Sushi Sawada – Sublime Sushi

I’m not quite sure if I can describe it. I have no pictures and no proper words. The best way I can think of saying it is - Mind blowing sushi.

The sushi counter is an immaculate single piece of wood that sits only six and behind the counter stands Sawada with his stunning knives, his ice box refrigerator where he ages his fish, a small charcoal burner and also a clock that is 30 minutes too fast (we found out this was to ensure his alcohol enriched guest don’t miss the last train home).

For the few hours at the sushi counter, it is an opportunity to connect with Chef Sawada and for him to demonstrate his skill and passion. The meal is an eye opening experience and these are some of the things that I learnt ...
- My idea of “freshness” was turned upside down. For me fresh always meant – this fish was caught earlier today/ we bought this at the market today/ this just came off the boat – and fresh was always best, but here old is gold and the aging process of the fish is a very large part of making exceptional sushi here because the texture and flavor improves.
- Aburi sushi should always be done the traditional way for the best result. Here at Sawada, he does this by holding a piece of bincho charcoal over the fish for the skin the crisp and the oils to develop. This sounds like a really DUH statement to make but up till then, all the aburi sushi I’ve had have been done aburi-ed with a blowtorch which have always left a lick of butane flavour, in contrast, Sawada does this by holding white hot bincho charcoal which produces a pristine tasting piece of sushi.

This is the rundown of what we had ...
Sashimi
Hirame
Engawa
Chu toro

Squid and abalone with uni (squid aged 10 days)
Aburi saba (aged 2 days)
Aburi toro (aged 2 weeks)
Barracuda maki
Steamed seasonal kisu white bait
Smoked buri o-toro – bacon of the sea
Otoro (aged 5 days)

Nigiri Sushi
Sayori
Mirugai
Steamed Kumura ebi
Akami maguro
Chu-otoro
O-toro (aged 2 weeks)
Aburi o-toro (aged 2 weeks)
Spring Katsuo with smoked rice
Ika
Hokkaido bafun uni (uni ice cream as Sawada jokingly described)
Anago with yuzu salt
Saba
Tamago

Gooseberries to end

Eating here is a very beautiful experience. Sushi Sawada is small and intimate and everything is personal - the napkins that are painted by his wife, the fish that is hand-picked, broken down and carefully aged and the whole meal service is done with so much grace, humility and humour that nowhere else that I have dined at comes close to this experience.

Simply sublime sushi, thank you Sawada-san!

Sushi Sawada
MC building, 3F
5-9-19 Ginza, Chuo-ku
Tokyo

Takazawa - Eating ART

Takazawa is known for his innovative and imaginative ways with food. Just google “Takazawa” and you’ll get multiple links to pictures and descriptions of his signature 15 vegetable ratatouille that is an exquisitely crafted vegetable terrine that represents his Japanese influenced take on a classically French dish. Other than the stylish plates of food that he presented through the night, what I learnt and really respect about Takazawa and his wife is the passion that they have for what they do and the incredible humility in the way that they perform their craft.

Takazawa’s food celebrates life. His menu is all about imagining and celebrating nature, the seasons and Japanese culture. From his amuse of roasted soy beans which was part of the celebration of Spring Setsubun where it is customary to eat your age equating number of roasted soya beans to sake lee based sauce in his MONOTONE dish. The stories that he plates are simple and they keep pointing back to the seasons and nature through the selected seasonal ingredients and the inspired imaginative plating.The meal had a good progression, the first courses were light and more vegetable centric and it then progressed to the heavier tasting dishes –goat, foie gras, lamb. All in all it was a magnificent meal where I appreciated the high level of culinary technique that was required to execute the dishes, the clean and interesting flavor combinations and the whimsical plating.

Amuse 
roasted soya beans and baby sardines

In celebration of Setsubun (bean throwing festival). And according to tradition, you are also supposed the same number f soya beans that corresponds to your age.

curry and milk
Liquid Japanese curry in milk film. A good show of technique and it tasted as described - japanese curry and milk, but just as a personal preference I like my curries hot and spicy.


seasonal vegetables - tempura of sansai (mountain vegetables) and "snow" carrot
This was a fun amuse. We were instructed to first eat the tempura of wild vegetables (seasonal vegetable), then to forage through the ice for a hidden treasure. The foraged treasure under the ice was a piece of raw japanese seasonal winter carrot - the carrot is cultivated in a particular way where it matures under the snow during winter that enhances the natural flavour and sweetness of the carrot.

