#kaiseke

[tshanman]

Takayama’s Rustic Charm

Takayama, a city of about 60,000, lies on the side of Japan’s Central Alps in the Hida region.  It’s a town that has maintained its traditional touch with a beautifully preserved old town dating from the Edo period, which spanned the 17th & 18th centuries.

(By the way, I need to inject a brief apology here.  Halfway through our time in Japan I discovered that my primary camera lens is not working correctly, and the exposure is off on many of my pictures.)

Honjin Hiranoya Bekka, our home for three days, is a traditional ryokan next to the Miya-Gowa river that flows through town.

This was the most traditional ryokan of our entire trip. Our space consists of one room made up of 10 or 12 Tatami mats.  We sleep on futons on the floor, which, during the day are replaced with a low table where, at dinner-time, we eat our traditional kaiseke multi-course dinner.

Directly across the river from Honjin Hiranoya Bekka, old town Takayama has narrow streets and wood lattice buildings that are hundreds of years old, but perfectly maintained—homes, small shops, restaurants and saki breweries.

Even though the area is ancient by our standards, and a busy tourist destination, everything is neat, clean and cared for with loving attention.

Saki breweries are always marked with a large ball of cedar leaves above the door.

Another thing we learned is that the strips of fabric hanging in a doorway—called noren—are more than decorative…

…businesses hang their noren out as a welcome mat.  The hangings shows they are open for business.

And even in the back of the smallest shop, you’ll often discover a  lovely garden area.

There are two things noticeably absent from the streets of Takayama and many other Japanese towns and cities—litter, as well as any place to throw litter away.  Apparently they used to have a litter problem.  Their solution was literally to eliminate any place to throw trash out, and make it clear that littering was a serious infraction. I’m sure it says something about the Japanese culture that this was successful—or, more importantly, something about our own culture that we can’t imagine it working in the U.S.

One of our favorite discoveries in Takayama was the Kusakabe Heritage House, unmentioned in either of our guidebooks, and a significant oversight in our estimation.

The Kusakabe family members were merchants who thrived during the reign of the Tokugawa clan which began in 1692.  When the Tokugawa shogunate governed here, the samurai left.  So this is the home of wealthy “commoners.”  The original store and house burned down in 1875 and was rebuilt in 1879 by Jisuke Kawajiri, the most skilled architect and craftsman of his time.  Rockefeller reportedly wanted to purchase the home, but was turned down.  In 1966, the Kusakabe home was designated a “national important cultural asset.”

This “common house” of the edo period is constructed of Japanese cypress.  The beam and pillar construction is especially sturdy.  The dark brown paint is made from soot.

The open hearth in the center of the home was for both heating and cooking.

The home is built around an interior garden.

And as is common in traditional homes, rooms can be reconfigured with sliding shoji screens as larger public gathering spaces, or smaller intimate private areas—all with a view of the garden.

The Kusakabe family crest.

The Kusakabe Heritage House houses a folk art museum or Mingei Kan.  In 1966, the 11th head of the Kusakabe family supported the goals of the Mingei folk art movement of the time, which, much like the arts and crafts movement in the U.S., focused on beautiful objects created to be used by common people.

These hibachis were used to keep warm during the severe cold of Takayama’s winters.

Women would use this metal “pillow” to perfume their hair by burning incense while they slept.

The traditional methods of making pottery perfected long ago with these unique glazing techniques are still used by ten potteries still operating in Takayama today.

This is a prototype of the “butterfly stool” designed in 1954 by Sori Yanagi, a leading product designer in postwar Japan.  It has been exhibited at the Louvre and New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

This ancient palanquin seems impossibly small given it’s designed to carry a passenger from place to place.

When we arrived at Kusakabe, they had just opened, and ours were the first pairs of shoes left near the entrance.  By the time we’d left, the place was packed.

We also discovered this wonderful shop where the owner wove wall hangings using the silk from antique kimonos.

Each morning, merchants set up their kiosks at the outdoor market, which borders the river for two blocks.

This vendor offered calligraphy.

This woman was baking fresh fish-shaped gluten cakes.

This store offered various types of miso, fermenting in barrels at the front of the store.

There were lots of vegetables.

This is wild daichon--what we know as radish.

