Today's place is another homey restaurant called Coccolino! It's an Italian restaurant right behind the nearby Daiso and is something one could easily just miss. However, it was one of the restaurants noted in the KEK restaurant list so I thankfully was on the look out.
Hopefully from the pictures above, the aesthetic and style of Coccolino is show cased a bit. There's lots of little trinkets and quirks that give the restaurant quite a bit of personality. Additionally, it's a nice mom and pop shop. Well, at least from the way the two were working, both of them manning the kitchen (the guy as head chef, the mum as sous chef) and taking orders when the other is busy. It's definitely the small out of the way restaurant I'm always excited to see. I got the Course A, which comes with an antipasto, an entrée (pizza, pasta, or main course), a dolce set, and a drink (espresso, coffee, or tea) for 2600円.
Starting off actually is an amuse-bouche. Below are pickled veggies (cucumbers, red/yellow bell peppers, celery, red ) onions with minced bread dressed with a bit of vinegar, and a touch of olive oil throughout (maybe). Although this is a vinegar brine, the cucumber was pickled very lightly to not overwhelm the palette. While I thought the minced bread was sour dough at first due to the tartness, I think it had to be the house bread due to a later course. I don't think I've ever had a preparation of a stuffing-like dish in this manner so it's very nice that I happened to stop by!
The antipasto was a snapper (madai or 真鯛) carpaccio with grapefruit, cherry tomato, dill (I think), a bit of white vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil. The snapper had a bit of a bite to it but still very easy to eat and fresh. The citrus bitter note from the grapefruit was quite nice and the quality of the cherry tomato is something to be noted, pairing well with one another. Together, the grapefruit and tomato overwhelmed the snapper a bit but the fish always came through at the end so it was fine at the end of the day. The olive oil was also an amazing compliment to all the ingredients, meaning it must be of good quality. The dill was not very strong (even eating it by itself) but since there was so much going on already, I don't think that was a problem. The other toppings depicted below were ornamental and don't attribute much to taste.
Served with the antipasto was this house bread. Throughout, it seemed that there were a couple of pieces of fish (Chirimenjako?) that provided an interesting note to the typical bread loaf. While it looks a bit intimidating, the aroma of fish is relatively mild and adds a nice background note. When I used it to soak up the olive oil and vinegar, the pairing was quite nice and reminded me of the amuse-bouche (hence my conclusion there).
Next is the pasta dish! I got the pappardelle, which was paired with duck simmered in shoyu and mirin, an artichoke sauce, arugula, and minced preserved orange. An important note to add is they were rolling out pasta dough right during the amuse-bouche so expect fresh pasta! The cracking of black pepper was incredibly fragrant and was a great first note to the dish. As one works their way through the dish, the citrus notes from the orange and the notes of butter and artichokes start to come through, cut every once in a while by the bitterness of the arugula. The pairing of duck and the orange is classic so seeing how the chef incorporates it with this Japanese and Italian sensibility is quite a treat. The little bits of artichoke hearts were also perfectly cooked and helped bring out the artichoke notes in subsequent bites. Although it's not the most filling dish, it's a very intelligent dish that also tastes good.
Finally, we have reached dessert. The dolce's today were matcha ice cream, a cheese tarte with raisins (reminds me of a Pastiera Napoletana), and the third one. The matcha ice cream is what one would expect, while the tart wasn't too sweet and pairs nicely with an herb (camomile in my case) tea. The bit of fig and orange in the middle ialso nice. However, the third dessert. I'm not 100% what it is but it was a panna cotta-like almond gelatin with a honest-to-goodness caramel sauce.
When I mean honest-to-goodness, I mean they take a pot of sugar, make a caramel, and maybe add a bit of water if they need to loosen it. They don't add cream or butter to thin it out, it's not cloyingly sweet from additional sugar or corn syrup, it is old fashioned caramel; it's this beautiful rich and thick sauce has a hint of sweetness but an incredible caramelized bitterness. Normally, this would be too much even for me but with the sweet, rich, smooth, creamy, and light almond panna cotta, the pairing of the two was undeniably the best bite of the night. The intensity of the two components complimented each other in such a way where I had to be careful to savor the moment. I need to learn how to the panna cotta part at home and add it to my repertoire....
In terms of rating, I was prepared to give it an eight or eight-and-a-half but after the panna cotta dolce, I think 8.8/10 is the score I'm settling on. The artisanal craftsmanship shown in the pasta dish along with the third dessert is what sets this place near the top for me. I think the only way a place like this could be better is if every dish I had was at this caliber (the carpaccio was good and what I wanted but not quite as good). If you ever visit KEK or Tsukuba and can stop by here, it might be worth your time for a light dinner.
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