Ratatouille (2005)


Sesame and charcoal bread with pork pate
 
Seriously yummy!

The crackle of a Snow-hidden ice-skin (NEW)

Raw pieces of himemasu (hokkaido river trout) in ice cold water and a liquid nitrogen created ice covering. To eat, you have to go ice fishing with your spoon - crack the ice and enjoy the trout with the garnishes and salt, much like what you need to do when fishing for this trout in the Hokkaido river. A very mild tasting fish with firm flesh.

Vegetable Parfait (2011)

A cornucopia of ingredients and textures - tomato jelly, tomato water, cucumber jelly, paprika, basil, parmesan foam, crispy black cabbage, caviar, edible flowers and sprouts - that came together for a very refreshing gazpacho-like dish.
[GREEN] tea (NEW)

A two part dish.
Part one - green vegetable consomme made from steeping cabbage, fava beans, asparagas, garden peas, snow peas, edamame, mizuna and radish to form a very fresh, green vegetable taste.
Part two - the green vegetables that still retained their structural interity and taste that we enjoyed with a squirt of sudachi and matcha salt. 

Carpaccio (NEW)

Smoked young hokkaido goat carpaccio with rabe, pistachio, pistachio oil. I've never had smoked goat. It was smoky and salty and it wasn't too gamey and tasted close to beef.

Candleholder (2007)

Foie gras creme brulee, mango and kamquat jam with raisin and walnut bread. The foie gras that was buttery and the sweetness from mango and kamquat jam helped to cut through the richness to give the dish a good balance. One of our favourite dishes of the night.

Potato and Butter (2012)

A fluffy mashed potato ball (very gourmet pomme noisettes) that the chef hand split at the table and then topped it with shaved truffles on a "soil" made from miso, gorgonzola and walnut. Cute and tasty.

 

MONOTONE (NEW)

Shiro amadai (white tile fish) from Nagasaki with turnip on sake sediment and truffle sauce. The fish had a smoky tasting skin and sake sediment sauce was very good. It has a complexity that was probably developed during the sake fermentation process and when used in the sauce, the sauce had many dimensions - sweetish, efferversant and zing. Another one of our favourite dishes of the night.

 HIDE and SEEK (NEW)

 

Roasted duck breast and gobo (burdock) with hazelnut oil and pink peppercorns. Instructions to eat - the duck is hiding, we have to look through the forrest and to shake off the 'snow' (hazelnut oil) off the leaves to seek out the duck. Very well cooked duck with the bite of peppercorns. The gobo however stole the show from the duck on this one.

Grated Cheese ? (2009)

Shaved frozen apple with cinnamon and vanilla. Too airy to get some solid apple taste for me.

Ice CHOCOLATE Needles (NEW)

Chocolate mousse and vanilla ice cream with sugar glass shards. The main play on the dish was the sugar shards that look like ice needles during the Japan winter. I've haven't had that many winters and sugar isn't my thing, so this dessert was a little lost on me.

Petit fours

chilli chocolate, miso cookie, matcha cake and meringue.

After the multi-course tasting menu, I emerged with a smile having being a part of the theatre for that day. 

Takazawa
Sanyo Akasaka Bldg. 2
3-5-2 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo

Tel: +81 (03) 3505-5052

Hidemi Sugino

Cakes were never my thing and i never understood the appeal of a mousse cake. Chocolate cakes I don’t mind but I really don’t get frosting and icing. The thing is I really don’t have a sweet tooth, so with food cravings, I would crave savoury, salt, crunchy but almost never sweet. That being said that has never stopped me from watching Top Chef Desserts where I’ve learnt (in theory) about entremets – a multilayered mousse based cake that should consist of a different but complementary flavours and textural elements. The cakes always look pretty on TV or on display but do they always taste that good?

We were in Tokyo and since Hidemi Sugino is so highly regarded mousse cake realm of the dessert hemisphere that I ought to consider giving it 2-3 bites. We found the store just before it opened and joined the line of 10-15 women that were already in line. When the clock struck the opening hour, the shop staff flipped the sign, then stepped out and apologised for the wait and to welcome us into the store (I’m guessing here and imagining my own subtitles because I don’t speak Japanese). We waited our turn and shuffled into the store and picked out a few items. There are strict rules around the consumption of some of these items – only dine in, no take outs because the will compromise the integrity of the cake.



