Friday, December 30, 2011

Keiko a Nob Hill x 2

In the space of about two weeks we had dinner at Keiko twice. It was very good both times, and the chef even tried to adjust the menu a bit for us the second time, but I would still suggest waiting longer between visits to get more variety. I'm looking forward to going back sometime maybe in the spring or summer.

I've included the complete menu from the first visit here:

chakin sushi w/ maitake:


"extravagance de fermier" (really gorgeous presentation and very tasty too):


pan seared artisan foie gras w/ espresso sauce - accompanied w/ artichoke & Japanese sweet potato puree (the chef's signature dish and as good as always):


Hokkaido sea scallop w/ sea urchin - scallop foam, chanterelle mushroom, spinach tuille:


black angus ribeye roti - lightly dry aged ribeye served with gratin d'affinois (very well executed, not super creative in flavor though):


brioche au fromage w/ epoisses espuma (amazing! even people who don't like cheese loved this dish):


gateau chocolate w/ chestnut ice cream & passionfruit caramel sauce:


canele (D's new favorite dessert!):


As I mentioned before, the chef rotated in a few new dishes on our second visit:

carrot & blood orange salad w/ orange & dukka tuile:


stewed black angus beef, mashed potatoes, purple potato chips, chanterelle & trumpet mushrooms (I preferred this to the previous beef presentation):


yuzo-miso gratin w/ shigoku oyster, hokkaido scallop, & blue shrimp:


different presentation of the fermier salad:

Friday, November 18, 2011

Manresa, take 2

I meant to move my random thoughts into G+ and keep posting about food and travel on this blog, but it seems I forgot. I'm going to be catching up on food outings in the next week or so, and back-dating appropriately, so sorry for the confusion...

D and I went to Manresa once about 4-5 years ago. We didn't have that great of an experience; I forgot my camera, we didn't order the tasting menu, and although the food was well-executed and we enjoyed it, we weren't wowed by the level of creativity.

Last week some friends invited us to go with them, so we decided to give it another chance. There were six of us, and we all ordered the full tasting menu. This time we were much more impressed; I especially liked the foie gras and chestnut croquettes, the tomato soup (and I don't even like tomatoes much) and the roast duck. My only complaint was with the desserts; they were both not-quite-seamless mixtures of sweet and savory flavors.

They also seem to have renovated both the exterior (adding a nice courtyard area) and the interior (going from more ranch/rustic to more modern, which I prefer), and my water glass never got more than 1/3 empty, which is quite an achievement on the service side.

black olive madeleine & red pepper gelee:


foie gras & chestnut croquettes (super tasty!):


coriander ice...


...with barely cooked tomato soup (also very good):


shellfish w/ chestnut & persimmon, roast chicken jelly:


bay scallops, verjus of green tomato, ginger w/ seaweed:


"into the vegetable garden" (very cool presentation):


"autumnal tide pool" (uni, foie gras, mussels, mushroom, seaweed):


black cod w/ tomato & fig leaf honey, fennel, & bitter herb (did not try):


roast duck & persimmon, cauliflower mushroom, walnut wine (best of the entrees):


saddle of roe deer, quince, matsutake, wild watercress:


pumpkin confit, pistachio cake w/ fenugreek ice cream, toasted colza (not a fan):


gianduja mousse w/ hazelnut milk, green tomato confit, sorrel w/ olive oil (also not great):


chocolate madeleine & strawberry gelee (cute to start and end w/ gelee & madeleines):


the menu:

Thursday, October 06, 2011

Kobe, Japan

Some of our friends had flown to Japan to watch the Red Sox a few years back, and while they were here they also managed to watch a Japanese baseball game, too.  After hearing about their experience, D and I decided that next time we went to Japan we'd try to do the same.  It took some work (buying the tickets requires an address in Japan, so we had to get my uncle in Tokyo to buy them, and the game we wanted sold out instantly, so he had to scalp them), but we ended up with very nice tickets to see the Yoimuri Giants play the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium, near Kobe.

