Fregoli Ebisu フレーゴリ: Delicious Horsemeat & Uni Pasta

Fregoli is a small restaurant about 15 min walk away from the Ebisu Station. When I say small, it is not as small as an 8-seater ramen shop but it has less than 20 seats-a relatively small number for an Italian restaurant. Yet the dining experience has far exceeded its sheer size.

People don't come here for Italian food, they come for the horsemeat which this place is famous for. Yes, you don't necessarily have to travel to Kyushu to enjoy HORSEMEAT. There is no menu, only a blackboard scribbled with the names of about 30 savoury dishes. And yet at least 10 dishes contained horse meat.

the charismatic chef (认真的男人最帅）

 

Instead of the horse carpaccio that most tables went for, we had the grilled horse steak (¥3100) and it was terrific. Like a well executed slice of beef, each cut was in the perfect thickness, slightly raw and still oozing juices in the centre. It was not tough or dry as I had imagined of the lean meat from a muscular horse. Instead, it was superbly tender, a little chewy, with just minimal seasoning of salt on the nice brown crust.

Everything was simply magical, even with the bunch of raw, embarrassed watercress at the side. I thought watercress was an incongruent ingredient on the plate but I realized it is quite efficient in helping to cleanse the palates off any grease from the meat and olive oil.

The Smoked Saba on Potato Salad (¥1700) should not be mistaken as any smoked fish because it was left to be fully cooked on a metal plate in the oven before being ladled on the bed of potato salad. The fish was very fresh with some delectable, crispy skin. Even the potato salad was unique. It resembled more like the western potato mash and not those Japanese kind spammed with mayonaise. That said, it retained some bits of grainy texture and was not too buttery.
Perhaps noticing that me and my partner had been sharing the food from the start, the chef considerately divided the Uni Linguine (¥1900) into individual plate. So the actual portion should be twice of what is shown in the picture. This signature dish alone is worth making a trip to this restaurant because even those who hate sea urchin would fall in love with this. There is no trace of cooking cream, only pure and fresh uni paste. The mildy tangy sauce clings onto each strand of linguine evenly, with hints of spice from the sprinkles of fresh cut chillies . This was so disastrously decadent that we could not bear to take our last bite.
As we linger at our counter seats after those amazing dishes, we were asked by the chef if we still had space for desserts. He rambled a list (not on menu) and we picked the Tiramisu (¥750). It was not the best kind of tiramisu that was packed with alcohol but definitely a comforting indulgence.

this is not red wine but olive oil. but they serve red wine too!

The entire place is run by only one chef and one waiter(whom I suspect is his son as they look so alike). The food is good, the service is excellent and attention is paid to every customer. Already, this place is attracting savvy Japanese diners and reservations are strongly encouraged.

Fregoli Ebisu フレーゴリ
Tokyo 150-0013, Shibuya-ku, Ebisu 2-8-9
8-min walk from JR Ebisu
Closed on Sundays
Lunch 12pm-3pm
Dinner 6pm-midnight (better to visit during dinner as there is limited menu for lunch)
http://www.ebisu-fregoli.com/

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