Revisit: First Visit at NightLast August, I visited Chef Sasaki's mentor, Chef Horikawa, at "Fiocchi【4.09】". I heard that the selection of wild vegetables at this restaurant is impressive, so I decided to return. This was the main event of my trip.I made a reservation by phone about three months prior. Although we were a party of five, it seemed that lunch was more in demand, so we had the place almost to ourselves.Arrival at 18:20.A black cat, which seems to have made the restaurant's parking lot its home (it looks like a stray but has a surprisingly nice coat), greeted us. *See the last photoAccording to the Madame, it recently chased away a bear...The dishes that were served included:1. Amuse Bouche (3 types) - Spring cabbage purée with anchovy, cod milt, coffee beans, and dill microgreens (grown in soil, not hydroponically) - Aomori Asamushi sea urchin, soft-boiled egg tart, topped with basil and chido grass - Tiger pufferfish soft roe, with bracken and lemon balm2. Cold Appetizer - Salad of baby bear and cultivated Japanese dandelion (an endangered species), with apple and gorgonzola sauce, served with pickled beets3. Warm Appetizer - 1 - Sardine and butterbur bud meatballs, coated in buckwheat and dark beer batter, served with urui and kumquat sauce, topped with fried urui leaves and bone crackers4. Warm Appetizer - 2 - Miyagi sea pineapple, tomato, shidoke (maple leaf), and shiitake mushroom cocotte5. Pasta - Trofie (short pasta) made with squid ink, served with cuttlefish and young sansho leaves in a pesto6. Rice - Risotto with Tochiotome strawberries and koshiabura oil7. Fish? - Silver duck wing stuffed with Aomori Asamushi abalone, served with duck broth and white wine sauce, accompanied by simmered Numayama daikon (a rare daikon grown by only three farmers in the prefecture) and shiode8. Palate Cleanser - Soup of Taiwanese pineapple, with hinata natsu and new ginger jelly, topped with pink pepper, juniper berries, and basil microgreens9. Meat - Pasture-raised pork (the first shipment, I forgot to ask the producer) shoulder roll, with cacciatora sauce (meat, tomato, and wine stew), served with wild udo and wild grape leaves10. Dessert - Fiddlehead fern gelato, fermented blueberry cream, cacao meringue, and two types of powders (fiddlehead fern and dandelion root)11. Petit Fours - Panna cotta, biscotti, and pistachio chocolate? - Hand-dripped coffee by the chefThe chef and his wife opened a bottle of sparkling wine to celebrate their inclusion in the Gault & Millau guide (2025 edition, though...) and we enjoyed a nearly free-flowing experience for the last part of our four-hour stay.We drank a lot of wine, and the total bill came to JPY 23,800, which felt quite reasonable given the quality.Here are my impressions of the meal:- The ingredients were primarily sourced from Akita, with additional produce from Aomori and Miyagi in the Tohoku region.- The bracken dish was a repeat from my lunch at "Remedeniqua," but it might have been the best preparation yet.- Almost every dish, except for the desserts, was sprinkled with wild vegetables, achieving my goal, but the intense flavor of dish 9 stole the show...Chef: Ideal porkCompanion: The texture was like lambMyself: The richness of the fat was profoundI requested a second serving... unbelievable.I would like to plan another visit next year.
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