Steak Satou, Tsukiji, Tokyo

I had heard about this steak house from various internet forums and decided to give it a try one afternoon after feeling tired of raw fish. Thankfully it was pretty easy to find, and I made sure that I went there just about 11.45am to be sure of getting a seat for 1 during lunch, since I had no clue how to make reservations in Japanese. 

Thankfully they had an English menu - I suppose the prices during lunch were also a lot more reasonable compared to dinner.

This leaflet also landed on the table, and I managed to make out that it was a special menu for their 25th anniversary. Well, I wasn't going to head back there during my trip, so I decided to just go for it, and save the regular menu items for another visit back to Tokyo. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, except that I was pretty sure there had to be a steak in there somewhere in there. No clue about the cut or the weight!

 Then, in one gorgeous moment, this descended in front of me.

"Consomme...Uni" said the waiter. That was good enough for me. I was so excited and yet so upset that I was eating alone with no one to share that moment of exhilaration with. 

Solid fresh pieces of uni on top, with uni cream below. It was amazing, it was gorgeous, it was absolutely divine.

Then came these 3 slices of roast beef - they were all right but definitely not very exciting at all. Could have saved it for another day for a sandwich with mustard.

This salad was pretty normal too - nothing to complain or rave about.

Then when the sauces were placed in front of me, I started getting excited again at the prospect of the teppanyaki steak coming

Pepper and salt

And the dude cooked it like, far far away! I mean, aren't they supposed to slice everything with a flourish in front of you, and tossing up bottles and knives in the process?

Ah well. Can't complain that I didn't walk out smelling of fried beef. Anyhow, this landed in front of me.

A slice of beautifully fried tenderloin. It looked and smelt amazing.

Kinda between medium and medium-well. No complaints here. The beef was super tender, and I enjoyed every bite of the soft inside against the almost crisp surfaces. Probably one of the best teppanyaki meals ever.

Vanilla ice cream to end everything off. Just nice.

What it looks like from the outside, and....

The shop sign, and phone number if you want to make reservations. Or just rock up before 12noon like I did.

Chin Chin, Flinders Lane

As an Asian person living in Melbourne, it was initially difficult for me to understand the hype over Chin Chin - why would any good Asian who appreciated food patronise an Asian restaurant run by a non-Asian and frequented by everyone but Asians? Especially when Melbourne has no lack of good Asian restaurants. However, curiosity and the crowd got the better of us, and we decided to try our luck one weekday evening. Since it's a no reservations place, we headed to our favourite bar nearby for pre dinner drinks while waiting for them to call us when a table became available.

Finally made it inside, with these paper placemats cum menus on the table.

We ordered a jug of the Vietnamese Mint to start us off

It was an easy drink to gulp down...too easy perhaps

We went for the degustation which was around $60 per person, and started off with a serve of the salt and pepper squid served with Vietnamese mint leaves, chilli and nuoc cham, a fish sauce dip. Not a terribly complicated dish to prepare, and this was executed well. Thumbs up.

 

Next came the kingfish sashimi with coconut cream and lime. The last time I checked, I was pretty sure that kingfish sashimi wasn't a staple of Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. But this was brilliant, somewhat similar to the raw fish that one has with porridge in Singapore (minus the coconut cream).

 

Even though it was a weekday night, the place was packed solid. 

Stir fried green beans with coconut in a cashew sambal. Interesting - we'd never tasted anything quite like this before.

I have no idea what this curry was, but it wasn't memorable anyway. Not good, not bad. Just one of the courses that we felt went all right, but wouldn't order again next time.

This was my absolute favourite dish of the evening - the twice cooked short rib that came with a sweetish sticky sauce. I usually don't like meat that's too sweet, but the texture was fall-off-the-bone tender. Great with steamed rice, with a bit of fish sauce to offset the sweetness.

And to end it off, a mango and honeycomb dessert to share.

Love the bar decor - just simple mosaic but it works.

I went there again another day with another group, and tried the corn and coriander fritters - I wouldn't bother ordering this again. It was oily and heavy, classically overfried.

The Miang - betel leaves with braised lamb - was interesting, but this for $12 was kinda expensive.

The southern style yellow curry with mackeral and pineapple was pretty good, but on the sweet side. It was great with the roti.

Again, super crowded at lunch time.

I headed there again alone yet another day and sat at the bar at the far end, just next to the kitchen. It was a great seat cos I got to see them prepare the entrees.

A kingfish sashimi for myself

A salt and pepper squid for myself. And, not pictured, a beautiful cold glass of Pikes Riesling.

