▪️Restaurant Uozen (Niigata)
▪️Course with Wine Pairing: ¥30K

Fifth time in Uozen and there`s a reason I keep coming back here braving the journey to Higashi Sanjo: I simply found nowhere else that comes even close to the experience Uozen provides.
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To put concisely, Uozen represents the pinnacle of both execution and flavor. Here, astonishing technique and sophistication you would find at top-level fine dining institutions blend with the blast of hearty and impactful flavors normally reserved for back-alley french bistros. Add to that the sleek and tastefully designed Japanese-house setting with a splendid honoki tree counter, wine pairing of unrivalled quality, and great hospitality, you have the formula to an unbeatable dining experience.
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The course menu showcases a stupendous variety of technique and flavors, centering around the game meat the chef hunts himself in the mountains of Niigata. Can any other chef even dare to serve wild boar, teal, bear, whale, hairy crab in the same menu? Daring is one thing, but pulling it off is another. In an unbelievable feat of skill, Chef Inoue manages to serve dishes full of finesse and flavor with each ingredient cooked masterfully, one after the other.
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The whale tartare is expertly balanced. The wild boar 'taco' with a crepe made of soba is melt-in-the-mouth and only gets better when dipped in the homemade sabayon. The chawanmushi with hairy crab and butternut squash is a kaleidoscope of subtle flavors each adding a different color to an explosion of umami.Ravioli with wild grouse and porcini is served in a mouth-puckering vin jaune sauce and with yuriine (lily bulbs). The textures clash gracefully while enveloped in the delicious sauce and comte cheese.
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For the mains, kogamo (teal) is cooked with ridiculous precision, and the sauce made of its own blood is unabashedly heavy yet seductively elegant - a geniusly crafted microcosm of Uozen itself. While the lievre a la royale interpretation combines bear, duck, and boar for a worthy finale.
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Chef Inoue clearly has a special bond with his ingredients, and it shows in his craft. His cooking speaks the language of nature like no other.