Giant stone slabs placed along the river offer a convenient place to rest and snack.

And large carp windsocks strung across the river create a festive air.

In the center of town, adjacent to our ryokan, is Takayama Jinya, a branch office of the shogunate government from the late 1600s to 1868, when the shogun returned power to the emperor.

The shogun sent his people here to collect taxes, sit as judges, act as police, and, most importantly, manage the surrounding forests, since timber in the mountains around Takayama was highly prized and formed the base of the economy.  These were the government’s administrative offices.

It was also the living quarters for the administrators, and for the shogun when he came to visit. Here, our wonderful guide Tomi shows us how to adjust the height of the cooking pot.

The buildings center around the garden.

Tax payments to the shogun were made in the form of rice—each bag of rice weighed about 130 lbs. The oldest building in the complex, seen here on the far side of the garden, is the rice storage building, which dates from 1600.  

In the late 1700s, the area peasants rioted over the increased tax burden—twice unsuccessfully. The local administrators used this room to elicit confessions.  Prisoners were forced to kneel on the wood planks in the center, while stacks of heavy flat stones were placed on their legs.

On a more civilized note, there was also a room for the traditional Japanese tea ceremony.  You can tell this is a tea ceremony room by the design of the tatami mats with the half tatami in the center.

Nearby, the main gate to Sakurayama Hachiman Shrine makes an imposing statement...

…and a somewhat less imposing, but no less impressive, inner gate welcomes visitors to the shrine.

This Shinto shrine is said to date from the 4th century, although there’s no way to know for sure since Japan’s written history only dates back to the 7th century.

This purification font is carved from a single rock.

Before praying at the shrine, worshippers drink the purifying water.

In the Japanese Shinto tradition, prayer requests are written and then neatly tied throughout the shrine complex.

Takayama was a delight and, for me, one of the highlights of our time in Japan.

[awfullyhorriblybadfantrolls]

Best fansession: Adolph Hitler, Benito Muslini, Showah Hirhit, Miklos Horthy (Hey, that one actually fits with no changes.), Ioauen Antons and Boris Ludwig as Derse dreamers, with Wiston Chuhil, Franki Roselt, Chiang Kaisek, Kaahrl Haakon, and Charle Gaulle as the Prospit dreamers. Joseph Stalin has two dream selves until the Derse one is killed by his Matespirit/Kismesis reacharound, Hitler.

these are our followers. these are our followers

[sleepyzenpanda]

Sweets from Japan Prt 1 🍦🍰🧁🍡🍬🍭🍩🍪

Name’s Tangerine Juice 🍊 and Marco’ Blaze of the Phoenix from the Mugiwara Cafè at the One Piece Tower at Tokyo Tower 🗼

Ramune and vanilla soft cream 🍦 from Daily Chico’s at Nakano Broadway

Melon Pan from Seven Eleven Japan

Sakura 🌸 soft serve from the Tsukiji Fish Market Outer Market

Strawberry 🍓 and Banana 🍌and chocolate 🍫 crepe from MOMI&TOY’S in Harujuku Takeshita-dori

Strawberry shortcake 🍰 and chocolate mousse cake with a white chocolate bear from Cozy Corner in Shibuya

Fresh Fruit 🍓🥝🍍 and orange jelly 🍊 with cream desert from the kaiseke lunch with a maiko in Kyoto

Hanami dango 🍡 from Sannenzaka Street in Kyoto

Wagashi from a tea ceremony 🍵 in Kyoto

[star-wonder]

Niki Nakayama, Chef and Owner of n/naka restaurant in LA 1.12.17 Digital graphite, 1.5 hours

Recently I saw Episode 1.4 of the Netflix documentary series, Chef’s Table.

This episode featured Niki Nakayama, a Californian who founded the groundbreaking n/naka restaurant in Los Angeles, featuring a modern take on the ancient Japanese food philosophy called Kaiseke. Apparently, she is one of the only women in the world to be upholding this tradition.

Nakayama faced limited support from her family and disdain from other chefs, but went on to succeed in starting three subsequent restaurants of her own. n/naka is her magnum opus and where she currently spends her time as chef.

She has such a high regard for her customers that she tracks every course they order and ensures that no identical course will ever be served twice to a repeat customer. This determination challenges her to keep innovating and building her repertoire.

