Asomaniac's Profile
Starting with Tokyo.
When you say you don't like sake - are you sure you have ever had any really good sake? Lots of sake sold in even quite decent restaurants outside of japan is pretty shocking, and I wouldn't like sake, either, if my experience was limited to that.
If NZ Sauvignon Blanc is Best Who's Second Best?
It's just a real matter of taste - a stereotypical Kiwi SB is very specific and like marmite, I think you either love it or hate it (though i can appreciate a well-made Kiwi SB; I won't enjoy it but certainly can respect and appreciate that it's a well-made wine).
Also, there is some Kiwi SBN that does not fall into any of the stereotypes of Kiwi SB; for example - coming back to the ever-present Cloudy Bay - the Te Koko is unusual. Still not quite sure what I make of it, but it's certainly different.
Does your wife dislike all types of Loire SB? The various types differ quite considerably so i am wondering if there is any particular Loire type she dislikes / likes more than another.
US SBs: really can't get excited about those at all. I can honestly say that i have never had one I really disliked - they were all fine. But equally, I have not found a single one to be particularly memorable (other than perhaps Chaleur Estate from Washington (love DeLille generally) - but then again, that just tastes like a decent white Bordeaux (especially impressive at that price) and has a good chunk of Semillon in it (25%?)). Some of the Napa SBs are good fun, but nothing spectacular.
If NZ Sauvignon Blanc is Best Who's Second Best?
I dislike Kiwi SB with a vengance, so pretty much any good SB that is not from New Zealand is great in comparison. My stomach turns at the mere thought of Cloudy Bay. All just a matter of personal taste, I know.
For top notch SB that p****s on Kiwi SB, try a good Sancerre or Pouilly-Fuisse. Or a good white Bordeaux (often a blend of SB and Semillion, but plenty of SB only or very SB dominated stuff as well).
best steak in kobe?
As you can imagine, this topic has been discussed on this board before. Why not do a bit of research before asking - a 3 second search will yield many results, for example:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/803874
Tokyo Review
Thanks for the write-up of your restaurant visits. Completely agree on Kikunoi. The tofu / miso dish was really remarkable, the rest was so-so. Totally unremarkable. I don't actually remember the other dishes anymore. Would only go back there if it is a client lunch or dinner not organised by me. Place clearly lives off its famous name.
White Smoke Texas smokehouse - anyone been?
> If Asomaniac or any other posters on this forum would like american prices then they shouldn't eat out at all in Japan.
I don't care about prices in America (a place where I have never lived). But paying 7,000 yen for 500 g of meat incl. bones (around 250 g of meat according to ruprecht25) seems a bit steep. We are not talking about some beer-fed high end wagyu meat from cows who had a more luxury-infused life than most of us - such ingredient would cost the restaurant a lot and would attract a very high price. How much do you think the meat cost Craig? I appreciate if you think that the hours spent getting the ribs from their original state to what you get on the plate may be worth it for you though - if the preparation is unique and yields a flavour you can't get elsewhere in Japan and the owner can get away with charging this and people leave happy, why not?
The other restaurants you refer to in your meat comparison puts your post in perspective though. I can see why you don't think White Smoke is overpriced if Oak Door is your usual go-to place - a bit like Two Rooms, it's an insanely overpriced place that's just not that great in terms of food. I have never understood why anyone would eat there, given the alternatives in Tokyo, unless it is a client event where the bill is picked up by someone else. NY Grill ditto. Not sure why you mention the Molecular Bar as it has nothing to do with the kind of meat you'd see at White Smoke or any place that does steak or barbecued meats so not sure what you are comparing against.
If you thought Casa Vinitalia's 7,500 yen for 7 courses (the same price as one set of Dinosaur ribs) is high then you have a very unusual understanding of quality of ingredients and costs of purchasing the ingredients and preparing a three hour meal involving vegetables, fish, shellfish, meat and various starches. Set against a single set of Dinosaur ribs.
White Smoke Texas smokehouse - anyone been?
Wakanui is good advice. I stumbled out of there wishing I was dead because I was so full of red meat. I love the fact that your little amuse bouche to whet the appetite is a lamb chop, for 400 yen I think. They have the right attitude.