Despite living in Tokyo, my uncle has a clinic in Kobe that he visits once a week, so he's quite familiar with the area.  He suggested that he meet up with us there to show us around a bit, and we quickly agreed,  So, the day after the wedding we took the JR West train from Kyoto to Kobe, where we dropped off our bags at the Crowne Plaza Ana Kobe (right above the Shin-Kobe station) and then met my uncle for lunch.

He took us to a pretty traditional-looking Japanese place right next to his office.  He said that he basically ate there every time he was in Kobe, which was once a week.  The food was reasonably priced (about $15 USD per person) and pretty good.

From lunch we took a train to Koshien, which took about 20 minutes on the express. The stadium was right outside the train station, and we couldn't have missed it because there were tons of fans wearing Hanshin Tigers gear streaming towards it. Luckily our friend's mother had given us lots of Hanshin Tigers-branded goodies (including jerseys, noisemakers, and fans) so we could at least try to fit in. My uncle had also recommended that we buy balloons for the 7th inning stretch, and after scouring a few stands, we managed to find some.

It was really hot in the sun, so for the first hour or so I kept looking for cloud cover. There were tons of girls in pink outfits selling beer, drinks, and snacks, and they would prowl up and down the sections calling out whatever they had. They were even wearing knee pads to make it easier for them to kneel and transact with customers.

Overall the crowd was polite and well-behaved, but very enthusiastic. There were complicated chants and songs, which were different for each player. I tried to pick up the clapping part since I didn't understand the spoken chants, but even that was too complicated for me. It even seemed that only the fans rooting for the batting side would make any noise, and the fans rooting for the pitching side would sit quietly, waiting for their turn.

D was psyched about the variety of tasty snacks; we saw takoyaki, okonomiyaki, and lots of other fried goodies. We didn't want to eat too much since we had dinner plans, but in the end we did buy some some sweet potatoes, chicken karaage, and fresh potato chips.

We noticed a few other small differences: the seats were lower and thus more comfortable for me, they didn't sing the national anthem before the game, and no one walked around during at-bats, ever. Each team had two foreign players, who were among the better players on the teams. Generally the outfield play seemed a little suspect, and the home run totals were quite low (looking at the player statistics), but my uncle explained later that they had recently switched from the old lighter Japanese ball to the American ball, so batters were having some trouble adjusting this year.

Anyway, basically everyone was watching the game at almost every moment, until the top of the 7th, when everyone started blowing up their balloons. I almost felt bad for the players since no one was paying any attention to them at that point. As soon as we got to the seventh inning stretch, there was some kind of cue (which I missed) and we all released our balloons into the air at once.
It was quite a sight! We stayed until the bottom of the 8th, when the Tigers were up 9-4, and decided that we'd have to go if we wanted to make our dinner reservation. It was good that we did as the train was quite crowded already.

We met my uncle back in Kobe and he took us to a Kobe beef teppanyaki restaurant called Teishin Chikusan. We ordered a set menu which came with a beef appetizer (I chose roast beef, D had seared beef), a salad, and then lots of types of Kobe beef (sirloin, thigh, fatty sirloin, filet, and one other), served with veggies (purple yam, lotus root, mushroom, pepper, garlic) on the side. My favorite was this sirloin.
We were given ponzu and soy sauce for dipping, with wasabi and fine-grained sea salt. I preferred the salt as I found the wasabi a little overwhelming but D liked it. Other sides included pickled lettuce and cucumber, miso soup, and garlic Kobe beef fried rice. For dessert we had salty milk sorbet, with tea. It was quite salty (more than Bi-Rite salted caramel) but I liked it.

We stayed overnight at the ANA Crowne Plaza Kobe, which was very nice and conveniently located right above the Shin-Kobe train/subway stop. I think they mixed D up with another person of the same name, because somehow we got Priority Club treatment, and a room on the 32nd floor requiring key access in the elevator. It had a great view.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the famous Kobe Kitano Hotel, as recommended by my uncle. We'd thought it would be a Japanese-style breakfast, but upon arrival we quickly discovered it was French-style, but very fancy.