At first, there were times that a customer gave the meal high praise, only to sink into condescension upon finding out the chef was a woman. Since those early days, Nakayama has chosen to keep the window into her kitchen space closed. Feminism might say that she should take a stand and make a point of revealing her identity to her customers. But (as a commentator on the episode noted), that is simply not her personality. Instead of deriving strength from a belligerent stance, she derives personal strength in remaining veiled and letting her food speak for itself.

This is so inspiring to me as a quiet person. I have no personal use for a feminism that tells me that I can be awesome as long as I speak loudly for myself and be adventurous. Those are important and appropriate adjurations, in some cases. But as a woman with few career aspirations and a quiet, non-confrontational style, I love the idea of a role model who's more like me, happy to live in my own artistic paradise and work behind the scenes. And true feminism, I believe, creates space for that.

[markusmensch]

Zwei neue Fine Dining Restaurants auf dem Gütsch

The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt und Gütsch by Markus Neff eröffnen am 21. Dezember 2019

©The-Chedi-Andermatt Am 21. Dezember ist es soweit: Im Gourmet-Himmel auf 2.300 Meter ziehen mit dem The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt und Gütsch bei Markus Neff gleich zwei Sterneköche und ihre Konzepte an die Bergstation des Gütsch-Express. Mastermind hinter dem höchstgelegenen japanischen Restaurant der Schweiz ist Chefkoch Dietmar Sawyere, der schon für das Stammrestaurant The Japanese im The Chedi Andermatt einen Michelin-Stern erkochte. Chefkoch Markus Neff und sein mit 18 Gault&Millau Punkten ausgezeichnetes Team bringen klaren und simplen Genuss mit lokalen Produkten auf den Teller. ©The-Chedi-Andermatt An aussichtsreicher Lage auf über 2.300 M. ü. M. über Andermatt ist ein imposantes Gebäude der Londoner Architektin Christina Seilern entstanden. Sie hat bereits die neue Andermatt Konzerthalle konzipiert. Mit dem neuen Foodie-Hotspot an der Bergstation des Gütsch-Express ist “Haute Cuisine” ab sofort wörtlich zu nehmen: Zu den Feinheiten des The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt gehören Shidashi Bentō, Omakase- und Kaiseke-Menüs sowie Sushi- und Tempura-Spezialitäten. Wer es dennoch schafft, bei so viel Kochkunst den Blick vom Teller zu heben, wird belohnt: Gerade einmal 44 Sitzplätze zählt das Restaurant – mit Blick auf den Gotthard, den Oberalpass und das Urserntal. Auf der Terrrasse warten weitere 45 Außensitzplätze. ©The-Chedi-Andermatt Ein völlig anderes Geschmackserlebnis erwartet Gäste im Gütsch by Markus Neff. Klar und simpel sind die Kreationen von Sternekoch Neff und seinem Team Maren Müller, Charlie Neumüller und David Gruss. Das zeigt sich in stringenten Kompositionen, die ganz ohne Schnickschnack oder Show, dafür aber mit viel Respekt und Liebe zum lokalen Produkt gezaubert werden. 50 Gäste finden im Restaurant Platz, 80 auf zwei Terrassen. Öffnungszeiten The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt: 21. Dezember 2019 bis 12. April 2020 täglich von 11:30 bis 16:00 Uhr abhängig von der Wetterlage Öffnungszeiten Gütsch by Markus Neff: 21. Dezember 2019 bis 12. April 2020 täglich von 9:00 bis 16:00 abhängig von der Wetterlage Reservierung empfohlen +41 58 200 60 97. Wer sich zu Weihnachten gleich selbst mit einem Gourmet-Erlebnis beglücken will, bucht das Package “Gourmet Bentō Lunch Mount Gütsch” des The Chedi Andermatt: On top zum Gourmet Bentō Lunch für zwei im The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt sind im Package-Preis beginnend ab 1.560 Schweizer Franken zwei Nächte im The Chedi Andermatt und zwei Tagesskipässe für die SkiArena Andermatt Sedrun inkludiert. Die Anreise nach Andermatt ist übrigens auch ohne Santas Rentierschlitten ganz unkompliziert: Per Flug oder Bahn geht es nach Zürich und von dort in gerade einmal 1,5 Stunden mit dem Zug direkt in den Ort. Lesen Sie den ganzen Artikel

