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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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The master. Interesting flavors combined with flawless execution always produces great result.
Since my last visit a two months ago, only one dish was the same. That also make a place fantastic to revisit.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at Kawakamian at Kawakamian
Hopping Izakaya / Soba restaurant. There is permanently a line outside despite the fact that you can also make a reservation. They turn the table 3-4 times an evening.
The food is interesting and tasty. Funny enough the weakest dish were the soba noodles.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at Pyrenees at Pyrenees
Old style meat place with super generous portions and a great selections of cuts and beefs to choose from.
Excellent deep wine list with some very interesting options.
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Local Italian place. I walked by hundreds of time as it is very close to my apartment but decided try it. And regretted that I dd not do it earlier. Young team cooking refreshingly unconventionally conventional. Great execution and flavors. Very reasonable priced.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Lunch at Yoshida Curry at Yoshida Curry (吉田カレー )
Good food; grumpy Chef.
The Chef yells at you when you talk to your fellow diner, he makes you ware the mask unless you put food into your mouth. He hardly talks and never smiles, but his curry is fantastic.
A basic serving in three sizes with the options of adding toppings like braised pork, Keema, Chinese pickles and cheese.
The sauce is spicy... More
Good food; grumpy Chef.
The Chef yells at you when you talk to your fellow diner, he makes you ware the mask unless you put food into your mouth. He hardly talks and never smiles, but his curry is fantastic.
A basic serving in three sizes with the options of adding toppings like braised pork, Keema, Chinese pickles and cheese.
The sauce is spicy but not burning with loads of umami.
The banana milk is made freshly from ripe bananas and works very well with the curry. Less
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A street vendor turned restauranteur produces great Oden. An unbelievable choice of dishes at an equally remarkable price. Star of the meal were the grilled mouth of ika. excellent texture and grilled to perfection. Super snack.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Lunch at Maison KEI at Maison KEI Gotemba
Scond visit. Some changed dishes. Old classics. I thought that the marinade of the famous salads was slightly strong and thus better. I love the pork dish. The fat was rendered perfectly and full of umami.
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Summer visit at Sugita. Excellent food as always, I find, with some exceptions, the ostumami inferior to the nigiri, also in comparison to other high end sushi restaurants. The Scabbard Fish (Tachiuo, 太刀魚), a summer fish very popular in Japan, was excellent. Equally, the Hotate (帆立 / scallop) wrapped in Kombu was as good as it gets.
However... More
Summer visit at Sugita. Excellent food as always, I find, with some exceptions, the ostumami inferior to the nigiri, also in comparison to other high end sushi restaurants. The Scabbard Fish (Tachiuo, 太刀魚), a summer fish very popular in Japan, was excellent. Equally, the Hotate (帆立 / scallop) wrapped in Kombu was as good as it gets.
However when Sugita-San starts with the nigiri, he is arguably at the very top of his profession. There are very few daishō in Japan who form the nigiri as artfully as he does. After one of the Japanese customers, a young woman in her late twenties, commented that the way he forms the nigiri is “very sexy”, Sugita San told the admiring crowd that when he started out he thought of him being very bad at forming nigiri. He practiced a lot for many years, but only after he attended lessons for the tea ceremony, he realized that he needed to use the elegance of the movement of the ceremony when forming his nigiri. He always tries to achieve perfection, but only 5-6 times during a whole meal, he just feels that this nigiri is just perfect. Given that he serves about 15 nigiris for 10 customers during one meal, that is a very low percentage (3%). He interestingly also pointed out that his ingredients are “totally normal” and only his restaurant’s process makes it very special.
I am, of course, in no position to verify one or the other, I just sit there and indulge in the pleasure his food gives me.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Tea at MAISON MARUNOUCHI at MAISON MARUNOUCHI
Not a classic high tea, but really delicious. Dishes from the main menu made as snacks.
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- Gerhard Huber added a new meal Dinner at Guchokuni at Guchokuni
Ishikawa is building a gastronomic empire, all of it in Kagurazaka. He himself has already 3 stars, his first spin off has also 3 stars, the newest one Hatou has 1 and the latest Kaiseki spin-off will get one soon.
He seems to find those Chefs which have great potential and fosters them to stay in the group in launching them in their own restaurant... More
Ishikawa is building a gastronomic empire, all of it in Kagurazaka. He himself has already 3 stars, his first spin off has also 3 stars, the newest one Hatou has 1 and the latest Kaiseki spin-off will get one soon.
He seems to find those Chefs which have great potential and fosters them to stay in the group in launching them in their own restaurant but part of the group.
He takes great pride in designing those places and does not shy away from spending a lot of money to make them just perfect.
Guchokuni, the lates one, is a Kaiseiki/Kappo place. 8 counter seats, 4 on a table, five Chefs on the fourth floor.
The Daisho is very talented. The ingredients are of course very good, some of them group sourced and some of them directly sourced. However, what makes him different (and maybe gave him his own places) is his ability to come up with stunning twists to familiar dishes. May it be a different texture or an interesting combination of flavors, combined with his impeccable technique theses dishes become really tasty.
A wonderful addition to the Kagurazaka dining scene.
And a big shout out to Ishigawa Sensei for finding this raw diamonds and fostering them to perfection. Less