December fine dining reservation hullabaloo

It's my turn to arrange our fine-dining experience for this month and it being December, we all agreed we can have it on a more special restaurant albeit, a bit more expensive one. Having had Italian, Mediterranean and Mexican in the last three months, we thought of going French this time. And, as we've been having strings of parties since the beginning of December, we had no other option but to have this month's "dinner" to lunch. Hence, I took the temerity to look up Michelin starred French restos around Tokyo as lunch set menus are usually a lot cheaper than dinner.

In no way was I prepared though with the reservations hullabaloo...

I asked Kitty, Maj and Zoey to choose between L' Auberge, Mervielle, and Nouvelle Ere.
L' Auberge (http://www.hiramatsu.co.jp/eng/restaurants/aubergedelill-tokyo/) has been our first choice as its main branch in Alsace, France has been rated 3-stars for 41 consecutive years! It opened its first "branch" in Japan last May and has been rated since as Michelin 1 star resto in Japan. We found ourselves racking our wardrobes, thinking about suitable outfits (even thinking of shopping for clothes!) fit to enter the resto's double doors at the top of a large staircase. haha. I even looked up in the internet how to correctly pronounce the lunch set that we were planning to have; though I was having some trepidations that what if, wine/champagne is not yet included on the set?? I just assured myself though that we can always order a Moet et Chandon Champagne. Safe huh? hehe.

Merveille (http://www.eatpia.com/merveille/index.html) was our second close choice as it's more homey than L'Auberge and cheaper by maybe 1k yen..=P And as Zoey put it, we can eat at our element here.

Nouvelle Ere (http://www.augoutdujour-group.com/no/index.html) was awarded by Tokyo Michelin Guide 2008 one star as well but somehow it took the back stage in our selection process.

When finally I've confirmed the number of attendees in this month's dinner (we decided to invite our guy friends on this usually-girls-night-out event since it's a special month anyways), I called up L'Auberge, with the intent of asking as well the proper dress code in their resto. Hence, I was not prepared when I was told that they were fully booked already, both Sunday and Saturday for the whole month of December, both lunch and dinner.

Called up Merveille. Fully booked as well although they have a vacant table this Sunday - which is not our option since we couldn't have a late night out on a Sunday. Nouvelle Ere, same reply. Called up Au Gout du Jour (http://www.augoutdujour-group.com/au/index.html) as well, but again, the same "sorry, fully booked reply".

Undaunted, I looked up more French restos and fell in love with Quintessence (http://www.quintessence.jp/english/concept.html), a 3-star Tokyo Michelin guide awardee.

I gave my friends other alternatives as well so I also suggested Joel Robuchon (http://www.robuchon.jp/ebisu/robuchon.html) and Bistrot D'artemis (http://www.bento.com/rev/2655.html).

Of course, Quintessence won with Bistrot D'artemis in second.

For reservations, you can only call Quintessence at 9:30~11am and 3:30~5pm. I couldn't even get through!!!! Their hotline was really hot..always busy...=( I tried calling minutes before and after the designated time but I got a recorded answer that they only receive calls for reservation at so and so hours..

Already saddened, I called up Bistro D'artemis but got the same sad reply. Even expensive Joel Robuchon was fully booked as well!

Huff! Either people in this part of the world are French crazy or it's cause we are in recession that people only go fine dining for lunch or there just are hundreds of "ladies-who-dine" or it's just that time of the year when people would like to get together and spend more than usual..huhu..

This evening, I called up the revolving restaurant in Hotel New Otani (http://www.newotani.co.jp/en/tokyo/restaurant/sky/) and for the umpteenth time, got the "sorry we're fully booked" reply. I looked up My Humble House (http://www.mhht.jp/) which were among our choices last October (Cicada won that time) but they're only open for Dinner, no lunch. I read in Metropolis that this is fast becoming as a favorite together with Cicada in Hiroo (our favorite so far!!!^_^) and Legato in Shibuya. Hence I looked up and called Legato (http://www.legato-tokyo.jp/en/shibuya/home/welcome). But they dont serve lunch on saturday and sunday.

Phew!!! I've looked up a number of restos and came to like a couple or two of them, only to be disappointed..sniff..

We finally settled on Limapuluh (http://www.englishok.jp/shops/limapuluh/) where finally there's some available space for us. Zoey said this is Indonesian for 50. An article in Metropolis (http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/592/bars.asp) told us there's lots of "eye candys" here. Haha. Hope we'll get that bargain and enjoy real good food and service as well.

One good thing to note though. We need not shop for new wardrobe. haha.

And oh yeah!! I just remembered. Originally, we actually planned to have this month's night out as a Cirque du Soleil (http://www.zed.co.jp/home_en.php?skip=1) experience. However, when I inquired for ticket availability a couple of weeks ago, I was informed that weekend performances for December and January are already fully booked.

Tough, huh! =P