Superbacco Has Delicious Antipasto (2006-12-19)
I kept forgetting about Superbacco even though we had visited it years ago. Due to its obscure underground location, it is not easy to just "walk past" it and be reminded of its existence. The restaurant does have a very good lunch special both in value and taste. Recently we returned to this underground eatery where we're presented with four special lunch courses ranging from 900Yen to 1500Yen/ US$8.5 to $14) to choose from. KL and I both opted for the C course which gives you an antipasti plate, pasta of choice from a list, the day's fish or meat dish and bread, all for just 1500Yen which is a great value in Tokyo.
The restaurant is cozy and warm. I like the fabric-draped lamp
over each wooden table, it adds intimacy and ambiance. Our waiter
was a young Caucasian man who spoke to us in Japanese with a heavy
accent. When I
asked him what the day's fish was, he had no idea but went away to
check. He came back to tell me hesitantly and coyly that it was
"Susuki or
Suzuki or maybe Zuzuke?" (his exact words). I figured this guy
was more confused
about his fish than I am about fish in general so I moved on to the
meat
dish question. I asked him in Japanese what kind of meat it was
and he
gave a quick and confident reply of "Buta (pork)!". Since I had
fish the previous night and ordered seafood marinara for my pasta
course, I reciprocated with an equally quick and confident response of
"Buta it is!". Our
waiter maybe a bit clueless, but he's also very cute and nice.
All the dishes in our course were delicious. Being the typical
serving size here,
there's perhaps just a mouthful of each appetizer laid out on the
plate. The orzo with peas was yummy, so was the "miniature"
ratatouille. The unidentified seafood-marinade thing was also
moreish. There's an obvious absence of cured meat on the plate,
but for 1500Yen, what do you expect? I liked my antipasti a lot
still and I could've eaten plates and plates of it.
However I was only halfway through it when the spaghetti arrived. I don't like it when they rush you through in a course meal. Am I supposed to abandon my antipasti and go for the pasta? If I wait till I finish my appetizer, the pasta will be cold. I like to finish one course before starting the next so I let the spaghetti idle on the table which is very annoying. When I finally got to it, my annoyance was appeased by the tasty noodles and sauce. The spaghetti was cooked to a perfect al denti state and the sauce flavorful and intense. I could taste garlic, olive oil and bits of canned tuna in the tomato sauce, unusual but very good.
A third into my spaghetti, the pork arrived. *Sigh* The
thin and small piece of pork that was presented in front of me had
GRILLED MARKS! It's such a pleasant surprise to see my meat
grilled! You don't see this cooking method often used in
restaurants here. I quickly cut myself a small piece and the
smoky flavor was yummmmm. The pork was also very tender and
flavorful. It was simply salted and peppered before grilling and
served with a wedge of lemon and a drizzle of extra virgin olive
oil. It's simple yet it works.
I give two thumbs up to Supperbacco for a delicious lunch but two
thumbs down for their serving timing.
Superbacco Kichijoji (
) Minamicho 2-1-31 Frenti
Kichijoji B1F (underneath Kichijoji JR South Exit) Tel 0422-49-2005
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