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travels for friends, food and wine - in exactly this order
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San Sebastian, Spain
Born
July 21
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at KOMB at KOMB
Brand new modern Kaiseiki place. The Chef, a lady for a change, comes from a famous hospitality family from Fukuoka. After High School she trained in a well know Kaiseki restaurant in Tokyo before setting out on her own.
The menu is very seasonal and has quite some ambitions. All of it is done kappo style in front of you. Clearly there are some service... More
Brand new modern Kaiseiki place. The Chef, a lady for a change, comes from a famous hospitality family from Fukuoka. After High School she trained in a well know Kaiseki restaurant in Tokyo before setting out on her own.
The menu is very seasonal and has quite some ambitions. All of it is done kappo style in front of you. Clearly there are some service teething problems as the eight dinners arrived at different times which makes the coordination quite difficult, but the food itself is very good. Star of the evening was the Suzuki and the Takenoko Shabu Shabu with Hanasancho. Excellent.
The Suzuki was barely grilled and has some excellent taste and texture. Admittedly, being addicted to Hanasancho, probably I will like anything you serve with it, but this meat was beautifully set against the crunchiness of the bamboo. An excellent dish.
I really wish this young lady all the best an great success. Less
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Fuji continues to impress. This meal was sourced by foraging in the early morning in the mountains behind Shizuoka and then buying interesting fish at the market in Yaizu (焼津市).
The ebi, killed in front of us, was still twitching when we had it on the plate. They were just gently heated and then served raw, but just slightly warm.
The ika was... More
Fuji continues to impress. This meal was sourced by foraging in the early morning in the mountains behind Shizuoka and then buying interesting fish at the market in Yaizu (焼津市).
The ebi, killed in front of us, was still twitching when we had it on the plate. They were just gently heated and then served raw, but just slightly warm.
The ika was cut in two ways, softening the texture and releasing all the sweetness there is.
The dashi, made out of two different tunas, maguro and katsuo, with three year old kombu was a masterpiece of subtle concentration. The hanadai, a fish I don’t recall ever eating before, had a very smooth texture and released loads of umami.
His rice gets served as shiro gohan and topped with various condiments. This time it was aji and sakura ebi with the second serving of the latter karasuma added.
What a place! And price wise a steal. Less
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at Chef's Table at Chef's Table
Max Natmessing, being groomed overseas for many years, has established himself as one of the best cooks in Austria. His former concept of Alpine-ingredients-only got killed by the pandemic where he now uses products from all over. This enables him to display the mastery of his cooking which he learned in places like Chef’s Table in New York. In short,... More
Max Natmessing, being groomed overseas for many years, has established himself as one of the best cooks in Austria. His former concept of Alpine-ingredients-only got killed by the pandemic where he now uses products from all over. This enables him to display the mastery of his cooking which he learned in places like Chef’s Table in New York. In short, the bread is out, the langoustine is in.
All of this gets presented in a casual atmosphere, small bites and Canapés on the ground floor of the former school house, a quick presentation and explanation of the ingredients and then upstairs in the open kitchen the main event.
Max and his team are now at the peak of their craft, executing the task with precision and calm professionalism, layering flavors sublimely. A wonderful meal, worth the trip to Lech/Zug. There are very few places in Austria on this level, in other countries he would get at least 2 stars, if not more.
PS: as this post was delayed for traveling reasons, at the time of this post, it was announced that Max is leaving for brighter shores. I wish him well and surely will visit him at his new place. But, I will certainly not miss the chance to go back in the summer season for another, last visit at the CT at the Rote Wand.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Lunch at naruse (成生) at Naruse
Spring menu at Naruse, excellent products, carefully selected and superbly executed.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at たれ焼肉のんき 神楽坂店 at たれ焼肉のんき 神楽坂店
Local yakiniku serving meat from Nakashima. Only cows which have birthed already as they believe the umami is better.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at Unagi Sakuraya at Unagi Sakuraya
Fantastic eel place. Every morning they get a new delivery of eels from the own eel farm. They serve it until the are finished, even if there are further reservations. So go early and enjoy the atmosphere.
