Where's the beef? At Ukai-Tei!

This famous teppanyaki restaurant along a quiet side street in Ginza was actually a recommendation from my dad, who knows a thing or two about good eatin' in Tokyo. He suggested Ukai-Tei for their "amazing value" set lunch, which, priced at 9000Yen, was more on the expensive side of normal.

We were greeted by the maitre'd as we walked through the main entrance with the odd shaped glass door, and were shown to our table in a labyrinth-like room with period furniture, art deco lighting and a mosaic-tiled open circular kitchen where all the diners were seated. Odd place, overall. I started to worry about the quality of the food after sitting down in this bizarre setting.

The lunch presentation started with a demitasse of steamed foie gras and truffle, which was presented in a beautiful china cup over an earthen plate. The eclectic tableware continued with a glass plate of fresh blowfish sashimi and pesto sauce. This had to be one of the freshest plates of blowfish I've ever tasted!

The chef serving our section of the table started preparing the radish, while the next course of crab bisque was served to us, accompanied by some focaccia bread. By this time, the pan fried radish was ready to be served, and this was presented with a dark sauce (couldn't figure out what it was, but the taste was beefy, like Marmite).

The main course was our matsusaka sirlion, which was cooked right before our eyes as the fat melted away and leaving behind pieces of crispy edged beef cubes that smelled wonderful from across the table. A bite into this sent me to gourmet heaven. We adjourned to the adjacent room where dessert and coffee were to be served. Dessert was either a fruity sorbet or a chocolate mousse, both equally delicious, accompanied by cookies and coffee.

The service at Ukai-Tei was top notch, and so was the food. So, in the end, the 9000Yen lunch tab was actually truly worth the experience. The decor was just too eclectic for my taste, and borderline bizarre. Only in Japan, I guess.

The Grand Cru breakfast

Sunday morning, brunch time. Today, we ended up at Cru along Stauton Street in SoHo. It was already very full by the time we arrived shortly after noon. Fortunately, there was still a 2-seater by the main door, so it was a good spot to plant ourselves for our meal and to watch the world go by.

Cru, part of the Wagyu restaurant group, serves a good selection of hearty breakfast items for brunch, along with the regular items from the a la carte menu. I was famished, so the Grand Cru breakfast was the perfect choice - rashers of bacon, 2 eggs, potatoes, sauteed mushrooms, sausages grilled tomatoes and wheat toast. The house coffee was Illy, which is always one of my favorite brands. Maybe I was just very hungry, but the food was very well prepared, the eggs scrambled just the way I liked it and the tomatoes were grilled nicely, as were the sausages. My friend described this place as 'reliable', and I can see why. There's not much you can do with scrambled eggs, sausages and bacon, but when done right, it's a downright satisfying feast.

The only thing that was a bit out of place was the restaurant decor. It looked more like a generic evening fine dining restaurant, with the circular booth seats and downlighting, but for a brunch venue I tend to look for a sunny, casual ambience where the wait staff are in T-shirts and aprons and the interior that makes you feel like you're dining in someone's back patio on a Sunday.

Cru is located at 44-46 Staunton Street, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2803 2083 

Dining below

Last night, we went to try a relatively newcomer to the dining scene around the Gough Road area called Basement Restaurant. The entrance was along the sloping sidewalk connecting the two parallel roads, and wasn't too difficult to find. The restaurant interior was reminiscent of an old European pub cellar, with curved wooden ceiling, muted dark walls and and warm rustic ambiance that makes you feel cozy and at home. This being the new venture of the owners of Homeless furniture design store upstairs, the tableware and accessories were all on the hip and eclectic side of things.

