Visited in early July."Today, we have a lineup of seasonal delights that are perfect for summer!" said Mr. Hoshino.My anticipation grew even more.We started with exquisite junsai (water shield) from Sanda, Hyogo Prefecture.The delightful texture and the perfect sliminess were exceptional.Next, we enjoyed a refined steamed dish of natural eel.When you think of summer, you can't miss the hamo (pike eel) sashimi.Served with homemade plum sauce, it was refreshing.The Yoshino-ni (simmered taro stems) continues the tradition from "Kyo-mi" and was deeply flavorful.For a summer delicacy, we had black abalone from Boso, Chiba Prefecture.Steamed for three hours, it came with a generous amount of exquisite liver sauce.Mr. Hoshino even offered more abalone, saying, "Here’s some extra abalone!" which we enjoyed with the remaining liver sauce.We also had bafun uni (sea urchin) from Rebun Island, served with a jellied broth made from kiji-hata (cabbage fish).Mr. Hoshino has been visiting Rebun Island every year, and this time, he brought fresh bafun uni directly from there.The quality of the ingredients combined with the kiji-hata broth created a wonderful transparency, making me think there couldn't be better bafun uni than this.The crispy tempura of small clams was delightful.It was a pity there was no corn tempura this time.Usually, we have sea bream sashimi, but in summer, we enjoyed kiji-hata instead.We savored a hot pot of soft-shelled turtle.I would have loved to have the usual botan hamo (botan eel), but this was great as well.You can't forget about ayu (sweetfish) in summer.Last year, due to an accident, we had sea bass instead, but this year, we thoroughly enjoyed the salt-grilled ayu.Mr. Hoshino even taught us how to properly remove the bones.We felt warm and cozy with the fried kamo eggplant.For the meal, we had exquisite white rice served with Matsusaka beef shigureni (braised beef), small dried fish, and pickles.We finished with freshly made kuzukiri (kuzu noodles).I was completely satisfied with this all-star lineup of summer specialties.The time spent enjoying Mr. Hoshino's carefully crafted, deeply flavorful dishes made me truly appreciate the beauty of summer Japanese cuisine.It was a great meal.
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