Agree on the wine list. It is short and contains the usual suspects. Quite unexciting, though I liked the fact that at least they offered some heavier reds - not always the case with a Kiwi wine list - such as Syrah, Bordeaux blends, Cab Sauv and Malbec. They also had the Providence Bordeaux blend and Syrah by the glass. Those are possibly the most expensive Kiwi reds so it's quite unusual to get to try them by the glass (whether you want to spend 3,000+ yen on a glass of wine may be another matter). I tried them and was surprised to see that the bottles they came from had clearly not been open overly long; the wine was in great shape. Unusual - often when top wines are offered by the glass in a restaurant you find that the bottle had clearly been open for a very long time and it's really not worth having and paying the price - at Wakanui, this was not an issue.
Les Creations de Narisawa or Nihonryori Ryugin?
Sounds a lot better than my experience. I wouldn't complain that loudly if things had been solid. Maybe I was just particularly unlucky. Alvin wasn't there when I went, though that should ideally not impact on the food (and they should never ever serve old, smelly raw tuna). They need to get a new sommelier as well (preferably one who knows how to combine food with wine) if they still have the one they had when I went.
Tempura Restaurant and sushi restaurant
Yes. We eat together whenever he comes to Japan. He has just posted his review online, and I see you have commented!
Tempura Restaurant and sushi restaurant
7chome Kyoboshi is eye-wateringly expensive and for that reason I may not be back for a very long time, but I have to say I do not regret having gone. I went very recently and was astonished by the quality of the ingredients and the perfection of the batter. It does not happen often that I nearly fall off my chair in awe of the perfection of vegetables in Japan - there are many places which use unbelievable vegetables and other incredible ingredients in this country so I had not expected this kind of gap in quality between some very good kaiseki places and 7chome Kyoboshi.
This was not limited to vegetables; the cuttlefish was the tastiest, best-textured cuttlefish I have ever had, and the quail egg (deep-fried but with a liquid yolk) was beyond amazing as well. In contrast, tempura wagyu, probably the most expensive ingredient of the evening, was a bit pointless. Very good quality of course, but having the tempura batter around the meat seemed a bit pointless. I'd prefer it served without the tempura batter, just with a bit of salt and wasabi on the side.
I only went because a food critic friend was in town who really wanted to visit the place and I knew that given the price tag, I would probably never go on my own initiative. I decided to take it on the chin, do it once and probably laugh at the insanity of how much I paid and put it down to experience. I was very surprised at how incredible I thought it was. Much much more memorable for me than many top end kaiseki or sushi experiences. I don't know to what extent the fact that I have had a lot more kaiseki than high end tempura plays a role in my assssment though.
Having said all that, I can completely see why many people would argue that the price is simply laughable and no amount of vegetable perfection can possibly justify it. Maybe so, but I probably enjoyed that meal more than any other in the last 12 months. Still - 42,000 yen per person for the course and a very limited amount of sake and a beer... probably it will remain my one 7chome Kyoboshi experience, at least for a number of years.
Les Creations de Narisawa or Nihonryori Ryugin?
If you liked Bo Innovation, maybe you went when the chef was actually there, or after they lost a Michelin star which may or may not have given them the kick up the backside they needed, I don't know. What I do know is that the food must have been a damn side better than when I went.
When I went they served smelly raw fish, i.e., the opposite of fresh, very poor quality ingredient in a very expensive restaurant - unforgivable - and lots of bull***t pseudo-innovative nonsense that's passe, like a massive ball of something in liquid nitrogen, very large sized and therefore much too big to put into your mouth in one go, given how cold it was.
Some dishes were good, some were awful, the wine matching was very hit-and-miss (with more misses than hits) and the whole thing was very overpriced for what was served.
Hard to know whether they got so many accolades because this type of restaurant in quite unique in the Hong Kong context, rather than purely for the quality of the food served. I hope that they just had an off-day when I went (and I am not willling to risk going again for that money given that I could be spending it at The Chairman instead), though I have heard and read many reviews that were similar to mine so my expereince does not seem to have been unique. Out of all sub-par experiences in highly rated restaurants I have had, Bo Innovation competes for number 1 spot (with Hamadaya in Tokyo) as the most disappointing and overpriced experience. Bleh!
Les Creations de Narisawa or Nihonryori Ryugin?
