a bit about Moroccan food.
We were the only customers - all night! Some of what you say is true, but we had the 3,800 course set and it was enough. However we changed the fried spring roll chicken for a Pastila chicken and if you've ever had one of those you'll know they are filling. The couscous was good. The only things that slightly annoyed me were the drinks: the wine was tasteless, like coloured water, and they did not have mint tea and if you've ever been to M. you'll know they drink mint tea all the time. I found that amazing. In other ways though, I enjoyed the meal."
Sofra - Turkish **
Address - 2F Hill Top Bldg 3-6-3, Kagurazaka Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo
Opening hours - Open from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm (lunch) and from 5:30 pm to 11:00 pm (dinner)
Telephone - 03-5261-3880
Menu - In English and Japanese
Credit Cards - OK
Some time ago I visited a friend who lives near Iidabashi and, after having finished our work, we decided to have dinner at nearby Turkish restaurant Sofra.
I had already been there some years back and had quite liked it, although the food is anything but traditional: being cold-water fish, I doubt salmons ever make it to Turkish waters to have themselves wrapped around avocado slices.
Another not-so-small fly in the ointment was in my view the belly dancer who, as I now know, has a daily show there. Mind you, I have nothing against dancers, but I like to choose when and where to enjoy their, or anybody else's, art. A customer should always have a choice, and not be forced to watch or listen anything.
That first time we had just finished eating when she entered, so we could easily weasel out almost unnoticed. Last week however we had just started eating, and in any case I had completely forgotten about her, so when she suddenly appeared my heart sank. I must admit though she was excellent, the best I've ever seen and a real professional.
Having no other option, we resigned ourselves to give up our conversation for a while. After the third piece our resolve began to crumble and finally turned into despair when the cook, who instead of preparing our food had previously also been watching the show, reappeared in a turbaned traditional costume with a thousand yen bill between his lips. Dancing, he put it under the shoulder straps of her bra and quickly disappeared.
It was a clear invitation to pay her. She started choosing men from every table as dancing partners and soon she was festooned with money sticking out of each of her many corners.
Twenty minutes of continuous din with drunken, overweight businessmen enthusiastically belly-dancing in the dark with a bill between their lips was not what we had expected from Sofra: we felt we should have at the very least being told in advance of such a long, noisy, and tasteless show, so we paid and left, never to be seen again.
June 2003
Allan Miles' Review :
Well worth a visit. It's a nice restaurant with simple, tasteful decor and tasty, authentic food. The management was very friendly. The night we went was a special party to mark the end of Ramadan and we had to have a set course for ¥ 3600. It consisted of 5 dishes, all very tasty except for the nondescript vegetables accompanying the kebabs. The bread was very nice. The set course was enough for a reasonably hungry person and they said it was similar to their regular set course. From the extensive à la carte menu appetizers, soups (our soup was delicious) and salads run about ¥ 1000 and main courses ¥ 1000 - 3000 with most being around ¥ 2000, so my guess is you'd spend ¥ 3500 - 4000 on food. Start eating early as there is belly dancing nightly at 8:30 and it's good to be finished before this intrusion on an enjoyable meal.
|
Calendar 
