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Dinner @ Higashiazabu Amamoto 東麻布 天本 (Tokyo, Japan)

October 9, 2022 in Japanese

I get most of my Japan sushi-ya news from Instagram. And when Higashiazabu Amamoto opened in June 2016, it certainly took Japan sushi scene by the storm. All the Japanese foodie sushi lovers that I followed were posting pictures of their meals at Amamoto. And that of course made me wanted to secure a seat at this highly raved sushi-ya. However that wasn’t easy, especially with everyone in Tokyo Japan vying for 1 of the 8 seats.

And that became harder when Amamoto was awarded 2 stars by Tokyo Michelin Guide 2017 just 6 months after its opening. If my memory didn’t fail me, I don’t believe my hotel concierge ever managed to get through their line. But my glimpse of hope appeared when Omakase.in (a third party reservation website) was launched in April 2017 and Amamoto was 1 of the restaurants on it!!!

Amamoto accepts reservations for the next quarter at the beginning of every quarter:-

On 1 January: April through June
On 1 April: July through September
On 1 July: October through December
On 1 October: January through March in the next year

With Omakase.in, it’s a case of fastest-fingers-win. Which meant even if one refresh the screen right on the dot when seats are released, one may see some seats in one second and none in the next (second). I was unable to secure a seat for the specific dates for my February 2018 and January/February 2019 trips. But persistence and strategic planning paid off. On 1 January 2019, I chose to secure my booking at Amamoto before purchasing my flight ticket. Thus, my March/April 2019 trip. :) And yes, that’s my definition of ‘strategic planning’… Ha!

So it’s to note Amamoto releases limited seats on Omakase.in. Was talking to a regular seated beside me during the meal, and learnt she secured her seat just by calling. But I ain’t complaining. As difficult as it is to get a seat, I am just glad Amamoto is accessible to all by being on Omakase.in.

Amamoto has 2 seatings; 5pm and 8.30pm. I got myself the first seating.

And a little background update… Before opening his own sushi-ya Higashiazabu Amamoto, chef-owner Masamichi Amamoto spent nine years honing his skills under the late legendary chef Mitsuyasu Nagano san at 2-Michelin star Umi before moving on to Shinohara (now known as Ginza Shinohara) and Gion Sasaki.

And for my 5pm weekday dinner, I was the first to arrive at the restaurant. It seemed like customers are seated according to first-come-first-sit, and starting from the end of counter. So I was seated right at the end. But that was fine by me because every seat had full visibility of the open kitchen. Although from my seat, it was a little hard/tricky to watch head chef Amamoto san knead away at his sushi because he stood in the centre. Ie, it’s a straight sushi counter so my view was partially blocked by 3 heads.

Meal started promptly after everyone arrived. And I commenced my ¥35,000 dinner with:-

1) Dish #1 (above) – Mozuku seaweed.

2) Dish #2 (above) – Head chef Amamoto didn’t introduce the fish but went straight into telling me to have one slice with salt, and the other with wasabi and soya sauce. But this was probably flounder.

3) Dish #3 (above) – Scallop, and to enjoy with salt.

4) Dish #4 (above) – Firefly squid. These were filled with lots of goodies. Could I call these ‘pregnant firefly squid’? Like you know… Pregnant fish. Pregnant firefly squid. Haha.

5) Dish #5 (above) – Japanese whelk (tsubugai).

6) Dish #6 (above) – Baby white shrimps (shiro-ebi).

7) Dish #7 (above) – Spear squid (yari ika) stuffed with roe.


8) Dish #8 (above) – Japanese spotted prawn (botan ebi) marinated in Shaoxing wine, and sea urchin.

9) Dish #9 (above) – Oyster.


10) Dish #10 (above) – Charcoal-grilled black throat sea perch on rice.

  
  
  
  

11) Dish #11 (Sushi 1 to 8) (above) – Flounder, baby snapper, squid (ika), tuna (chiaigishi maguro), medium fatty tuna (chutoro), sea urchin, gizzard shad (kohada) and tiger prawn (kuruma ebi).

12) Dish #12 (above)

  
  

13) Dish #13 (Sushi 9 to 12) (above) – Horse mackerel (aji), big-eye snapper (kinmedai), bonito, and cherry salmon (sakura masu).

14) Dish #14 (Sushi 13) (above) – Tuna roll.

15) Dish #15 (above) – Tea.

16) Dish #16 (Sushi 14) (above) – Sea eel (anago).


