Day 19: Last night in Tokyo

Epic meal time. The meal at Ryugin started off at the wrong restaurant. Our taxi driver mistakenly took us to a very fancy looking steak house in Roppongi. After searching frantically we finally found the very austere restaurant.

One menu, one seating.

I got the sake pairing.


The menu is presented under a porcelain dish in a hand made envelope on Japanese rice paper



Glass of pinot blanc for the lady and Yuki no bousya akita for me




Chef Yamamoto's interprestation of Spring "Wakatake" with Tender Simmered Abalone



Premiom Sea urchin from Hakodate and cold egg custard, grilled corn style with dry shrimp jelly sauce



This dish, along with another I ate at Thomas Keller's French Laundry is the best thing I've ever eaten. So good.




hakurakusei miyagi to wash it down




Each plate is misted to indicate that the chef has checked it and it is ready to go to table.



Ichiban Dashi Soup with Lightly Grilled Greenling Fish colorful Flower Style
The interesting thing about this soup was how insanely simple yet complicated the broth was.




As an example, take a look at how tight and small the fat globules were. Like champagne bubbles. Pretty amazing.



What goes with soup? Sake. Tenmei fukushima
I'm pretty sure this was the sake that you cannot get outside a particular region of Japan. Apparently it is hard to transport because it must remain at a very specific temperature. It was really unique tasting and delicious.




Marinated Sakura Sea Bream from naruto, Monkfish Liver from Yoichi, Hokkaido with Fragrance of Sakura. I like how the location of each ingredient is just as important




Baby Spear Squid from Aomori with Fragrance of Sudachi
Where's the Sake you ask? I had to ask them to slow it down at this point :P




Japanese Spring Vegetable in one plate. Basically EVERY seasonal vegetable was expertly prepared in this dish. I've had something similar at Melisse in Los Angeles and it's always interesting to sample the different flavors and textures at once.




Kokoryu hiirazu fukui (nama sake)




Charbroiled Alfonsino from Shimoda bay, Roasted rice on top, with Black Vinegar sauce and Chopped Vegetable Pickles



Chargrilled Sendai Beef from Miyagi with Oroshi Ponzu Sauce, Simmered Archilles and Small Beef Meatball.




This is what top of the line A5 beef from Japan looks like




Yes. I got it again. It was that good


Simmered rice with Tea of Sakura with Sakura Shrimp. Also really really good




-196 degree celsius candy apple. Before.



After.



Hot Parfait RyuGin Style Vol.6 Strawberry and Red Bean








Matcha. Amazing.




Some other really amazing tea.

So the summary is that everything was tasty. That's a given at a place like this. The sake pairing was an experience because I've never tasted such a drastically different collection of sakes. As for the meal, more than anything, I marveled at the care one could see that went into making each dish. Even though the flavors were really simple, the efforts that went into creating such simple dishes was the beauty of this meal.

Cost me what I spent on my hotel for 2 nights, but worth it.

Day 18: Reasons why I love Japan

It's been awhile, which means that I've been pretty busy. Time to chip away at my "to do" list, starting with this entry. Here are a couple of reasons why I love Japan.


The bartender creating a simple vodka martini. We ended up being friends by the end of the night. He even walked me to the elevator to hand me his card. Mental note. Next time bring business cards.




THE BEST martini I've ever had in my life. It was finished off tableside and was beautiful




Someday. One for the bartender too, who told me he's never tried it because it's too expensive, but he brought it to the table just to show me. He seemed almost proud presenting them.





Words cannot describe how beautiful this image is to me. *sigh*