The menu featured the usual modern fusion fare, with a healthy doze of organic ingredients and seafood. We ordered several starters to share - scallops tartar (which was served in small pastry shells and topped with caviar), crab caesar salad (that was a bit dry but very flavorful) and sweet potato fries (which were not as good as the ones served at Barracks, Singapore). My fresh oyster chowder was very tasty, with chunks from fresh oyster meat and scallions, but a tad too much cream. I ordered the linguine with sea urchin and cod roe marinated cherry tomatoes, and that turned out to be a refreshing surprise. The uni was very fresh and the seasoning was slightly bland, which allowed the taste of the uni to shine through. This was my favorite dish. Overall, the prices were very reasonable at HK$900 for two persons.

Basement Restaurant is at B/F, 29 Gough Street (below Homeless), Central, Hong Kong.
Tel: +852 2854 0010

The definitive Kaiseki experience

I guess a trip to Kikunoi, the revered Kyoto restaurant that catapulted Yoshihiro Murata into the culinary world of exquisite kaiseki meals and Michelin stars, should only be compared to another great restaurant like The French Laundry in Yountville, CA. Both are famous institutions in their own right, having achieved international acclaim and a worldwide audience who flock to their doors to sample some amazing fare created by the masters themselves. So, given the opportunity, I couldn't resist passing up on the best kaiseiki dinner in Kyoto to compare with my French Laundry experience.

I requested the concierge at the Hyatt Regency to make a reservation for me at Kikunoi for dinner that night. Even though it was a Monday, I had to settle for a 5PM dinner slot at the counter.

When we arrived at the restaurant in downtown Kyoto, we were shown to the counter, where chef Hiroki greeted us and presented the dinner set menu for Monday night. Kikunoi has been around for a long time, some three generations in fact, but it was only when Yoshihiro Murata took the helm of the family business and melded the time honored tradition of Japanese cooking methods with modern French influences, that Kikunoi started garnering widespread attention and fame. The restaurant is frequently listed in travel and gourmet publications specializing in the best regional cuisines in Japan, most notably when "kaiseki" cuisine is described, and is also often credited for elevating the kaiseki meal to a new level of fine dining pleasure.

But whether one considers this all hype or not, I'll have to let the photos speak for themselves, as they showcase the beauty that is Kyoto style kaiseki cuisine.

So here goes:

The dinner presentation started with an amuse bouche of demitasse of yuba (soymilk skin), pickled sea cucumber entrails and dried sea cucumber ovaries brunoise. It was deceivingly simple, but the demitasse was smooth as silk and lifted the delicate taste of the sea cucumber pieces.

Next up was a box of assorted appetizers comprising of smoked salmon camelia flower sushi, cod roe terrine, lotus root stuffed with mustard, mibuna, cured Karasumi (grey mullet roe) rolled in squid and angler fish liver. Another beautiful display of fresh ingredients and flavors to tempt the tastebuds and senses. I particularly liked the cured karasumi rolled in squid, with its multi-layered texture and salty squid meat. The stuffed lotus root reminded me of a common Shanghainese dish of lotus root similarly stuffed with glutenous rice and served cold as an appetizer.

The third dish was fresh Fugu (pufferfish) sashimi, simply served with chives and lime, for rolling and dipping. I had always considered Fugu an overrated dish (more for the thrill of playing with death by eating a poisonous fish), but tonight's dish was the freshest I've had. I'm starting to see the appeal after all.

The next dish came in a bowl and was a bit of a surprise - Fugu milt, Fugu skin, Karami daikon (Kyoto radish in season) and ponzu. The milt was very fresh, smooth and soft and felt like eating exquisite foie gras, the ponzu added some zest and the Fugu skin provided the chewy sensation. All the ingredients combined perfectly to form a dish that was fresh, simple yet complex and challenging to the senses and any novice who had never tried Fugu milt.

The steamed dish was next, this was Guji (red tilefish) steamed with grated kabura turnip, wood ear mushroom, lily bulb, mitsuba herb, fresh uni (sea urchin), gingko nut and wasabi. Again, unbelievably fresh ingredients elevated this simple yet delicate dish beyond what I was expecting when I tasted the very first morsel.