17) Dish #17 (above) – Egg omelette (tamago). If one checks the feed on Instagram, one will sometimes pictures of tamago tower. Do note this is usually done for his regulars. The pair of ladies seated beside me were his regulars. They requested for 2 pieces each instead of 1 piece, which he also gamely went on to stack their 4 pieces together for their photo-taking. And a hardcore foodie will know this (trend) was created by instagrammer @andrew_gyokudari (head chef Amamoto san’s VIP customer and friend).

Head chef Amamoto san only started the sushi leg at 6pm. And I realised the reason why the meal took more than 3 hours was because he made the sushi pretty slowly. But that’s the whole intention because the entire dining experience was set up such that customers get to enjoy and watch him prepare every dish. From appetisers to sushi. And that’s stemmed from his past experiences from working at kaiseki restaurants Shinohara and Gion Sasaki. Sushi rice seasoned with brown sugar syrup and vinegar, his sushi was size L. So please come with an empty stomach.

For the non-sushi leg, head chef Amamoto san would tell me what condiments (ie, salt, soy sauce) to have the respective dishes with. But what he didn’t mention was the main ingredient. I suspect it’s because he wasn’t confident with English and he knew I couldn’t understand Japanese. But don’t get me wrong, he is friendly. Just that he doesn’t converse as much (with me). Though as he stood at the exit at the end of the meal to personally thank everyone for coming, he attempted a “謝謝” to me. Cute.

Do I recommend Higashiazabu Amamoto? Yes! It certainly lived up to the hype. The food was spot on. In fact, I read that head chef Amamoto san is able to source for quality ingredients despite off seasons or bad weather (eg, March/April are challenging months to obtain good tunas) thanks to his meticulous seasonal sourcing and perfectionism. So as long as one is able to secure a seat, one can be assured to be treated to a good meal! I strongly everyone to dine here at least once in a lifetime. I paid ¥38,900, including tax and service charge. Though that’s excluding Omakase.in’s booking fee of ¥270.

I will certainly be trying to secure a slot for my upcoming February 2023 trip. It has been a long time waiting. :)

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Dinner @ Jungsik 정식당 (Seoul, Korea)

October 28, 2020 in Korean

My trips to Korea were mainly visiting family-owned restaurants. I follow a few Korean food shows, and would hunt down the restaurants that appear on the shows. Uh huh, hunt. But when Michelin Guide Seoul was (first) launched in November 2016, it got me curious. It made me want to check out the fine dining scene in Korea. And I was lucky that one of my (ex-)crossfitters (from my Korea trip 2017) was keen too. And thus, we went to Jungsik and La Yeon.

Reservation at Jungsik was made through email with 1.5 months advanced notice. Dinner almost failed to materialise because Jungsik was closed for private event on our 2 preferred dates. But after adjusting our itinerary, we secured our reservation by returning a completed reservation form which included a credit card guarantee.

Jungsik was a short 5 minutes walk from Apgujeong Rodeo metro station. We were greeted by a receptionist who led us to our table at level 2. And with 2 options on the dinner menu, we each ordered the 5-courses, ₩120,000:-

1) Welcome drink, Complimentary (above) – With grapefruit jelly, the staff told us to drink it just like how we would down a shot. Keke.


2) Welcome dish, Complimentary (above) – Introduced as banchan (side dishes), we were told this was Jungsik’s style. And we were served scallop, truffle capellini, snapper with kimchi (to be eaten as a wrap), smoked salmon in a cone, rice ball with oyster, and fried burdock.

3) Appetiser with options of:


  

(A) Gujeolpan ver. 3 (for 2) (above) – Raw tuna. The ‘+2’ on the menu meant the dish was for 2. And so, my friend and I had to choose the same dish for our choice of appetiser. The staff explained gujeolpan meant ‘9 types of food’, and the 9 on our dish being sour cream, sprouts, seaweed, yam, wasabi, kimchi, minced tomato, jelly and tuna. I wouldn’t recommend stacking a bit of everything onto the piece of crispy seaweed. I tried and ended up dirtying the floor when I tried putting my tall ensemble into my mouth. Sob.

(B) Octopus (+ ‎₩10,000 supplement) (above) – Gochujang aioli. So glad my friend was a glutton like me. We decided to order the octopus dish although we had exhausted our appetiser option with the Gujeolpan ver. 3 (item #3A). And as an add-on, this a-la carte order cost us ₩25,000.

4) Rice with options of:


(A) Sea urchin (+ ‎₩10,000 supplement) (above) – Fried millet. We were told to mix the black rice, fried millet, puffed rice and sea urchin together. I liked the crunchy bits within. Just like scorched rice if I ain’t wrong. So good.

