Oh what a night! Late December...what a very special time for me. As I remember what a night! It was a brilliant month because further to Hinoki, I also had a meal at Ooi that was seriously worth shouting about. It's a hard line to draw between telling more people about a really good place and risk having it overrun with crowds, or even worse, seeing the quality decrease or prices increase, and wanting to share good things with people who care about good food. But since Tan Hsueh Yun had already told the world about it, me talking about it here would probably cause no further harm.
It was a wonderful evening with good friends, and it started off really well with this sake from Nagano called shimbun no sake daiginjo because it, well, came wrapped in newspaper. It's produced only once a year, with a polishing degree of 39%.
What the inside looked like.
We got to choose our own sake cups.
Sake tastes better when drunk with good friends
The first course of our omakase meal from left to right - dried radish strips, fish roe, sansai, kyoto tofu and lotus root with sesame. Everything was so delicate.
Another view - the little plate had salt that was for the tofu. I've never tasted such soft, silky tofu before.
The sashimi platter, including kanburi, saba (from Wakayama), Aji and Kobujime (both from Fukuoka), honmaguro, and otoro.
The marbling - divine. Extra large picture for added emphasis.
Next up were yam strips cut thinly to look like somen.
Extremely interesting texture.
A simmered daikon slice with yuzu miso - this was another divine dish. Fresh, simple and delicious.
Crab, with vinegar for dipping.
Check out the meat.
We had the head of the kanburi (king amberjack) grilled. This was sashimi grade fish, so when grilled, it was amazing.
Hiroshima oysters, battered and deep fried. Crispy on the outside, soft and succulent on the inside.
Another view of the oysters on their shells
Absolutely brilliant.
Mixed maki with various spare cuts of fish.
Otoro and snapper sushi.
At the end, finally, soup with clams.
Dessert, which consisted of Japanese strawberry, pear and persimmon. And chestnut ice cream imported from Japan (can't recall which part, and it's probably because of the sake).
The chestnut ice cream was amazing - the flavour was very delicate.
The place, which used to be at Cuppage Plaza, is run by a husband and wife team. According to the wife, apparently the husband insists on doing everything himself because if someone else does it, "it doesn't taste right". I hope he carries on that way for a long time because everything was close to perfect.
Holiday Inn Orchard City Centre
11 Cavenagh Rd, 01-13/14
Tel: 6737 4929
so hungry now after reading your post! how much was it per pax?
ReplyDeleteDinner was $180 per person excluding the sake, which someone sponsored.
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