We started with five types of juice: mango, carrot, berry, green apple, and grapefruit:
In quick succession, we were served a giant basket of breads, with fruits, prunes, yogurt, tapioca and coconut milk, and assorted homemade butters and jams.
Later we were served roast ham, soft boiled eggs, coffee and tea. They provided an interesting contraption to take the tops off of the eggs; there was a domed part which sat on top of the egg, and then a metal ball which was attached on a stick. The metal ball was designed to drop onto the dome, and the impact would crack the egg around the bottom of the dome. We had to drop the ball four or five times to fully crack through the egg, but it worked pretty nicely.

After breakfast we just walked around the Kitano and Sannomiya areas and then headed to the Kansai Airport. To get there, we took the Port Liner monorail from Sannomiya to the Kobe Airport, and then took the Bay Shuttle from Kobe Airport to Kansai Airport. Ironically, the monorail had better views than the boat.

It took quite awhile for us to finally get to the airport, as the ferry only runs once an hour, but we did get there in time and even managed to buy some souvenirs for our relatives before flying back to Taipei.

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Kyoto, Japan

Earlier this year, D and I were invited to a wedding in Japan.  I think we debated for less than thirty seconds, and then promptly began to research plane tickets.

The wedding took place at Matsunoo Shrine in Kyoto.  We first stopped by Taipei for a few days to visit family, and then flew directly from Taipei to Kansai.  While in Taiwan, we'd heard that a typhoon was supposed to hit Japan the same day we were scheduled to arrive, so we were a bit worried about our flight.  In the end the typhoon hit Kyoto about an hour before our plane took off, but nevertheless we were only delayed by fifteen minutes.

Upon arrival we hopped into the Haruka airport express train, which took us to Kyoto Station.  We'd decided to spend three nights in Kyoto; one at the expensive but amazing-looking Hoshinoya, and two at the cheap and convenient Hotel Hokke Club near the station.  The Hoshinoya boat dock (yes, you take a boat to get to the hotel) was a twenty-minute cab ride from the station, and the cabbie had to call someone to figure out exactly where it was, but eventually we got there.  The hotel staff greeted us upon arrival and took us into a very posh waiting room, where they served us tea and cookies and informed us that unfortunately the hotel was completely closed, because the typhoon had caused the river to rise so much that it was unsafe to cross by boat.

We were pretty bummed about the change of plan, but the hotel staff quickly offered several hotel alternatives of a "similar class".  We chose their first suggestion, the Hyatt Regency, and they sent us there in a complimentary cab.  We were skeptical about liking the Hyatt since it was an American chain, but we were much more impressed after arriving at the property.  The front area was decorated with a field of bamboo shoots, and since it was after dark they were nicely lit.  The interiors were decorated in a modern Japanese style, and the bellboys and the concierge were super helpful.  The room overlooked the garden and was giant by Japanese standards, with a king bed and a spacious bathroom.

It was pretty late by the time we finally got settled in, so for dinner we just ate casually at a nearby izakaya called Manzo Hearts.  For appetizers we had chicken karaage and agedashi tofu.  The chicken was tasty but the tofu was some of the best that I'd had in a long time.  D ordered oyako don as his main, and I ordered zaru udon, both of which were good too.  I guess we were probably pretty hungry by then, too.

The room rate included free buffet breakfast, so despite having mixed feelings about American rather than Japanese breakfast, we went down early the next morning to check it out.  It was a pretty impressive spread; there were lots of freshly cut fruit, juices, pastries, bread, muffins, cheeses, cold cuts, yogurts, granolas, and muesli.  For hot foods there were waffles, pancakes, sausages, eggs, bacon, "German-style" potatoes, and even a ham station.  Everything was so tasty that we both ate a lot despite wanting to save room for a proper Japanese lunch.