The Ambroisie, Hidemi’s most famous cake, is one of those cakes that fall in eat in category only. When the cake arrived, it looked precious and the chocolate glaze had a really glossy shine. Next I had my wannabe Top Chef judge Dessert moment, where I split the cake down the middle to inspect the layers - dark chocolate glaze, chocolate mousse, pistachio sponge, pistachio mousse, raspberry jam, chocolate sponge. The mousse, which Hidemi is well known for, is velvet smooth, rich tasting and light. The most distinct flavour for me was the chocolate mousse. It was clean and clear with the sweet tartness of the raspberry jam. The texture was also amazingly smooth that just melted away in my. What I loved most about his cake was the balance of flavour and sweetness. It was a beautiful cake, I’m glad I had it because it changed my mind about mousse cakes, however, it was pretty rich stuff, I only managed half the cake and that was enough for me.

Hidemi SuginoKyobashi-Daiei Bldg 1F
3-6-17 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku
Tokyo, Japan
Tel: +81 (03)-3538-6780

Butagumi - They know and love their Buta

Butagumi is a tonkatsu specialist, only pork but a wide selection of pork. I’ve never seen a menu like this and quite honestly, I never knew that there were so many breeds of pork and that tonkatsu can be elevated to this level.

Set in an old timber-frame house with a cute crescent moon cut out that we used to quickly identify that we were in the correct place. Once we made our way to the door, we were greeted by the staff and also all the little piggies on display. We then passed the kitchen, which was from what I remember was a really simple set up, a worktop counter and a fryer and then made it upstairs to sit in one of those little booths but were warned not to lean on the dividers as it was it was an old house (built in 1958).

Butagumi’s menu is insane and this is why this place is different from any other tonkatsu place. It offers a list of close to 30 choices. There isn’t much to choose but there is a lot to choose from. The first is how much fat which will determine the cut of meat - rosu (sirloin) or hire (fillet). That’s the easy decision. The second decision is more difficult – which breed, which prefecture, light or strong flavor, essentially which gourmet pork you wish to taste.

From the cuts available from that day’s menu, we had two cuts of rosu and two cuts of hire and we elected from the stronger rather than the mild tasting cuts. The only unfortunately thing was that they didn’t have the Tokyo X breed available that day which I was keen to try. Nonetheless this was what we had: 

Iberico rosu (Spain)

Daisen Rubby rosu (Tottori)

Hakkin Ton hire (Iwate)

Tsunan hire (Niigata)

The cooking here is very precise. Light crisp batter and the tonkatsu doesn’t greasy or heavy at all. The rosu/sirloin has a fat cap which many would enjoy for its lardy flavor, especially with the Iberico but between the two cuts, much prefer the hire/fillet cut which is leaner and cooked to the perfect degree of doneness where it is crisp light on the outside and the meat remains amazingly juicy. Of all the four cuts, my favourite was the Hakkin Ton hire, where there was a sweet light porky flavor. All that pork comes with rice, pickles and a large serving of cabbage and a citrus dressing to cut through the fat. A very simple lunch of comforting deep fried pork and rice but a completely gourmet and expert take on it from its selections and sourcing of meat to its frying execution, this is tonkatsu on an elevated level.

Butagumi means pig gang. Well, I want in on this gang too, what do you think it takes? Perhaps I need to get an I love pork or I love tonkatsu tattoo? Well, Butagumi, you are THE tonkatsu place.

Butagumi2-24-9 Nishi-Azabu
Minato-ku
Tokyo, Japan
Tel: +81-(03) 5466-6775

Gogyo - Black Burnt Gold

Gogyo specialises in kogashi (burnt) miso and shoyu soup... where (you watch) the cooks literally set the soup on fire and a black soup is created. This came recommended (thanks JJ!) and his description of it was – it taste like liquid BBQ. Well, as bizarre as it sounds and it sounded to me, my bowl of kogashi miso ramen really did taste like BBQ, liquid yakiniku. As burnt black as it looks, don’t judge it by its first impressions. Firstly don’t be deceived by the lack of steam, the broth is burning hot but the oil is concealing and retaining the heat. Secondly, the flavours are awesome because the burnt flavour isn’t overpowering, instead it comes together with the broth and just gives it an added kickass charred flavour that I have never ever had with any other bowl of ramen.

I’d admit, this is probably not very good for you but it will taste very good to you.

