【Restaurant NĀZ】This restaurant truly left me in awe.It's beyond genius....It's almost eccentric! Haha.Each dish is not only delicious, but the combinations of ingredients and cooking methods exceed all expectations, making me exclaim, "Wow, what is this!?" and "Incredible!!" with every bite.This time, I enjoyed a non-alcoholic pairing, which was also astonishing.The pairings included yomogi (mugwort) with ume (plum), amazake (sweet sake) with fennel and Granny Smith apples, white peach with lingonberry and lavender, and corn with warm Benifuki tea and cacao husk...The aromas and flavors used in the dishes were complemented by the drinks, or sometimes layered in unexpected ways.The combinations made me think, "Are they really pairing that together!?" but when tasted, they connected perfectly with the dishes.This pairing experience was truly fascinating.The standout dish for me was the cucumber raw somen.The raw somen was incredibly chewy...It had a completely different texture from dried noodles!The sauce, made by cooking the core of the cucumber to enhance its sweetness, was seasoned with naturally fermented cucumber extract.Additionally, the dish included cucumber as an ingredient, allowing me to fully appreciate its sweetness, acidity, and umami.I was surprised to see how much of a star cucumber can be.The combination with the chewy raw somen was absolutely delicious, and it was my favorite dish of the night.The eggplant dumpling was also intriguing!They used Nagano wheat without any water, kneading the dough solely with the moisture from roasted eggplant.Inside, there were round eggplants, purebred Nagano black pork, perilla, and two-year-aged miso.The roasted eggplant's fragrant aroma enveloped the dish, capturing the deliciousness of the eggplant perfectly.The corn dish focused on "freshness."It aimed to express the coolness and juiciness experienced when eating freshly harvested corn in the fields of Karuizawa at 5-6 AM.The dish featured corn ice cream and caramel sauce made from roasted corn.It was not just sweet; it also conveyed the freshness and sweetness of the corn, making it quite interesting.While the Shinshu salmon and sweetfish were delicious, I really enjoyed the venison as well.The summer venison had a fine, tender texture with a clean taste that had a hint of moisture.The slightly spicy sauce made with fermented chili complemented the venison perfectly, and it was incredibly tasty! ❤️The zucchini spaghetti as a finale was also intriguing, showcasing the umami created by concentrating the moisture of the zucchini.The dessert featuring watermelon, fir, and red pine was memorable.The ice cream made from just milk and watermelon was topped with chopped watermelon, fir shoots, and red pine oil.The juiciness of the watermelon combined with the fresh forest aroma was a delightful surprise until the very end.Not only was it delicious, but the aromas, acidity, fermentation, temperature, texture, and even the non-alcoholic pairing were all interconnected.Each dish brought genuine surprises, making the act of eating itself enjoyable.I was truly moved.It's a place I would want to visit again, even if it means traveling all the way to Karuizawa.
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