Bo Innovation will also disappoint you. It will disappoint anyone with actual taste buds and a sense of proportion (value for money wise).
MICHELIN GUIDE HOKKAIDO very soon
bib gourmand - that is exactly where many of the Tokyo starred restaurants belog. There is a Tokyo & surrounding areas bib gourmand guide out as well now, but I do wish they shifted half the starred restaurants into that.
MICHELIN GUIDE HOKKAIDO very soon
Yup. Not just the Japan guide, all of the guides. Which is why the descriptions of restaurants in all Michelin guides often sound unprofessional, bordering on the infantile, and are often just irrelevant from a foodie's perspective because they don't give you the key information you would be looking for. Ever wondered why sometimes 80% of a restaurant description addresses the interior of the place rather than the food, even though stars are purely awarded for the food, not the setting etc..? It is astonishing.
To be fair, Michelin deliberately does not publicise its criteria for awarding stars so that they can simply assess a restaurant on its merits rather than having restaurants obsessively try to change their cooking to fit the Michelin criteria (and at the same time it is a cop-out, allowing Michelin to remain intransparent); in other words, the inspectors would not give away much. But they could still devote two pages per restaurant just to the food, describing in more detail what exactly sets a restaurant apart etc. I'd probably pay to read that every year, whereas I don't own the current Michelin Guide for Tokyo and will not own any others going forward.
MICHELIN GUIDE HOKKAIDO very soon
I have to admit I am slightly beyond caring - the lack of a universal standard in the Michelin Guide is absurd and for some reason annoying me more and more. The more restaurants I have eaten in which happen to have one, two or three Michelin stars, the more absurd the Tokyo guide seems to me. At first it was exciting having the Michelin Guide a few years back - finally a fine dining guide available in English from a recognised and respected institution, making the market that much more accessible for visitors to this country or residents who cannot read kanji.
Then you try a number of the restaurants and find that while in some cases the stars seem justified, in many other cases you don't get where on earth the stars came from, in particular if you have eaten at Michelin starred restaurants in France and compare a one star there with a one star here. There are Michelin-starred French restaurants in Tokyo which you would find anywhere in France (without star of course) - places with very tasty food, but certainly not deserving of the ridiculous accolades they are getting.
It got really annoying when they started giving Michelin stars to so-so yakitori places and decent izakayas. The guide is still useful, but should be renamed - people should not be deceived into thinking that it applies a universal standard around the world. The Tokyo Guide seems to simply award stars to restaurants that are good in their categories, no matter how basic such categories may be (e.g., stars for what inspectors think is decent oden, yakitori, izakaya etc.). Of course, this year Michelin has also awarded not one but two stars to what is basically an upscale yakiniku place.
As for the constant lament that the inspectors don't "get" Japanese food because they are foreign - in the past few years, all but one have been Japanese (i.e., 6 Japanese, one foreign). If anything, they don't get French food.
I suppose the whole thing is just a normal commercial enterprise - the Michelin Guide has suffered a lot financially in recent years, in particular because of the internet. Often people just want to know which places have how many stars, and then they look up reviews on the internet of places they think they might want to visit. The identity of the restaurants and star count is revealed in the Michelin press release on the internet the day the book is published. Unfortunately, in the actual guides Michelin only includes very short and usually totally uninformative text in relation to the individual restaurants (written not by the inspectors, but by some office workers hired by Michelin who have never seen the inside of the restaurants!) so there is no added benefit in buying the guide. If they included detailed notes by the inspectors it would be better and would probably motivate many more people to make the purchase.
In Japan however, despite the widely condescending attitude to the guide, sales (of the Japanese language version) have been excellent, at least in the first few years (no idea if that is still the case, though probably yes if they are yet again expanding to new regions) and I guess the company wants to spoil its paying customers.
2 or 3 star Michelin Kappo
If you want something like ishikawa but cheaper, go to REN. It's just around the corner from Ishikawa, it's quite similar (the person running it trained at Ishikawa) and in fact has the same ownership. It is cheaper than Ishikawa, and lots of people seem to rate it more highly than Ishikawa (this does not include me, but I did think it was excellent and very good value).
If you want an English language write-up, I am pretty sure this place has two Michelin stars.
Pinot?
I'd probably go for Viognier or Chenin Blanc, but the PN might be sort of OK. (Just OK though - but certainly not terrible.)