The eel is served soft, with a tare which is slightly sweet. Have some of the otsumami which are all good as well.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at Sazenka at Sazenka
Sazenka continues to deliver Chinese Japanese food at an extraordinary level. The dishes are always perfectly calibrated, from the subtle hamaguru soup to start the meal to the peppery Szechuan chicken wings. All of them great compositions.
An extraordinary place, quite pricey but truly outstanding food.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Lunch at Été at ete (ete)
Another stunning meal at ETE. Natsuko was just crowned best femal Chef of Asia by WB50 and for whatever it is worth she must certainly be one of them, no doubt.
This meal was a assemblage of trusted signature dishes like her ayu taco and the tile fish in asparagus soup and some new seasonal dishes. All of them delicious, some of them also very interesting... More
Another stunning meal at ETE. Natsuko was just crowned best femal Chef of Asia by WB50 and for whatever it is worth she must certainly be one of them, no doubt.
This meal was a assemblage of trusted signature dishes like her ayu taco and the tile fish in asparagus soup and some new seasonal dishes. All of them delicious, some of them also very interesting and unusual. Like the morchella filled with horse meat tatar. Deep fried with the meat on the inside being juice and full of umami, a great play with tastes and texture. Another great dish was the bamboo shoots (takenoko) topped with steamed abalone. In between she put a source made out of the liver of the abalone. Another great play, the softness of the abalone offset by the crunchiness of the bamboo glued together by the umami of the liver sauce. Excellent.
All of this comes with the casual hospitality of Natsuko being the host, the chef and the server at the same time. The intimacy of the small one table dining room for six leaves the impression of dining at her home and not in a restaurant. A great place for a special occasion. And for any other!
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Lunch at Le Petit Nice at Le Petit Nice
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at Hatou (波濤) at Hato (波濤)
10th meal.
I doubt there are many people, left alone foreigners, who have been to this restaurant 10 times or more. So, now that I have, I’ll stick my head out.
This place serves one of the best otsumami one can get in Tokyo and by extension in the world. Yes, I believe that his overshadow the likes from legends such as Sugita-san and Sawada-san.... More
10th meal.
I doubt there are many people, left alone foreigners, who have been to this restaurant 10 times or more. So, now that I have, I’ll stick my head out.
This place serves one of the best otsumami one can get in Tokyo and by extension in the world. Yes, I believe that his overshadow the likes from legends such as Sugita-san and Sawada-san. The only place which in my book is on par is Saito-san. Here I said it! It most likely is going to burn me, but I cannot help.
He served five servings to start you off. The first dish was a cooked radish with spring vegetables in a pure vegetable dashi. How he can produce so much umami from only vegetables remains his secret. This was followed by Tachiuo (タチウオ / Beltfish), fried tempura style with a taranome (young buds of the angelica tree) served with salt into which he mixed white kombu powder. All of this delight was topped by a dish of Komochi yari-ika (子持ちの槍烏賊), a pregnant spear squid filled with its own eggs. Succulent, rich in taste and texture, a masterpiece. Second to last, a vegetable nigiri, strongly seasoned rice topped with Shungiku (leaves or dark greens from the glebionis coronaria plant, commonly known as “garland chrysanthemum” or “chop suey greens”). A bunch of strong flavors. To bridge into the nigiri part of the meal he served a Hamaguri (蛤 / Common Hard Clam) soup, very restrained, milky and very subtle to let the palate recover from the strong flavors before. What a sequence and composition!
His nigiris continue to improve and are now on a top level, the rice is seasoned with restraint, an emphasis on the acidity with very little or no sugar in the shari. It is cooked beyond al dente but still grainy, creating a nice texture on the palate. The 12 nigiri and 2 maki only contained, thankfully, 3 tuna netas. All of them are carefully sourced and seasoned to perfection to release the maximum umami. The neta star of the evening was the sakura masu (Cherry salmon) , a type of sea trout caught in Aomori prefecture.
This young men, is still in his very early 30ies, he opened his place barely two years ago, but is already a master of his craft. It is becoming hard to book and will most likely become impossible. Try to get one seat in this beautiful sushiya and enjoy your food while admiring the 8 meter long counter from Africa.