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2014-04-21
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The dwindling dining group settled for Japanese this month; the dinner started off on a not-so-happy note as the restaurant mixed up booking dates and no table was available. We had to sit around the bar which made conversations difficult. To be fair to them, the staff tried to make up for it and in the end managed to fit us in a table not long after we were seated. This made my recommendations to the group more justified - as a ruined first impression was usually hard to mend. The appetizer dri
The dwindling dining group settled for Japanese this month; the dinner started off on a not-so-happy note as the restaurant mixed up booking dates and no table was available. We had to sit around the bar which made conversations difficult. To be fair to them, the staff tried to make up for it and in the end managed to fit us in a table not long after we were seated. This made my recommendations to the group more justified - as a ruined first impression was usually hard to mend.
The appetizer dried cod tasted like dried squid snacks and was interestingly chewy. Some dishes we ordered were out so we made do with the rest. The mini appetizers consisted of a refreshing shrimp seaweed with sweet and sour taste, green bean in wasabi-sesame sauce (delightfully sweet and a bit spicy), the squid in miso sauce was less attractive. All the sashimi and sushi were very fresh and naturally sweet with some having an alluring brine flavour; we tries quite a lot (sashimi - scallop: excellent, yellowtail and shrimp: not bad, tuna: very fatty and rich; sushi - tuna roll was just tuna paste with onion, salmon: tender and melted in mouth, mackerel: a bit bland, scallop, salmon roe and tuna: satisfactory, shrimp: very fresh and without the soft cottony consistency which I loathed).
Most main dishes were laudable. Although the grilled fish - ?eel - had a "charcoal" taste, the grilled oyster was smooth and tender, the scallop simmered in soup in its shell was also excellent. It was most considerate of the restaurant to slice the abalone in soup for us to share. The clam was tasty with a touch of brine, and the cod fish and grilled octopus were both springy on the chew. The butter baked crab pincer was so rich I almost bit on my tongue, the baked lobster wasn't fully cooked so it retained the tenderness of "half-sashimi" and wasn't too tough. The second grilled fish was a bit dry and tough though the crispy skin was well done. The grilled ox tongue was quite an experience; one can savour the "pure red meat with just a hint of fat". Baked bacon cheese portobello mushrooms - slightly sour but nice strong flavor. Roast pork would be better if it was more tender. The vegetables whether in grilled or cold cooked form were passable. The cold udon was kept a bit too chilled, this affected the taste.
Desserts were a pleasant surprise; almond tofu didn't catch my dining companions' fancy, but it was gelatinous like jelly and not too sweet - I liked it. Tomato plus tomato jelly was slightly citrous but sweet enough to count as dessert - very apt on a full stomach.
All in all, a bit pricy (explicable by the location) but the food was worthwhile. The efforts and remedial actions taken also rendered the service not so reproachable in the end.
張貼