The chef's assistant appeared, with a large snow crab in a shallow weave basket, and that signaled the start of the grilled course. The crab legs were individually grilled in front of the counter, then served piece by piece on the serving plates. Later, the chef brought out the grilled crab shell filled with piping hot roe. I'm not usually the sort that likes crab roe, but this serving was fragrant, smooth and bursting with ocean flavors. I was amazed how delicious the grilled roe tasted.

Before the next course arrived, a small cup with a poached kumquat, soft with the right amount of sweetness, was presented to cleanse the palette.

Then the salad was presented to our table. Apple, mizuna, mackerel, gingko leaf-shaped ginger, walnut oil and apple sauce combined to make a very light, flavorful, fruity salad. A little sour, a little sweet, a little bite from the ginger and a hint of roasted walnut and fresh apple sauce made this another enjoyable dish.

Kikunoi's signature hotpot dish was next. Duck breast and duck meatballs were simmered in broth, with Kujo green onion for sweetness and sansho pepper for spiciness. The duck meat was very tender, and the broth was light yet flavorful.

Finally, the rice dish was presented in a large pot filled with salmon roe and seaweed. The chef then mixed the ingredients and served the rice with pickles and a bowl of Kintoki carrot soup. The rice was very well done and tasty, but it was the bright red carrot soup that surprised with a strong sweet taste of carrots, and best of all, it was not pureed. It almost seemed like a carrot broth reduction.

The meal ended with a baked apple and ginger ice cream dessert, all homemade and very delicious. For an elaborate kaiseki dinner, there are few restaurants that can top what Kikunoi pulled off tonight. There was not a single dish that stood out strikingly from the rest, yet each was a perfect dish in itself, and the combination of these various flavors, styles and ingredients made for an amazing gastronomic journey into Kyoto's finest restaurant. And that will certainly ensure Kikunoi's glowing reputation for years to come.

Tonight's meal was the most expensive of 3 sets on the menu, featuring winter seasonal delicacies and the freshest seafood of the day. In all, the cost of the meal was 17,000Yen, with a bottle of sake. Not extravagant for what most overseas diners would consider their best meal of their life. I thought it was sensibly priced and worth every penny for the ingredients, craftsmanship and the feast for the senses.

Kikunoi has 2 locations in Kyoto. The downtown location is Roan Kikunoi Kyoto, Kiyamachi Shijo-sagaru (on east side of Kiyamachi, second building south of Shijo). Tel: 075-361-5580

Don't try the Yoshimaru Ramen Bar at Holland Village

Still craving ramen after my Tokyo trip last week, I decided to continue my search in SIngapore for a decent local ramen bar until my next trip to Japan. I had one bad experience at Marutama Ramen at Central Mall last weekend, but I wasn't ready to give up just yet. Yoshimaru specializes in Hakata ramen from Kyushu, with over a dozen branches in existence across Japan, and the first one in Singapore at Holland Village. Hakata ramen is extra thin, very much like Cantonese wonton noodle, and made fresh daily at the restaurant.

The key indicator of an awesome ramen recipe is the broth, and there are countless ramen bars around the world serving the same dish, but the ones that truly stand out have managed to concoct unique broth flavors that elevate the simple bowl of ramen to a heavenly experience (or at least so damn tasty that I would willingly drink up the whole bowl). Unfortunately, Yoshimaru was strike two. The noodles were tender and fresh, but tasted too similar to wonton noodle, and the broth was very ordinary. The soft boiled egg was actually quite well prepared, soft on the inside. Overall, this was disappointing and underwhelming to say the least.

So that leave Ippudo, newly opened at the Mandarin Gallery, left to be sampled. If they do their QC right, the Ippudo dining experience should bring back fond memories of my ramen meals in Roppongi. Or maybe it'll just make me crave for another visit to Tokyo very soon for the real deal.