Got the photos I couldn't take previously during dinner - the light was great

And that's how they do it

I also had the pork and crab cake with a salted duck egg dip. This was pretty amazing.

Not sure how they made this salted egg sauce, but it was the best thing...I ate every drop up.

Super crispy crab cakes - definitely very happy that I ordered this.

It was messy to eat but I wouldn't have it any other way.

What it looks like on the outside.

Was I too judgmental at the beginning? I don't think so - the dishes I had were completely non traditional - short rib isn't a cut that Asians normally use, the salt and pepper squid is better known for being served at Cantonese restaurants instead of Indochinese or Thai places, and I've never seen sashimi served with coconut cream. However, whatever the chef is doing, it WORKS. It's tasty, it's yummy, it's not 100% authentic, but it doesn't matter. It's worth a go.

Website: http://www.chinchinrestaurant.com.au/

Ukai Chikutei at Mount Takao, Japan

We had reservations made at Ukai Chikutei for a late lunch after heading up and down Mount Takao- this caused a bit of stress since we couldn't exactly stop and smell the flowers trying to rush back to the Takao train station for the shuttle bus. But all was well, and we made it in time for our bus and the reservation.

I had visited Ukai Toriyama some years ago and was pretty much floored by how beautiful everythting was, with great attention paid to almost every detail. Ukai Chikutei is run by the same folks, with every dining party housed in their own pavilion. The restaurant is spread out over what must be acres of land, with single-storey dining areas with views either to their garden, or if you're lucky (and we were), one of the many streams running through the grounds. This was our little dining area, after we were shown there and removed our shoes, we pretty much ran around the whole pavilion screaming in excitement about how amazing the restaurant looked. (this was of course after the kimono-clad waitress had left to get our drinks and after checking to see if there was CCTV)

The menu- of course we couldn't understand much but we knew enough to point to the set meal for the day, which was around ¥5000 per person, or around S$60-70 per head. Good enough for us.

The waitress came back with our drinks

That was our cold sake, in a bamboo tube

Like, seriously. Stuffed in a bed of ice. It was gonna be an awesome lunch 

First course up- and my friend was trying to talk to her in English. That smile probably means "this is gonna be a long day since you don't understand me and I don't understand you". 

So super pretty! This was what we saw after the cage came off

Little pieces of sushi, with white fish and minced ginger

An ikura and mushroom starter, with yam bits.

Our lovely and friendly (and yet incomprehensible) waitress hard at work dividing the portions out

This was what I got

I can't quite recall what this was, but I think it was a mixture of flower petals and pickled vegetables.

We each got a serve of chawan mushi too

Just had to take a quick runaround outside after the first course

Everything was too pretty for words

Check out the almost autumn foliage with the stream

Every angle was beautiful 

Even the moss on the roof

 

The stream outside our pavilion with manicured bonsai

And even koi swimming around (they must have been trained to frolick around seeing a customer, knowing the Japanese attention to detail)

Another view of the pavilion

Next up- the sashimi course with maguro, another white fish and a seaweed jelly

Pretty interesting stuff

Then came along a grilled ayu fish that still arrived smoking on a bed of leaves 

So pretty - yet so sad in some ways. Poor little skewered fish.

My fish

Super fresh, succulent meat

The fish was followed shortly by this bowl

Of steamed veggies with a savoury stock that had yuzu shavings

Followed by soba

And when we saw the rice and pickles and soup, we knew the end was near :(

Rice steamed with mushrooms, served with pickles and miso soup

A brilliantly lightly flavored dish. 

And fresh hot tea towards the end.

 

With a scoop of vanilla ice cream signaling this meal was surely coming to an end

 The bill for 2 people including sake came up to around S$130 - quite a steal for the amazing atmosphere. I was slightly disappointed with the menu, being a meat person, but there was nothing wrong with what I ate, which was well executed and presented.

 

Photos taken on our way out of the restaurant- cobblestones along the path

Managed to get a shot of the same bridge, this time with a kimono clad waitress

Another angle of the same stream

The entrance to the area where we ate - it must be that Chikutei means bamboo. There were a few different clusters of pavilions and if each pavilion is served by one person, it means that person needs to cover quite a lot of ground to bring food there and back.

Shots taken while waiting for the bus. This was where the reception area was.

The actual entrance to the reception area.

Just at the bus waiting area

Parasols on the ground. The whole atmosphere was so amazing that even the umbrellas looked pretty

Waterfall within the grounds. Possibly the prettiest restaurant ever.

http://www.ukai.co.jp/english/chikutei/