Merlot Magic & Winter Comfort foods

So Mike and I along with our friends, David and Jennifer, found this hidden gem to eat at. I can't tell you the name because then you may go there and then there won't be any room for us. I realize most of you reading don't live here, but I can't take the chance. Jennifer and I agreed to keep it a secret.

So one of the events this place holds is a Wine Adventure in which they feature a certain type of grape/wine and pair it with a 3 course meal. And in Tokyo, the price for this dinner was a steal. We went on Saturday night and had the best time enjoying food, drinking wine, and making new friends!

February's adventure was this post's title.
We started out with a Seared Hokkaido Scallop and a Truffle Mushroom Flan w/carrot reduction. It was paired with The Velvet Devil Merlot....AMAZING and my favorite course of the night by far.


Next we moved onto Braised Short Ribs w/Olive Tapenade malfatis paired with L'Ecole No.41 Merlot......I didn't take a picture b/c I started eating it immediately. However, it was good, but not my fav, but definitely Mike's favorite.

Next we had Hearty Winter Cassoulet and Duckleg Confit paired with Reininger Merlot Walla Walla (After the instructor said this, Mike looked at me and said "bing bang," which was exactly what I was thinking. And yes we are dorks, some days)


We finished dinner with a chocolate molten cake, which lacked the molten part and some delicious lemon cookies. Outrageous lemon taste that was spectacular!

Here is our group shot early on in the evening before drinking too much wine. David and Jennifer are on the right and then Ruth, a lady we met that night on the left. Ruth was quite fun to get to know.


And of course a shot of us for our February picture of the month.


As you can see, we had a wonderful time here. The instructor gives you an opportunity to purchase the wine featured at discounted prices, so of course we purchased some. And the restaurant actually has a wine adventure club, where you pay a set amount and can enjoy 6 wine adventures through out the year, which we joined as well!!! Not sure the owner will like us by the end of the year, but she'll definitely like our business as we will be going back as often as we can.

Quote of the night, though it was hard to choose was "Is merlot a grape?"