Gogyo
1-4-36 Nishi-Azabu, Minato-ku;
Tokyo, Japan
Tel: +81-(03) 5775-5566

Rokurinsha - Magic in a bowl

 

 
Surf and Turf in a bowl – the broth is a potent mix of pork and fish that had layer after layer of flavour. The queues are crazy long so in an attempt to beat the system, we went for the lighter option and the shorter queues – asatsuken (breakfast tsukemen). As a compromise, this is served without the gyofun (dried fish powder) and the broth is lighter.



Dip/dunk noodles, stir and little to coat the noodles and slurp. Once you work through the noodles, add a ladle of hot broth to slurp down the soup. Once the broth was added and the soup was stirred, the soup came to life. What we were once dipping into, because it was more viscous and more warmish to tepid, despite it was fabulously flavourful, muted some of the flavours. With the hot broth, there were so many more layers of flavours that we could taste. Spoon after spoon, more favours emerged - yuzu, smokiness from the bonito, rich porky broth, sweet (from vegetables?), savoury and a gentle heat at the end. This broth is seriously exceptional – I would have never have thought of a making a surf and turf pork and fish broth; and what are all the mysterious ingredients that go into it?! As our first meal in Tokyo for this trip, we were off to a good start.

 

Rokurinsha Tokyo
Tokyo Ramen Street (Tokyo Station)
Tokyo Ichiban-gai B1, 1-9-1 Marunouchi,
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Tel: +81 (03) 3286-0166

Sushi Mizutani: Gaining perspective on Sushi and Tamagos

Not all tamagos are made equal. If there was a standard for tamago, there should be one for all the tamagos I’ve eaten and then there is Mizutani’s. It defies being a regular tamago and it is really a cut about the rest – rich, sweet, eggy and almost custardy – trust me, you’ll want more than a piece and will go back just for seconds.

When it comes to sushi, there are no real measures. No cookbook can tell you how much wasabi to put in a sushi; the parallel measure to that is a pinch of salt – how much? That really translates as: unless you know, you won’t really know. Neither would the book tell you about how much rice. The rice is a delicate balance and for each piece to have a consistent mouth-feel. That’s craft.

Why knife skills matter? It isn’t just how sharp your knife is but also your relationship and knowledge of the muscular structure of the fish or sea treasure that matters. With every slice, there are choices – how thick, what angle? Why it matters? Because it just does; because it can change everything. Abalone sushi to me has always been on a chewy rubbery side but here, Mitzutani slices at a calculated thickness and this transforms it from rubbery to crunchy – amazing, I’ve never had abalone sushi like this.

Now I think I understand. This is the art of sushi. This is sushi Mizutani.

Sushi Mizutani
Seiwa Silver Building B1F
9-2-10 Ginza, Chou-ku
Tokyo,Japan
+81-3-3573-5258

Killer Style Teppanyaki

My memories of Teppanyaki are family dinners. For some reason there was a period when I was less than three-feet tall that we used to have weekend dinners at this particular Teppanyaki shop that now closed. And then, since the proliferation of the quick and dirty version of teppanyaki at food courts and I haven’t been to a teppanyaki for a long long time.
There is so much beauty in the simple things.

I’m a big believer of simplicity, pure simplicity. And here, they keep it simple. Very simple – quality ingredients treated with the highest respect (excellent knife skills are a pre-requisite).




As with a lot of eating that we did in Tokyo, there was a close physical proximity to the man that prepares your food. The chefs here have their personal groove; they work with the hot plate and they do things well. Part of the experience is the dramatized cooking, a little flame a little steam and a “smell-track” that is designed to whet your appetite.





Our order included both surf and turf – both exceptional, so if budget and diet permits – have both. The cooking here is cone with commitment and integrity. After the live prawn are presented, they slide onto the hot plate and are gently held down, then deftly beheaded, shelled and de-veined. Special attention is given to everything. Care is taken to flatten the tail shells, removing the unsavoury bits from the head and then coated in oil and left to fry up to a crisp. Head to tail eating. Yum, the crunch and the intense flavours that were concentrated at these extremes were even better than the sweet crunchy flesh. A little salt, some heat and a fresh piece of sweet flesh and all carefully orchestrated on the shiny hot plate – so deliciously simple.



Teppanyaki Akasaka
Tokyo Zennikku Hotel 37F,
1-12-33 Akasaka,
Minato-ku, Tokyo
Tel: +81-03-3505-1437