After breakfast we checked out, moved our luggage to the Hokke, and then set off for the Nanzenji Shrine.  We spent about an hour checking out the grounds, and then walked next door to the Zenrinji Shrine, which is also called "Eikando".

Nanzenji:


Zenrinji (Eikando):

Nanzenji was more highly recommended, but I actually preferred Zenrinji; there were a whole bunch of very old, very low-ceiling-ed Japanese-style buildings (we were required to take off our shoes to enter) with walls decorated with original paintings.  There were also altars and sculptures in many of the buildings, the most famous of which was the "looking back" Amita (Buddha) statue.  It was very lovely but a bit smaller than I expected.  We also walked up to the pagoda overlooking the site, where we discovered a gorgeous panoramic view of Kyoto.

It was already mid-afternoon when we left Zenrinji, so we thought we might have some difficulty finding food, but soon after entering the nearby "Philospher's Walk" we discovered a cute little shop which served some simple Japanese dishes, so we decided to stop for a bite there.  D ordered a tofu donburi, and I had warabi mochi, which also came with a tall glass of iced green tea.  Both dishes were delicious; I often forget how good silken tofu is in Asia, and I hadn't had warabi mochi since our last visit to Japan in late 2007.  We topped that off with a giant can of Calpis soda from a vending machine, and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the Philosopher's walk. It was full of temples, but we decided against actually visiting any more of them.


After chilling back at the hotel for a couple of hours, we headed out for a kaiseki dinner.  Originally we'd planned to have our fancy Japanese dinner the previous evening at the Hoshinoya, but since that'd fallen through, we'd asked the Hyatt concierge for a restaurant recommendation.  Her pick was the Sakurada, which we later discovered has two Michelin stars.

The restaurant is located in a small alley which is inaccessible by car.  The taxi driver who took us there was initially confused by our printout map, but eventually figured it out and got us there in record time.  He stopped the car next to the alley and said several things rapidly in Japanese.  Luckily I picked out "koko", "kuruma" and "nai" and figured out we'd arrived but the car couldn't go down that street.  We got out and walked until we spotted a small green awning with the restaurant name on it in Japanese.

We walked inside and D confirmed with the kimono-clad waitress that it was indeed the Sakurada.  She immediately knew who we were (guess they don't get too many foreigners) and seated us at the bar.

We were served the following courses in quick succession:

a light (savory) genmai tea, with puffed rice balls:
shrimp and two kinds of mushroom, served with ume flowers, taro stalks, and sake:
white fish garnished with a dab of ume paste and citrus rind, gingko nut tofu, and matsutake mushroom, in a light broth:
a sashimi dish of what the waitress described as "flat fish" (tasted like squid but less chewy), tai, and maguro, with purple shiso leaves, cucumber, ponzu sauce (for the white fishes), and soy sauce (for the tuna):
fried and breaded mashed lotus root in a gooey salty sauce, quite heavy:
grilled barracuda, baby lotus, "pumpkin" (tasted like sweet chestnut), edamame, what tasted like stalks of rhubarb, saba sushi, and mountain yam with vegetables (maybe chard?):
whole fried sweetfish with lots of egg inside, served with a sauce of "tade" and daikon:
crab and tofu (very gooey like cheese) served with kabocha and radish spheres and tomato gazpacho:
eggplant and duck meatball topped with ginger:
ochazuke with pickled veggies (cucumber, eggplant, radish), edible flowers, shiso, tai (with wasabi) in peanut sauce, and minced ume:
three kinds of grape, Japanese pear (with pomegranate seed), milk panna cotta topped with mango sauce, and a glass of pineapple juice:
a lily bulb jelly (very sticky, like mochi), with hot matcha green tea:
genmai tea (this time very light and not salty):
There was only one waitress who spoke English, but her English was quite impressive.  There was also an older couple seated to our left who kept marveling at her ability to recall obscure food names.  The older woman finally introduced herself as having spent several years as an exchange student at Stanford twenty years ago, and asked if she could take our photo for us.  We said yes, of course.