[huttson-blog]

The Simplicity of Sushi Kame’s Design Offers the Perfect Backdrop for Out-of-This-World Dinners — Eater Las Vegas

Read more at Eater Las Vegas

— by Susan Stapleton: A new Japanese restaurant in Chinatown promises high-end kaiseke and omakase dining experiences at the Lotus mixed-use building at the corner of Spring Mountain Road and Procyon Street. Sushi Kame debuts with multi-course, multi-hour dinners that diners need to reserve at least 72 hours in advance…

Image courtesy of Louie Victa

July 23, 2019

[jculture-en]

The Simplicity of Sushi Kame’s Design Offers the Perfect Backdrop for Out-of-This-World Dinners

#Washoku #Sushi [Eater]A new Japanese restaurant in Chinatown promises high-end kaiseke and omakase dining experiences at the Lotus mixed-use building at the corner of Spring Mountain Road and Procyon Street. Sushi Kame …

[sensespike3-blog]

Derek Feldman Is Disrupting The Japanese Food Scene

Derek Feldman is the restaurateur behind Sushi On Jones, Uchu and the new Don Wagyu.

When Derek Feldman sits down next to me on a yellow wire stool at Sushi On Jones, his 6-seat outdoor omakase spot in the Bowery Market in Manhattan, I notice a tattoo of a hand holding chopsticks on his forearm, peeking out from under his t-shirt sleeve. It’s playful, unexpected—not totally in character with New York City’s hardest-driving restaurateur of the moment, but at the same time perfectly on message.

Feldman’s spree includes Sushi On Jones, which he opened in summer 2016 with the idea of giving New Yorkers a true omakase experience—chef’s choice, high-grade sushi—with the unthinkable price of $58 for 12 pieces (in about 30 minutes); Uchu, a fine dining, 10-seat omakase counter run by sushi chef Eiji Ichimura and in the next room, an 8-seat kaiseki counter run by chef Samuel Clonts; a second Sushi on Jones in the West Village with 10 seats; and the recently opened Don Wagyu, a fast-casual concept that sells sandwiches made from ultra-exclusive Japanese beef at prices aimed at the nearby Wall Street crowd.

Oh, and there’s something I didn’t mention about Feldman. He’s 29. And he had no prior experience in the restaurant business.

So how did this hard-charging upstart get so far so fast, and does he have plans beyond this two-year rampage through Manhattan’s Japanese dining scene? Read on and find out. (This interview has been edited and condensed.)

How’d you get into the restaurant business? I graduated college and I got a job at a sports agency. I studied sports management. I love the business of sports. I wanted to get in the agency world. Within two weeks of my first job out of college I had stomach pains, went to the hospital and spent most of the next two years there. I got out of the hospital and tried to figure out what I wanted to do but I couldn’t, so I put a backpack on and traveled around Southeast Asia for a couple of months. Came back, still didn’t know what I wanted to do, put the backpack on and went back to Southeast Asia and then decided that I wanted to be in hospitality. I didn’t know if I wanted to do hotels or restaurants, but I knew I wanted to get into hospitality.

But your first business idea was a furniture company making chairs for the elderly called AWEchair, right? Yes, we we just went into production. It will launch early next year. While that went on, it was moving very slow and I was like, this is not taking up enough of my time. I became friends with a chef and convinced him to open a restaurant with me. [The chef was David Bouhadana; more on that later.] So we were building Uchu and I took a trip to Japan and while I’m there I’m eating exactly what we’re eating at Sushi on Jones—great fast-casual sushi, omakase, chef selection. It doesn’t matter if it was 11 in the morning, 3 in the morning, 4 in the afternoon—anywhere you walk in, you’re getting great sushi. So in my head I’m saying, why can’t we get great omakase sushi at a reasonable price in New York? Why does it have to be a $200 or $300 price point?

