Il Lato

⭐⭐⭐⭐

🇮🇹 Italian / 📍 Shinjuku

📓 Visits: 4 (2021-2023)

Il Lato opened in January 2021.  The restaurant is located right in the heart of Shinjuku, an unusual choice of location for a quality restaurant but is actually just a block away from the well-renowned Osteria Oliera where owner/chef Shigenori Furui previously worked.  Furui-san's CV also includes Pegaso.

At dinner there's a choice of two omakase course menus priced at 9,900 or 16,500 while at lunch the courses are priced at 6,600, 9,900 and 13,200.  On all my visits I went for the cheapest lunch.  Prices are subject to a 500 yen cover charge but no service charge is taken.

A large counter seats about 7 and faces a very open kitchen.  There are also two tables seating up to four and another table for two.  The dining room gets plenty of natural light but bizarrely they always keep the blinds down so it's quite dark.  (Being in Shinjuku I was half expecting a load of guys in suits and dark glasses to come out at some point :)  Front of house has changed since my first visit.  The current waitress doesn't interact with guests at all.  If you're at the counter Furui-san introduces the dishes but talks quite fast and tends to mumble (the mask doesn't help) and doesn't otherwise interact.  Furui-san can speak a few words of English.

Across my four visits there has been little or nothing to fault in the food.  Ingredients are fresh, vibrant and high quality, as is the cooking.  Chef uses very high quality and fresh oils.  Too many times I've been to restaurants where the dish has been finished with a cheap oil and ruined, but not here.  Pasta is handmade in-house and has excellent flavour.  The minestrone, the only identical dish in all my visits, is thick and packed with vegetables.  Even the desserts and mignardises are good.  If I saw matcha or a Gorgonzola ice-cream on a dessert menu I wouldn't order either but both were surprisingly good.  Bread is replenished and the foccacia had lots of olive oil but both breads were very doughy and the small roll had no flavour at all.  Coffee is very high quality.  On the downside there's a poor choice of non-alcoholic drinks (just blood orange, still or sparkling water) no Champagne (well, I suppose it is an Italian restaurant) and not the finest sparkling wine.

I unreservedly recommend Il Lato.  The lunch course is just the right amount of food and for this quality it's excellent value.

📅  Visit April 2023

Aji aburi, white bean salad
Aori ika sumibiyaki, fukinoto, tomato concasse
Minestrone
Fresh pasta, shiga ragu
Amadai aqua pazza
Macerated strawberries, pistachio, white chocolate ice-cream, strawberry soup
Financier; caramel meringue, hazelnut paste
Coffee (or tea)

💴 Damage: 8,690 (6000 + 1 drink at 1400 + 500 cover charge + 10%)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h5m

📅  Visit June 2022

Aji carpaccio, tomato, piman
White asparagus mousse
Minestrone
Handmade tagliatelle, shiga ragu
Pork belly
Milk gelato, ichigo, ichigo soup
Hazelnut crunch, vanilla sable
Coffee

💴 Damage: 8,580 (6000 + 1 drink at 800 + 500 cover charge + 500? + 10%)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h5m

📅  Visit October 2021

Nishin aburi
Katsuo
Minestrone
Kue, tomato, hamaguri soup
Homemade tagliatelle, amaebi
Pork shoulder, porcini ragu
Gorgonzola gelato, mont blanc
Financier, sable
Coffee

💴 Damage: 8,690 (6000 + 1 drink at 1400 + 500 cover charge + 10%)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h

📅  Visit May 2021

Cold corn soup
Masunosuke, kuro negi sauce
Minestrone
Mehikari
Handmade tagliatelle, beef and tomato ragu
Ainame aqua pazza
Matcha granita, matcha moichi, milk, mango
Coffee
Lavender sable, waffle, meringue

💴 Damage: 8,030 (6000 + 1 drink at 800 + 500 cover charge + 10%)
⏱️ Time taken: 1h15m

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1304/A130401/13256289/

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.4

📱 Booking: 🟧  The restaurant is only open for lunch on Sundays and public holidays.  A week to ten days in advance for lunch.  Book via phone or TableCheck.  Children accepted.

📍 Location:

4F Sakae Bldg, 3-6-2 Shinjuku.  1 min from the B1 (Marunouchi Line) or C3 (Shinjuku Line) Exit, Shinjuku Sanchome station.  4F multi-tenant building above Sakae Sushi.
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