Pinotage
I don't quite agree that this is a varietal you either like or dislike. i think it's pretty meh. The vast majority of Pinotage (all South African) I have ever had were perfectly drinkable, but not particularly good. They are decent value for money, but then again I would rarely have been willing to pay much more as the wines were just meh.
There were a few (very few) that were absolutely stunning, but you find that with any so-so variety. In the right winemaker's hands and within the perfect terroir for the varietal, any ugly duckling occasionally shines. Just not very often when it is a Pinotage.
TN: 1985 Dominus Estate, Napa Valley Red Table Wine
Nice! For Dominus, I still salivate over my memories of some bottles of the 1994.
Wine in Vegas [moved from Wine board]
Thank you! Am in Vergas now making evening plans and just logged in to see if there are more mesages, so your timing is perfect! Thank you and the others very much. Will check out your Riesling recommendation.
Wine in Vegas [moved from Wine board]
Thank you both very much. The wine list at Lotus of Siam is pornographic (especially given that I am a Riesling fanatic). How unexpected!
Will also check out Valley Cheese and Wine. I have never been disappointed by anything Kermit Lynch has recommended.
Wine in Vegas [moved from Wine board]
I am going to Las Vegas in a few days' time for a 5 day bachelor party. This means there will probably be a pretty rigid itinerary and I won't be able to get to any wine bars. I would therefore be very grateful if anyone could recommend some great wine shops so I can get some good wine to drink in the hotel during breaks from watery beer and other bachelor party-like things!
I don't get to go to the US very often, but where I live the supply of Californian, Washington and Oregon wines is pretty good, so I am not wedded to wine shops that specialise in US wines. Any great wine shop, either with a large selection or a lovely little boutique place perhaps focusing on a particular region somewhere in the world would be great.
Thanks in advance!
...but in case I do manage to escape for a short time, if there is any wine bar or restaurant with a great by-the-glass selection to sample, I'd be very grateful for recommendations.
Prodigal Daughter Revisits Tokyo [Trip Report pt 1]
...not to mention the proximity of Sannomiya where I would get all my ingredients for lots of spicy cooking. Miss it!
I'll have to check with Uncle Yabai, not sure.
Sushi Saito: Wait List & Walk Ins?
sohryu - just one question purely out of curiosity (sorry if dealt with elsewhere, I have not read all the posts): Why Ginza Okuda AND Koju? They are owned and run by the same guy so presumably the style etc will be very similar? Do you like Okuda's style that much or do you have any other reason?
Prodigal Daughter Revisits Tokyo [Trip Report pt 1]
Ah, memories! I used to live in Nishinomiya as well - went to Kangaku for a bit (and never managed to figure out why they call it Kwangaku). I miss Kansai.
Your Favorite Yakiniku in Tokyo for Wagyu, Kobe, Matsusaka, Horumon, etc?
Easy to find: Jojoen and Jumbo chains. I like Jojoen in Nishiazabu (actually there are two or three, but one is fairly high end, and more expensive than the other Jojoens - when you get to Nishiazabu Crossing coming from Roppongi, turn left. It's the third building I think (not to be mistaken with JuJu on the corner of the crossing).
Jumbo do lots and lots of different cuts of beef, some quite rare (maybe 20 different cuts). I like the Shirogane branch.
For off-the-beaten-path yakiniku, I like Le beouf in Yoga (I think that's how it's spelt; in any event, it is a misspelled version of the French word). Very odd place with about 200 star wars and other action figures and Bob Marley playing non-stop. 2 hour queues starting an hour before they open, but worth it. Try to google it. 15 minutes' walk from Yoga station. It's an interesting experience, but if you are here for a short time, Jumbo and Jojoen will do the trick without this much effort.
Food and Riesling pairing - 1971 German!!
One of the many many many advantages of Riesling: 7-10% alcohol. Like a strong beer. Riesling is perfect in every imaginable way.
Food and Riesling pairing - 1971 German!!
Not bad at all! Big fan of Schwarzhofberger. But I was surprised that there was no J. J. Prum (Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Graacher Himmelreich, etc etc). Surely the most amazing of 1970s Rieslings. Even his Kabinetts from the early seventies are still very drinkable, let alone his Spaetauslese.