What’s the answer that you found? The fish is expensive—you can’t get this fish and charge $50 for it because it’s too expensive. In my head, I’m like, if you’re going through the amount of volume you need to go through you can get the price down. So I built Sushi On Jones as a test run, as an experiment. I got introduced to the owner of the Bowery Market. I told him what I was doing at Uchu (which wouldn’t open until almost a year after Sushi On Jones) and that I’d love to open an omakase bar here and he thought I was nuts. I was like, what’s cooler than having an omakase outside on the street on Great Jones and Bowery? So we opened it up and the first two weeks were difficult and then word got out. It just took off. It’s a great model that can work anywhere so I’m working on expanding this exact concept.

OK, let’s back up to the illness and hospital stay. Were you ever diagnosed? I have Celiac Disease, so I’m gluten free. I had seven or eight surgeries on my stomach; I had my gall bladder removed. I had stents constantly put in and taken out. I had pancreatitis four or five times. I had massive tumors in my stomach which turned out to be from Celiac Disease. They removed one tumor, but once I went on a gluten free diet, they all shrank within three or four months.

So it’s practical with Japanese food? It’s so easy. All I’m changing is the gluten-free soy sauce.

The wagyu katsu sando from Don Wagyu, a sandwich made with wagyu beef imported from Japan.

What about at Don Wagyu? We have a dedicated gluten-free fryer, so we do fresh gluten-free panko crust. The meat is the same and we use gluten-free bread. All our sandwiches are available gluten-free, which you cannot get in Japan.

Back to the narrative of your restaurants. You were originally slated to open Uchu with the sushi chef David Bouhadana, who also worked at Sushi On Jones when you opened. What happened? It didn’t work out. We were not like-minded people at all. It’s a shame. He was talented but it was very scary for me. I saw what happened here and how out of control things got. I put my heart and my soul into it and to think it could be torn down because of the chef that I picked killed me. I gave him chance after chance after chance.

But then you got lucky with a replacement, right?  I ended up with Ichimura, who holds a very, very special place in my heart for a million reasons, but he is by far the most talented sushi chef in the city and is doing sushi the way it was meant to be done, the way it was done years back before millions of sushi restaurants opened up.

And before you landed Ichimura, you had kaiseke with Samuel Clonts? I wanted to do food at the liquor bar [inside Uchu]. I didn’t know I wanted to do a tasting menu, but I got connected to Sam, who went to culinary school with one of my best friends. We changed the entire kitchen for him. We brought in all new equipment and wound up doing the kaiseke tasting menu and then Ichamura fell into my hands from the sushi gods.

A selection from the Sushi On Jones omakase. (Photo: Daniel Krieger)

But you didn’t take a step back at that point. You decided to open Don Wagyu. Yes. Don Wagyu is something that’s so popular in Japan that hasn’t really been done in America yet. For a lot of reasons—it’s really difficult getting this beef from Japan. It’s really expensive and it’s really hard trying to break into the vault of Japan where people will trust you with such fine products and ingredients.

What was the inspiration for it? Me and chef Sam sat down, and I know that Sam’s always wanted to do a fast casual spot. We had a couple of ideas, and then wagyu katsu sando came up, and we immediately snapped our fingers and said that’s what we’re gonna do. So we wanted start with a little takeout restaurant like we started Sushi on Jones, see how it goes, how it works. So far the response has been great. If that works out I’ll expand to a much bigger footprint next. We’re talking about a Japanese steakhouse in Midtown that has a little to-go shop where we’re going to sell the sandwiches, but I wanted to get my feet wet.

There’s been a lot of sniping in the media about the prices, which range from $25 for an American-Japanese hybrid wagyu to the A5 Ozaki wagyu, which can cost $185. How do you explain the pricing? Our beef is really expensive. Our lowest margins are on our highest grade beef. That’s the price. We’re working with a single farmer in Japan who does everything himself. He can only kill 20 cows per month. That’s all he’s capable of and that’s his price.

How did you settle on Japanese cuisine to begin with? What are some of the things about Japanese culture that attracted you? Every place I went in Southeast Asia, I was so fascinated by the food, the culture, the people. Until I went to Japan. It’s a completely different level. Anything the Japanese do is done to perfection. And the food is by far my favorite food. It’s so delicious.

Was there one meal in Japan that particularly inspired you? It wasn’t one meal, it was every meal. It’s amazing. You walk into a 20-story building and each floor has a different bar or a different restaurant. You walk in and it’s all Michelin-graded food.

