A note on the words: pane panna is a house specialty pairing toasted raisin bread with rich mascarpone cheese. Caprese is an Italian salad of fresh tomatoes and cheese, served here with creamy Italian burrata. Prosciutto is thinly sliced dry-cured ham. “Nihon no tomato ga umai kara” is the name of one of the spaghetti dishes; it means “because Japanese tomatoes are so good”.
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KNOCK CUCINA BUONA ITALIANA Roppongi hiruzu ten on Tabelog (English) — opening hours, payment details and the Japanese address are kept up to date there, not here.
Hello, this is Hangover Meshi. Having cleared my schedule from midday for the first time in a while, I decided to go out for a drink and wandered around Roppongi looking for a spot that might offer hiru-nomi (drinking from midday). At first I thought of going to one of the places in Roppongi Hills, or rather in the Grand Hyatt, but everywhere was crowded and I couldn’t get in; I suppose lunchtime had something to do with it. Then it hit me that I might be able to drink from the afternoon over there, and I remembered KNOCK, down below Roppongi Hills.
There was a heater, and drinking outside in the cold sounded good, so we went with a terrace seat.
“Nihon no tomato ga umai kara” spaghetti — 1,550 yen
Bone-in pork cutlet — 3,200 yen
Caprese — 1,880 yen
Broccoli boiled with garlic — 1,560 yen
Platter of prosciutto and salami — 3,260 yen
They have a proper lunch menu, but the a la carte selection is quite extensive too, and with so many kinds of drinks on hand, it makes for a very versatile spot!
So, ordering drinks as we went, we started picking out dishes as we liked.
The first thing we ordered was bread, which I picked because it was right at the top marked as a classic.
A dish pairing crisp, deeply browned raisin bread with mascarpone cheese. The cheese and the sweetness of the raisins go wonderfully together, and it is delicious! Apparently it usually comes with three pieces, but since there were four of us they adjusted it to four pieces for us, so it might have been a bit higher than 1,300 yen, ha.
The potato salad. The egg tartare is wonderfully rich and delicious! The aroma of the herbs scattered around it seems to give extra depth to the rich sauce and the well-seasoned potato salad! Delicious.
Look at this portion size, ha.
I had thought 3,260 yen sounded like a lot, but with a generous portion like this, it makes total sense, ha. The mayonnaise-like sauce was spot on as well.
The fresh tomatoes and the burrata cheese go together incredibly well! The caprese is delicious.
A generous serving of cucumber pickles with a tasty sauce and herbs.
The garlic flavor and the broccoli work together quite nicely. The softened broccoli is delicious.
A lean beef steak. Two different cuts at 170g each.
When you think of Italian food, you really have to have meat! It was good, hearty meat and very delicious! A perfect match for wine.
And so we ended up drinking right up until last orders! What a great spot to be able to enjoy good Italian food and drink from the afternoon! If anyone wants to do some daytime drinking in Roppongi, this place is close by and has plenty of things around it, so I think it is very easy to use and well worth recommending! Also, KNOCK has several locations, so even if this one is packed, you could always head toward Midtown instead, which is another plus.
KNOCK CUCINA BUONA ITALIANA Roppongi hiruzu ten (Italian / Roppongi Station, Azabu-juban Station, Nogizaka Station)
Tabelog lunch rating ★★★☆☆ 3.5
I ate here and paid for it myself. Nothing on this site is a comped meal.
One more for the road?
