Daikanyama: IVY PLACE
Summary: Romantic atmosphere, beautiful food, a bit pricey, all right
service
During my business trip in London, I worked
closely with one of my colleagues from the PR team – since he wasn’t too
fantastic with speaking English, I assisted him with communicating between our
teams, as well as arranging photoshoots and media schedules with third parties.
As thanks, he suggested he take me out to
dinner to somewhere good.
He originally told me his budget was
10,000yen per person, but I didn’t have the heart to use what I assume is 10%
of his take home pay. Besides, it wasn’t like it was difficult for me to do
translations and scheduling, and it was part of my work anyway.
We decided on IVY PLACE, a restaurant that I have been planning to go to for a
while since I felt it was similar to the class of restaurant I am working at
and would be a great opportunity for some market research.
IVY
PLACE is owned by TYSONS&CO, which manages a
number of restaurants under its belt.
I previously visited T.Y.HARBOR BREWERY, another one of their restaurant located along Tennoz
Isle at Higasi-Shinagawa, so I knew that I was somewhat guaranteed a good
experience.
My colleague did the reservations so I can’t
share with you how the reservation experience was like, but it seems like
reservations for lunch and dinner can be easily made via their website.
We made a reservation for 8pm, but we
couldn’t finish our work on time, so we had to call them to see if they could
move our reservation 30 minutes later.
They kindly obliged and we quickly made our
way there as soon as we cleared our work. (to be more precise, as much as we
could without being forced to stay back by our managers, because work never
seems to finish at our company)
We took the train to Daikanyama, and then
it was about a 7 minute walk from the station to the restaurant.
It took me about 30 seconds to realise I
was in front of the restaurant.
Located slightly off the main path, IVY
PLACE is nestled amongst the trees, and it reminded me of those park side cafes
surrounded by green, which I occasionally visited back when I was still living
in Australia.
There were tiny lamps lit on every table at
their terrace, and the atmosphere was really laid back but romantic at the same
time.
My colleague went to the reception and
informed them of our reservation, and we were ushered into the dining area
after a short wait.
Inside, it was almost empty, with two or three
other groups of customers in the restaurant.
I suppose it could be because it was a) on
a Tuesday and b) at night as IVY PLACE seems to be more well-known for serving
good brunch food rather than din-dins.
Nonetheless, I really liked their
atmosphere - warm, rustic interior that had a careful balance of fancy and
stylish while remaining casual.
Our table had a small candle light, so it seemed
really romantic.
Shame that my visit wasn't with my
boyfriend… BUT FREE FOOD.
 |
| how do i photoshop my BF's face over my colleague's? |
I noticed on their table it had ''today's
soup'' and ''today's special'', so I was hoping the waiter would explain what
it was but he just walked away, so I had to call him back to ask him what it
was.
I also noticed our service staff was not very
smiley or friendly, but my colleague later told me that our waiter was missing
his front tooth(??) so maybe that’s why he didn’t want to smile or talk much.
Other staff were slightly friendlier,
though no one particularly impressed me.
For the food, I decided to start with their
bread.
Their bread is from Breadworks (sister
restaurant), and is handmade.
The olive oil that they served with the
bread was only so-so, but the bread was warm, chewy and very delicious.
Dinner bread service at 380yen per person, I thought I made a good choice with this
order.
Next, we had their Shrimp, Chorizo, Manchego Cheese and Fresh Tomato from
their original flatbread pizza section.
 |
| Shrimp, Chorizo, Manchego Cheese and Fresh Tomato (1600yen) |
The pizza was only all right, almost bad -
I doubt I will order this dish again.
Not very memorable for its price – there
are a lot of cheaper, specialized pizza places at a lower price.
If I exclude pizzerias, then I suggest RIGOLETTO as a cheaper and yummier
alternative.
(Doesn’t hurt that they have fantastic, personalized
service too!)
After the disappointing pizza, our pasta
order came.
We ordered their Farfalle with Eggplant,
Tomato Sauce, Fresh Mozzarella and Basil.
 |
| Farfalle with Eggplant, Tomato Sauce, Fresh Mozzarella and Basil (2000yen). |
Thankfully, this dish was way better than
their pizza, and it restored my confidence in their food.
Simple, classic combination of sweet tangy tomatoes
and eggplants, fresh mozzarella, and fragrant basil with pasta shells.
However, it’s a little pricey at 2000yen
for something I could easily make myself, and portion size is a little small.
(but I didn’t pay for dinner so I suppose
it shouldn’t matter!)
We were still really hungry despite having
pizza and pasta, so we ordered an extra side.
I asked the waiter what he would recommend,
and he suggested trying their Blue Crab
Stuffed Avocado with Orange Basil Sauce. He mentioned they
decided to put it back on the menu due to popular request from customers.
We were convinced and decided to get it.
 |
| Blue Crab Stuffed Avocado with Orange Basil Sauce (1600yen) |
Very yummy too – very impressed by the
creative combination of avocado and crab.
Definitely one of the highlight dishes at IVY PLACE.
It’s a shame that the Japanese name of the
menu アボカドロール、オレンジバジルソース (literally translates
to avocado roll, orange basil sauce) doesn’t let customers know that the dish
contains crab, which should really be the highlight of the dish!
At first I thought it was some sort of
avocado sushi roll…
Finally, we decided to end our meal by sharing
a dessert.
I asked for their dessert menu (again, it
would have been better if the staff approached us to ask if we wanted dessert!)
and decided to get their Organic Orange
Blossom Honey Crème Brulée with Mascarpone Gelato.
I first fell in love with crème brulee at
Celebrity Chef Luke Mangan’s restaurant (Salt), so I was quite excited to have
the opportunity to try crème brulee again.
 |
| Organic Orange Blossom Honey Crème Brulée with Mascarpone Gelato (950yen) |
DID. NOT. DISAPPOINT.
Crème Brulee was perfect. Wonderfully crunchy
caramelized top, with a rich and creamy custard base.
Sweet, smooth, creamy and crunchy, all in
the same bite!
For drinks, I had one of their fruit juice,
as well as a café latte during dessert.
I quite like both my drinks – I also
noticed that they use beans from nozy coffee.
I think nozy is overhyped, but nonetheless
my latte was good.
 |
| cafe latte 700yen |
My colleague had one of their ale beers (I
forgot which) and a cup of coffee.
Our total came up to about 10,000yen, which
made it about 5000yen per person.
Still very expensive, but at least my
colleague paid half of his original budget!
Overall, I had a pleasant experience.
I would definitely bring my Boyfriend here
someday to have a romantic evening together.
I also heard that their pancakes are also
amazing, but unfortunately they don't serve it using dinner time.
I will have to make an earlier trip to IVY PLACE next time for it!
Address:
〒150-0033 東京都渋谷区猿楽町16-15
Phone: 03-6415-3232
Hours: Mon – Sun 7am – 11pm
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