What happened when you wanted to bring the idea to New York? Did you fear that you needed a niche? I wanted to do something that doesn’t exist, which is really hard to find in New York. An outdoor omikase didn’t exist and an omikase at this price point didn’t exist. I think there are 75,000 restaurants in NYC, so it’s difficult to find something.

Like a katsu sando— Something dedicated. There are a couple of restaurants that have them but nobody has a dedicated restaurant doing wagyu sandos with the type of beef we’re getting.

Are there specialty shops in Japan? There are a few that do it. Some are steakhouses that also sell the sandwich and some just have the sandwich, strictly to-go.

Now that you have three brands, will they take on further life? Uchu is kind of its own animal and obviously hard to recreate because it’s chef-driven and staff-driven. If I wanted to do that in Macau or Hong Kong, it’s really difficult to find that level of help. The wagyu restaurant is still very new. I do have a 5-year plan for it, but I just have to wait and see how the first one goes. Step 2 will definitely be a Japanese steakhouse in Midtown. And I have been focusing on Sushi On Jones. It’s a very easy model. I can take a space anywhere in the world. As long as they have direct flights to Tokyo I can get the fish there, whether it’s once a week or twice a week. I’m doing a pop-up in LA from September-December for Sushi On Jones, building out a shipping container that’ll have 12 seats and a takeout section. And I’m looking to expand to London too.

What do people say to you that they like about Sushi on Jones? They love the quality—that they can get the sushi for the price they’re getting. They love the experience—it’s fun, it’s 30 minutes. You’re not going to sit somewhere and having this ambiance, waiting for a list to pick your sake. No, there are no choices. You come, you sit down, you get fed and you leave. People love the quality, love the food and they love the price point.

What was the inspiration behind the wagyu with uni sushi? [The butcher shop] Japan Premium Beef is across the street. And I had wagyu sushi in Japan. And I’m like, I want wagyu sushi. It’s funny because every sushi chef doesn’t like to do wagyu on their sushi because there’s no skill involved. You cut the beef, you sear it and you put it on; there’s no preparation needed. It’s almost like a cheat. But I want to give people what they want.

Source: http://www.foodrepublic.com/2018/08/17/derek-feldman-is-disrupting-japanese-food/

[check-inasia]

The St. Regis Arrives in Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur

Having unveiled its first luxury hotel in New York more than a century ago, St Regis now has nearly 40 properties worldwide – and two of its most recent openings have been in the Check-in Asia home bases of Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai. Here’s a peek…

The St. Regis Kuala Lumpur

KL’s most modern luxury hotel is located in the high-rise KL Sentral business district and comprises 208 of the city’s most spacious rooms and suites, starting from 63 sqm. Among The St. Regis Kuala Lumpur’s six dining venues, there are not one but two impressive Japanese options: the first restaurant outside Tokyo by three-Michelin-starred Taka by Sushi Saito serving signature blue fin tuna and tamago, and a five-course Wagyu Kaiseke menu at Ginza Tenkuni, founded in Japan in 1885. On the rooftop, the infinity pool is an ideal spot to luxuriate in the Malaysian capital’s balmy climate and its photogenic urban skyline, dominated by the Petronas Twin Towers and Menara KL Tower.

The St. Regis Shanghai Jingan

Occupying a contemporary art deco tower that rockets 68 stories above Shanghai’s downtown Jing’an district, The St. Regis Shanghai is an extravagant affair filled with jazz music, stingray-upholstered surfaces and massive chandeliers. The 436 guestrooms are located from the 36th-68th floors offering panoramic downtown views. Six restaurants and bars include the signature Cantonese Yan Ting, the delightful Drawing Room in a sun-dappled winter garden setting and The St. Regis Bar spread over two levels with a nightly live jazz band (Tues-Sat) and upstairs Champagne lounge.

What’s Your Poison? Assam Boi Bloody Mary or a Mary Jing…

Finally, it would be remiss of us not to try St. Regis’ signature Bloody Mary. The cocktail classic was invented at The St. Regis New York in 1934 and each hotel around the globe has its specially crafted local version. In KL, we got a peppery kick out of the Assam Boi Bloody Mary, mixed with locally grown assam boi infused vodka, calamansi and Sarawak pepper. While in Shanghai, the Mary Jing is a sweeter concoction spiked with fig-infused vodka, yellow tomatoes and osmanthus honey.