At the end of the meal, we were given souvenir chopsticks and went on our way.  As we exited the restaurant, we were greeted outside by the manager and an older man who appeared to be the chef.  They asked us if everything was "oishikatta", and I didn't know the proper response so I just said "oishi" which means delicious.  We all smiled and bowed at each other for a bit and then D and I went on our way.

The next day was spent at the wedding ceremony, the first reception (for family, coworkers, and close friends, about 80 in all), and the second reception (for friends only, also about 80, of which 10-15 overlapped with the first reception).

We took a taxi to the Matsunoo Shrine, arriving early so that we could look around a bit.
Unfortunately no photos were allowed during the traditional Japanese ceremony, but the bride wore an elaborate white kimono with what looked like a very heavy headpiece, and the groom wore a traditional black Japanese outfit.  We all removed our shoes before entering the shrine area, which was really nice compared to having to wear heels!

Before the ceremony, we were ushered into a waiting area where the bride's guests and the groom's guests were separated, and given instructions on what to do during the ceremony.  Luckily our part was quite simple; some bowing and clapping at the appropriate times.

As the ceremony started, we all walked (barefoot) in a line to the the altar area, and were seated to the right and left of the couple in a long line.  The couple performed a variety of rituals, including tea drinking, some ceremony with tree branches, and touching a stone turtle (not sure of its significance).  Afterwards we all walked back, put on our shoes, and took lots of group photos.

Once the photos were done, it was off with our shoes again, as we were directed upstairs to the reception ballroom.  The bride, groom, and their parents formed a receiving line and greeted us as we entered, and then the speeches began.  I would say the speeches were longer and more formal than American wedding toasts; they were given primarily by "important" people such as company presidents, and focused on praising the couple.

Next, the bride and groom took a mallet and broke open a giant barrel of sake, which was served to all the guests in souvenir wooden boxes:
Soon afterwards, the food was served.  I was really, really impressed with the quality and quantity of the food; it was like having a kaiseki dinner at a wedding reception. Each dish was separately plated, and everything was fresh and served at the right temperature.

the menu (which we couldn't read, but looked impressive):

lobster salad:
sashimi course:
assorted vegetables and mushrooms:
a whole lobster!
steak:
palate cleanser:
sushi:
hamaguri (clam soup):
sakura rice:
milk-flavored panna cotta with fruit:
more fruit:
wedding cake:
Halfway through the meal, the bride and groom disappeared to change outfits, and then when they came back they visited and lighted a candle at each table. The costume change was impressive; the bride's hair and makeup were completely redone, and the groom changed into a light Western-style suit. After we all finished gorging ourselves, there were some additional speeches, from the father of the groom, and from the groom himself, thanking all the guests for coming. Then, the couple and their parents assembled into yet another receiving line, to wish all the guests goodbye as they left. We hung out in the waiting area for a little while afterwords, chatting with some other guests (luckily a few spoke English and a few others spoke Mandarin), and then we were off to the second reception, at a restaurant called With You. When we arrived, we discovered there was a sign-in desk, where guests were paying money. We quickly took out some of our remaining Japanese yen, but when we gave them our names we were told that we were "taken care of" and that we didn't need to pay. However, we were given some props and instructed to hold onto them for "later games".

The first thing that we saw was more food. Both D and I were stuffed and unable to eat anything, and it looked like the few other guests who had been at the first reception were too, but the rest of the people happily tucked into the spread. The food was served family-style and it was clearly not as fancy as at the first reception, but still looked quite good.

The activities were much more casual at this reception; first the bride and groom repeated their candle-lighting ritual, and did another cake cutting, and then there were some speeches, but this time the speakers were quite drunk and probably very funny (everyone else was laughing, at least). We also played bingo and some other games, and overall it just felt like a big party. Things wrapped up a little before midnight, and we exhaustedly hopped a taxi back to our hotel.

 

This is my personal blog. The views expressed on these pages are mine alone and not that of my employer.