Embarrassing mockery of Italian food. Ordered porcini gnocchi from who has to be be the unfriendliest waitress I've ever seen in Japan. The porcini sauce has no porcini, and very very oily. The oil is of low quality. Tldr: I had to wait half an hour for a sauce that very obviously came out of a can. I hope they do better.

I came here for a weekday lunch on a friend's recommendation. A great location about a 1-minute walk from Higashi-Nakano Station. It seems there's another branch nearby. Partly because it was after 1 p.m., I was able to get in without queuing. I ordered the signature sea urchin and shimeji pasta (¥1,600) as a large portion (¥150). An onion soup also comes with it as a lunch service. Since sea urchin is expensive, I imagined there'd just be a little on top, but my expectations were overturned in a good way. The sea urchin paste coats the whole pasta, and you can taste the rich sea urchin flavor in every bite. The pasta wasn't too soft either, cooked just right, and even though it was a large portion, it was gone in no time. I'd really like sea urchin lovers to try it. The clam pasta is also supposed to be delicious, so I'd like to come again!

▶︎A famous spaghetti restaurant◀︎ ・About 1 minute from Exit A1 of Higashi-Nakano Station on the Toei Oedo Line. ・Also close to the West Exit of JR Higashi-Nakano Station. ・A famous Italian restaurant in this area where lines form. "MOSES", a renowned spaghetti restaurant featured in various media, is about a 1-minute walk from the West Exit of Higashi-Nakano Station, on the 1st floor beside the JR tracks. It's a spaghetti specialty restaurant that originated from an "Italian restaurant" opened in Akasaka in 1973, and it's so popular that a line forms even before opening, so it's a place you'll want to try at least once when visiting Higashi-Nakano. Although it's called a spaghetti specialty restaurant, there are also dishes like appetizers and fritto as at a typical Italian restaurant, so if you come as a large group, I recommend nibbling on dishes while drinking wine and finishing with pasta. Higashi-Nakano is a town loved by comedians and artists too, and this Moses in particular is famous as the favorite spaghetti place where Yama-chan took Yu-chan on a date. This time I ordered the "Mentaiko & Shimeji". As you can see from the photo, the spaghetti here has a thin layer of clam soup underneath. Perhaps thanks to that, even the mentaiko spaghetti has a gentle mouthfeel and feels a bit brothy. Its distinctive feature might be that it isn't heavy like the mentaiko spaghetti at other restaurants. Squeezing the accompanying lemon wedge adds a refreshing acidity as an accent, so I never got tired of it and finished it off easily. They also seem to push their sea urchin-based and tomato-based dishes, so it makes sense that each dish has its own fans. When you visit Higashi-Nakano, please do stop by at least once.

I came for a late lunch. Even though it's next to a movie theater I often go to, and I'd heard about it from an acquaintance, this was the first time I noticed where the restaurant was. Apparently it opens at 11:30, so coming late may actually have saved me from waiting. At lunchtime you can choose a main pasta and the A set (soup, salad, drink).

The salad was oily and bland, no vinegar taste at all,, The most popular clam and shimeji pasta was oily, I couldn't taste the clams at all, and the flavor was muddled. Frozen pasta from the supermarket tastes better The service was meh too. I'm left wondering why it's a popular place.