(B) Grilled rice (above) – Barley, duck. I really enjoyed this dish. Could taste the strong smoky aroma.

5) Sea with options of:

(A) Ok dom (+ ‎₩10,000 supplement) (above) – Namul. And was told that the red snapper was Jungsik’s signature from Jeju island. Served with vegetables and rice cake.

(B) Black cod (+ ‎₩10,000 supplement) (above) – Classic, dried radish. Cooked by pouring hot water over slowly to keep it tender inside, and placed on a base of acorn jelly and assortment of vegetables which included cucumber and onion.

6) Land with options of:-

(A) Tenderloin (+ ‎₩20,000 supplement) (above) – Deodeok.

(B) Duck 2017 (above) – Aging, brocolini.

7) Pre-dessert (above) – Palate cleanser. Jungsik’s take on Korea’s cinnamon tea. With pear, ginger pudding and cinnamon juice.

8) Sweet with options of:-

(A) Dolhareubang (above) – Green tea mousse. Dolhareubang, the large rock statues symbolic to Jeju Island. Served alongside milk ice cream.

(B) Cheongdam pie (above) – Apple pie. With apricot jam and jasmine ice cream.

(C) Rose of versailles (above) – Blueberry cremeux. Again, another dessert which we ordered as an add-on for ‎₩20,000. Blueberry (used to make the rose), lychee ice cream, rose meringue cookie (as the crown), and blueberry cheese cake.



  

9) Tea/Coffee – And after our meal, we were given the option to go with tea (peppermint, chamomile, mugwort and buckwheat) or coffee. I usually would go with coffee, but decided to try the tea instead.

10) Petit fours – Black sesame biscuit, chocolate cube, and earl grey choux.

My friend and I enjoyed our dinner thoroughly. Got to thank the staff who was attending to our table. My friend and I were trying to take notes of the ingredients and made him repeat himself a few times. But he was so nice and patient. Thumbs up! Could definitely see why Jungsik was awarded 1 Michelin star. Food, tick. Service, tick. Ambience, tick. And as a bonus, my friend and I even got to see a Korean actor!

I definitely recommend Jungsik for upscaled Korean cuisine.

JUNGSIK 정식당
서울 강남구 선릉로158길 11
+82 2 517 4654, Website, Naver
Overall: 8
Opening hours:-
Food/Beverage: 8
Mon – Sun : 12:00 – 15:00 (Lunch)
Ambience: 7
Mon – Sun : 17:30 – 22:00 (Dinner)
Value: 8
Service: 8

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Dinner @ Tominokoji Yamagishi (Kyoto, Japan)

October 8, 2020 in Japanese

A few days were spent in Kyoto for my February/March 2019 trip to Japan. Well… 2 days to be exact. And for the very short period spent in Kyoto, my dinner reservation at 1 Michelin-starred Tominokoji Yamagishi was made via Tableall. I sent my reservation request as early as July 2018 for my meal in February 2019. Uh huh… Kiasu-ism (fear of losing out) at its best. Haha! Don’t judge me please.

But it was kinda crazy that just 2 days before my dinner, I received an email from Tableall informing that Tominokoji Yamagishi had hiked the price because ingredients in winter were more expensive in general. So the last notice was in no way Tableall’s fault. Pure coincidence as Tableall also offered the option for a full refund if I wasn’t comfortable with the price increase. And for my dinner at Tominokoji Yamagishi, it was planned with another foodie friend @terenceongwh to check out the place together.

  

For our 9pm dinner reservation, we reached early at 8.40pm. And we were directed to a separate hut located just beside the open car park. However, the restaurant wasn’t strict with the first-come-first-sit policy.

A couple arrived after us and was waiting in the waiting hut with us. And because they reached after us, they were nearer to the door of the hut. So when the staff came for us, the couple exited the waiting hut first and entered the restaurant before us. And oddly, I noticed another group was already seated at the counter when we entered. Hmm…

Do note that we had to remove our footwear for both the waiting hut and restaurant. So one may want to make sure no holes in socks, or wear footwear that’s easy to slip in and out. Thank goodness I’m a sneakers person and not a boots or heels person. Keke.

And once all 9 of us customers settled down, chef-owner Takahiro Yamagishi commenced our ¥25,000 dinner with:-

1) Dish #1 (above) – Cod milt with radish.