The post The St. Regis Arrives in Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur appeared first on Check in Asia.

[kmainenti]

Another beautiful meal with @natale_adgnot #japanesestyle #bento #kaiseke #serene #tokyo #basket #authentic #realfood #finedining #ladiesthatlunch #delicious #rice #mochi #eggplant (at Ueno Park)

[tiwiat]

Another multi-dish plating during our Japan tour:

In this kaiseke, there were noodles with pork, sashimi (fish and shrimp, vegetables, white rice, pickled vegetables, broiled eel, salad, fruit cup, steamed egg, and two things that I could not distinguish. Haha.

Cost: unknown

[tshanman]

Spectacular Food

Our first taste of traditional Japan came in Gora, where breakfast and dinner were included with our room at Gora Tensui, a well-regarded ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) in the mountain village of Gora, Hakone.  

As we sat down to eat, the evening’s menu seemed overwhelming—far more food than we could possible finish.  We thought!

A traditional Japanese dinner is called kaiseke—a multi-course dinner where each course is a small beautifully prepared dish.

As this was our first full day in Japan, and we were also celebrating my birthday, we decided a nice bottle of saki was in order.  The saki menu was extensive, and we relied on our very helpful server for a recommendation.   I was relieved when I saw her best recommendation cost ¥7200—about $7.20.   I thought!

Some context. Having crossed 16 time zones, as well as the International Dateline to get to Japan, and this being our first full day in country, it was now tomorrow, but my math skills were left somewhere in yesterday.  The Yen to Dollar exchange rate is currently around ¥90 to the dollar, so for this trip we decided to round up to ¥100 and just ignore the last two digits of prices in Yen as a quick way to calculate the dollar rate. In my hazy math I’d left off three digits and our $7 bottle of Saki was actually $72.  Nevertheless, it was a delicious bottle of saki, and we enjoyed it over two nights.

The dishes served to accompany our saki were nothing short of stunning—both in taste and in presentation.

Here’s the udon noodle dish after I’d eaten most of the udon. The soup is an avocado and Genovese base.

The “entrée” was an assortment of delicious bites...

…a piece of deep fried crab meat wrapped in almond, three micro-tomatoes that put our best home-grown tomatoes to shame, and, in the bowl, sea urchin intestine and ascidian. (Sometimes, it’s better not to know what you’re eating.)

And on the other side of the plate, a sushi roll of thin-sliced wagyu beef and canola flower, smoked radish pickle wrapped around cheese, and simmered prawn with one perfectly steamed brussel sprout leaf.

A sashimi plate of tuna, snapper and scallop with wasabi.  The wasabi in Japan is nothing like the wasabi we’re used to.  At home, wasabi seems mainly about heat and less about flavor.  In Japan, it adds a gentler heat, but a much more robust flavor.  When I asked why, I learned that the best wasabi grows along fresh running mountain streams.  Who knew.

Next came grilled Japanese domestic beef with vegetables.  The grilled items are delivered raw.  The grill is behind the plate.

Self-grilling at the table is common in Japan, and the grill is often a simple plate over a small flame.

This grilled snapper was cooked in the kitchen.  The small green fruit next to the snapper is a young peach, and on top, that’s a piece of pickled ginger—you hold the reddish purple end and only eat the white ginger.)  Fruits and vegetables in Japan are frequently quite different from ours—often smaller and more delicate in flavor.

This wasn’t even on the menu.  We didn’t realize it until the end of the meal, but because they’d heard Nancy mention my birthday, they surprised us with whole crab.  We’ve been impressed by the extent to which the Japanese go out of their way to accommodate others.  When we first arrived and were trying to find our hotel, we asked a shop-keeper for directions.  He immediately grabbed Nancy’s suitcases and led us to within eye-sight of our destination.

We’ve been struck, not only with the beautiful presentation of the food, but also the great variety of dramatic dishes they serve on.  Here are some pictures from another meal.  Can you imagine what the serving cupboards must look like?

For our first night, dessert was fresh fruit.   We thought.

Then they surprised me with the pièce de résistance.

