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travels for friends, food and wine - in exactly this order
From
San Sebastian, Spain
Born
July 21
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at Amaru at Amaru
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Lunch at Le Cinq at Le Cinq
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Lunch at Le Cinq at Le Cinq
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at Kawamura (かわむら) at Kawamura
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Lunch at Ma langue sourit at Ma Langue Sourit with Dilip Van Waetermeulen
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Lunch at Sazenka at Sazenka
Sazenka, changed menu. Equally good, The precision of the Chef’s cooking is always impressive. His signature dishes, unfortunately never get boring.
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Back at the Pizza master for the spring toppings.
Sansai and zucchini and of course the two classics, Pizzino and Marinara.
The tomato salad with three different kinds of tomatoes, some of them skinned to soften the texture is most likely one of the best in town.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Lunch at Sézanne at SÉZANNE
An overdue lunch to check out the new dishes turned into a long form menu as the team requested some of the classics. Overall, Daniel and his team get better and more precise. The reduction is more consequent, the flavors strong when they need to be and subtil at other times.
One new dish was the absolute highlight.
The Hotaru Ika with piperade... More
An overdue lunch to check out the new dishes turned into a long form menu as the team requested some of the classics. Overall, Daniel and his team get better and more precise. The reduction is more consequent, the flavors strong when they need to be and subtil at other times.
One new dish was the absolute highlight.
The Hotaru Ika with piperade and ajo blanco. A stalwart of Japanese cuisine in the spring season combined with a sauce which emulates a Mediterranean flavor. Pure genius. One has to try this dish to understand it. So good!
Sezanne has established itself in less than one year as one of the best, some might argue, the best French restaurant in Tokyo. Less
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at toshi (隼) at Toshi (隼)
Toshi never fails. This young Chef (32) works with high intensity to push himself and his offering to new limits. He constantly experiments with flavors and explores new combinations.
Besides classics like shark fin in Foie gras sauce, he produce some new, excellent dishes.
Always worth the trip to Roppongi
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at jinen. at jinen.
Masamasu Kato, another very young, 29 year old, protege of Ishikawa-san, is heading up this latest addition to the Ishikawa group, the restaurant jinen. It is located close to the Shibuya station on the ground floor of the house of a friend of Ishikawa-san. There is a grand entrance leading up the front door, the dining room is long with tables along... More
Masamasu Kato, another very young, 29 year old, protege of Ishikawa-san, is heading up this latest addition to the Ishikawa group, the restaurant jinen. It is located close to the Shibuya station on the ground floor of the house of a friend of Ishikawa-san. There is a grand entrance leading up the front door, the dining room is long with tables along the wall. Opposing these tables are stations which act as a final plating and dish preparation space. This all makes it very interactive, a counter experience without a counter.
Kato-san trained at Moliere in Sapporo, his native island, then moved to Copenhagen to cook at Noma, where he acquired the nickname “ninja” for his ability to overcome his lack of English in sensing what needed to be done in the busy kitchen. He transferred back to Japan when Noma opened up Inua, the Tokyo based outlet of Noma. When Inua closed he joined the Ishikawa group to learn the Japanese cooking technique. In 2021 in September he then was chosen by Ishikawa-san to head up jinen.
The food is a typical Japanese French fusion. Japanese ingredients, French technique but Japanese sequencing of the meal. This creates a French Kaiseki meal.
Kato-san is without any doubt a very talented Chef and he leads his team with unlimited enthusiasm and joy for his job. Having the backing of the Ishikawa group certainly guarantees access to high class ingredients which are then prepared carefully. The layering of flavors is highly advanced.
The dishes contained some real highlights while others were a little under seasoned. He started the meal with a nod to his former employer, a steamed spring onion to which he added caviar. I am not a great fan of adding luxurious ingredients unnecessarily to create the impression of deliciousness, but here it actually worked very well. The acidity of the onion worked well with the caviar. A very concentrated but delicious sakura ebi soup was followed by a salad of hotaru ika (firefly squid) and mountain vegetables. My favorite of the meal was the cauliflower in a creamy sauce. Exquisit.
Karo-san only uses deer meat from Hokkaido, as apparently they have an overpopulation of them there. Two servings, one skewer with three cubes, tongue, heart and filet, of which the tongue was the best and the loin, gently smoked almost raw but warm.
The desserts were a grapefruit sorbet, served in the grapefruit and a filo dough topped with strawberries and cream. Both were very good.
Clearly this restaurant is in the beginning of what I predict a grand trajectory to world class. I find it astonishing that Ishikawa-san always finds these raw talents, grooms them and then lets them free to do their own things with his backing. There is always the Ishikawa DNA like beautifully designed restaurants and some of the best service one can find.
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