  

2) Dish #2 (above) – Sandwich of Spanish mackerel (sawara), rice cake and penshell clam (tairagai). And the seafood were all grilled over charcoal. We were each given a wooden plate for us to place the ‘sandwich’ down. But because this was handed to us by head chef Yamagishi san, I didn’t notice the plate and finished it quickly after snapping a picture. Ha.

  

3) Dish #3 (above) – Steamed egg (chawanmushi). There was also another ingredient inside which texture reminded me of fish maw.

4) Dish #4 (above) – Blow fish (fugu) sashimi and blow fish milt with ponzo sauce. I enjoyed this!


5) Dish #5 (above) – Taiza crab in white miso soup. I was really excited for this. Only available during winter, Taiza crabs are snow crabs (matsuba crabs) caught in Taiza Port and are ranked top in quality and flavor. And for this, head chef Yamagishi san started off by cooking the vegetables in the stock. After removing and portioning the cooked vegetables, he skimmed off the scum before continuing to cook the crab meat in the simmering broth (shabu shabu). Such a treat!

  

6) Dish #6 (above) – Taiza crab in white miso reduction.


  

7) Dish #7 (above) – It’s only after my meal at Tominokoji Yamagishi that I learnt this dish was called ‘Sugi Hassun’; A tray of tidbits made with ingredients from the seas and mountains. Typically 1 kind of sushi and several smaller side dishes. And supposedly the ultimate signature dish that symbolized the essence of the restaurant.

8) Dish #8 (above) – Belt fish (tachiuo) topped with chopped onion, and served alongside burdock.

  

9) Dish #9 (above) – Mackerel stick sushi (saba bozushi) with shiso leaf, sesame seeds and ginger.


10) Dish #10 (above) – Sea urchin hand roll. And for this, head chef Yamagishi san went round and asked how full we were. I guess he adjusted the sushi rice (shari) portion according to our responses. But now… One may have seen pictures of this hand roll with 2 rows of sea urchin. But that’s really for his regulars. Everyone, in that 9pm seating, were given just 1 row of sea urchin. Still a lot (of sea urchin), I say!

11) Dish #11 (above) – Baby white anchovy (shirauo) and urui (a type of mountain herb).


  

12) Dish #12 (above) – Grilled sardine (iwashi). We were also given pollock roe (mentaiko), nameko mushroom and dried baby sardines to enjoy with the fish and rice. White radish (daikon) was also available. But instead of placing the radish in bowls for us to help ourselves, the staff would go round and ask if we wanted the radish. Which they would then put into our bowls upon request.

13) Roasted tea (above)

14) Dish #13 (above) – Sticky renkon (lotus root) mochi, served slightly warm. And I liked how the leaves left a refreshing mint aftertaste.

15) Matcha (above)

I had always thought Tominokoji Yamagishi was a kaiseki restaurant. But again, it was only after my meal that I learnt Tominokoji Yamagishi’s cuisine was cha-kaiseki; Based on the tradition of tea ceremony. Interesting…

Would I recommend Tominokoji Yamagishi? Well… I am actually on the fence for this. A good meal is made up of many factors, and not just food alone. And I was slightly thrown off guard by head chef Yamagishi san. Based on all the pictures shared on Instagram, I imagined him to be a very friendly and smiley person, and always gamed to pose for the camera. But he wasn’t all that. He did pose for the my camera, but was selective in who he posed generously for. So it was disappointing because it was pretty obvious that I was among the few who were into ‘camera eat first’. I ended up feeling slightly awkward and extra conscious of myself during the meal. And am pretty sure I wasn’t being over sensitive.

But food wise, it was a pure treat. Winter was definitely the right season to visit Tominokoji Yamagishi. I especially enjoyed the blow fish and crab dishes. Although I be outright honest too that I wasn’t impressed with the sea urchin hand roll. Yes, it’s great for Instagram, but any chef could pull off that ensemble. One just needed the right ingredients.

And because I booked my meal at Tominokoji Yamagishi through Tableall, I pre-paid ¥32,000 (including tax, Tableall’s handling fee, etc). And for my drinks order (hot green tea), I topped up another ¥1200 at the restaurant.

TOMINOKOJI YAMAGISHI 富小路 やま岸
560 Honeyanocho, Nakagyo, Kyoto, Japan (京都府 京都市中京区 富小路通六角下る骨屋之町560)
+81 75 708 7865, Website, Tablelog
Overall: 8
Opening hours:-
Food/Beverage: 8
Mon, Wed – Sun : 18:00 – 23:00
Ambience: 8
Value: 8
Service: 7
* Closed on Tues, 2nd & 4th Wed

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