Luce at the Intercontinental

We celebrated my cousin's birthday at Luce, which had been recommended to us awhile ago by a friend. Our overall impression that the food was good, but the service was a bit spotty. Nothing was "wrong" exactly, but it just wasn't as polished as we expected. Still, it was nice that we were able to get a reservation at a late date and we had a good time.
amuse bouche - crab custard with uni foam (not quite enough crab flavor):

foie gras "chaud & froid" - quince, celery, walnuts, & honey-lavender brioche:


kampachi w/ trout roe & toasted buckwheat (I liked this one quite a bit):


seared scallop & abalone - pumpkin & duck consomme:


butter poached lobster - squash, sunflower shoots, lemon verbena (also very tasty):


slow cooked pork loin - parsnip, brussel sprouts, pickled mustard:


textures of dark chocolate & olive oil (birthday treat, fun to eat):


hazelnut financier, banana ice cream, gianduja cremeux, milk chocolate feuillentine (not as good as above):


strawberry & pineapple gelee:

Wakuriya revisited

I've been having a string of good meals at restaurants where my first experience was not the best. This continued with our recent revisit to Wakuriya.

The restaurant is only two miles from our house, so D and I first checked it out shortly after it opened, in January of 2009. Perhaps it was too new then, but although it was good and we enjoyed the experience, we thought that Kaygetsu was better.

Alas, Kaygetsu has now closed, so when we had a craving for good kaiseki early this year, we decided to go to Wakuriya. It turns out that it's now much, much harder to get a reservation. Luckily, they had closed over the holidays and hadn't taken any reservations during that time, so when we called there were still some weekdays available. We took the first available which was a random Wednesday night, and invited my parents to join us.

pear-flavored sake (surprisingly sweet and yummy):


homemade yaki goma dofu - oven-grilled sesame tofu & wasabi on a tiny iron pan (my least favorite of the evening; it had an icky texture):


assorted appetizers - Snake River Farms American "wagyu" beef nigiri, aori ika sashimi & uni, deep-fried renkon mochi (lotus root cake) w/ miso sauce, dried persimmon w/ shiso marscapone cheese (much much better than the appetizers last time, especially the beef!):


gindara to ankimo no chiri-mushi - steamed Alaskan black cod, monk fish liver, vegetable, "buna shimeiji" mushroom, served w/ "momoji oroshi" (spicy grated daikon) & ponzu sauce (I only ate the mushrooms, which were fine):


chef's choice sashimi - ama ebi, kanpachi, tai (delicious, but sashimi doesn't leave much room for creativity):


New Caledonian "tenshi no ebi" no tempura - deep-fried angel shrimp and "sato-imo" (Japanese taro) in "kasu-jiru" (sake lees soup) w/ Kyoto shichimi pepper:


organic carrot & yuzu sorbet:


"kamo" no sukiyaki - Maple Leaf Farms duck, funghi porcini, green onion, & "maru-konnyaku" (jelly potato ball) simmered w/ sweet umami soy sauce (really delicious, my favorite dish of the meal):


tai chazuke - snapper sashimi mixed w/ sesame paste over rice in hot dashi broth (did not eat):


kanitama ankake gohan - Alaskan snow crab omelet over rice w/ thickened dashi sauce:


green tea & white chocolate mousse w/ crunchy kinako (soy flour) & black sesame cookie:


Overall we were more impressed this time around. I especially liked the appetizers; both the beef nigiri and the deep-fried renkon were delicious. The duck sukiyaki was also a highlight.

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:

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:

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.