It’s hard for me to believe the chef whipped up this spun sugar rose on the spur of the moment, but that’s what the server said—perhaps a lost in translation moment.  But no matter, it was a great surprise…

…and a great way to cap off our first full day exploring Japan.

[johnnyprimecc]

Fushimi

This review is for the Williamsburg location of Fushimi (there are two others – one in Bay Ridge, and one in Staten Island). I was recently invited here for a complimentary press dinner.

First, a little bit about the joint: Fushimi is a Japanese and French fusion restaurant that focuses on traditional Japanese items but with a French twist. Why, you ask?

Chef Chul Kee Ko’s parents had a Japanese…

[goingmads]

Imagine yourself in a safe and relaxing place. No matter how deep you go, my voice will go with you.

[markusmensch]

Zwei neue Fine Dining Restaurants auf dem Gütsch

The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt und Gütsch by Markus Neff eröffnen am 21. Dezember 2019

©The-Chedi-Andermatt Am 21. Dezember ist es soweit: Im Gourmet-Himmel auf 2.300 Meter ziehen mit dem The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt und Gütsch bei Markus Neff gleich zwei Sterneköche und ihre Konzepte an die Bergstation des Gütsch-Express. Mastermind hinter dem höchstgelegenen japanischen Restaurant der Schweiz ist Chefkoch Dietmar Sawyere, der schon für das Stammrestaurant The Japanese im The Chedi Andermatt einen Michelin-Stern erkochte. Chefkoch Markus Neff und sein mit 18 Gault&Millau Punkten ausgezeichnetes Team bringen klaren und simplen Genuss mit lokalen Produkten auf den Teller. ©The-Chedi-Andermatt An aussichtsreicher Lage auf über 2.300 M. ü. M. über Andermatt ist ein imposantes Gebäude der Londoner Architektin Christina Seilern entstanden. Sie hat bereits die neue Andermatt Konzerthalle konzipiert. Mit dem neuen Foodie-Hotspot an der Bergstation des Gütsch-Express ist “Haute Cuisine” ab sofort wörtlich zu nehmen: Zu den Feinheiten des The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt gehören Shidashi Bentō, Omakase- und Kaiseke-Menüs sowie Sushi- und Tempura-Spezialitäten. Wer es dennoch schafft, bei so viel Kochkunst den Blick vom Teller zu heben, wird belohnt: Gerade einmal 44 Sitzplätze zählt das Restaurant – mit Blick auf den Gotthard, den Oberalpass und das Urserntal. Auf der Terrrasse warten weitere 45 Außensitzplätze. ©The-Chedi-Andermatt Ein völlig anderes Geschmackserlebnis erwartet Gäste im Gütsch by Markus Neff. Klar und simpel sind die Kreationen von Sternekoch Neff und seinem Team Maren Müller, Charlie Neumüller und David Gruss. Das zeigt sich in stringenten Kompositionen, die ganz ohne Schnickschnack oder Show, dafür aber mit viel Respekt und Liebe zum lokalen Produkt gezaubert werden. 50 Gäste finden im Restaurant Platz, 80 auf zwei Terrassen. Öffnungszeiten The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt: 21. Dezember 2019 bis 12. April 2020 täglich von 11:30 bis 16:00 Uhr abhängig von der Wetterlage Öffnungszeiten Gütsch by Markus Neff: 21. Dezember 2019 bis 12. April 2020 täglich von 9:00 bis 16:00 abhängig von der Wetterlage Reservierung empfohlen +41 58 200 60 97. Wer sich zu Weihnachten gleich selbst mit einem Gourmet-Erlebnis beglücken will, bucht das Package “Gourmet Bentō Lunch Mount Gütsch” des The Chedi Andermatt: On top zum Gourmet Bentō Lunch für zwei im The Japanese by The Chedi Andermatt sind im Package-Preis beginnend ab 1.560 Schweizer Franken zwei Nächte im The Chedi Andermatt und zwei Tagesskipässe für die SkiArena Andermatt Sedrun inkludiert. Die Anreise nach Andermatt ist übrigens auch ohne Santas Rentierschlitten ganz unkompliziert: Per Flug oder Bahn geht es nach Zürich und von dort in gerade einmal 1,5 Stunden mit dem Zug direkt in den Ort. Read the full article

[goingmads]

Where were you just now?

Gone fishin'.