Japan: Dinner on Day Three - saturday 2006-08-12 1540 last modified 2006-08-13 0014
Categories: Daily Grind, Food
TrackBacks Sent: None

Kushikatsu, little morsels of food on a skewer, generally fried as katsu is, though not necessarily. Kushinobo in Roppongi Hills seats you, and then the chef starts serving you kushikatsu until you cry uncle. You get a glass of young scallions and a cup of fresh vegetables to distract you while you wait between servings of real food. They claim the average person can eat 16 at one seating; I kind of wish I'd known I'd end up there or I would have skipped lunch.

If I recall, I had: shrimp wrapped in mint leaf (incredible), beef, potato with ham (surprising), crab (very good), salmon with salmon roe, quail egg, scallop, ginger with scallions and chicken, prawn, asparagus with beef, chicken with celery, pork with scallions, snow pea with shrimp, white fish, squid, and eggplant with something or other (almost a sad ending because eggplant is my least favorite food, but I delayed eating the squid...). That would be 16 if you're counting. I'm an average diner. At least I'm taller than everybody. Then they served dessert and tea.

The chef knew enough English to describe the main ingredient in each correctly. It was fascinating to see what their executive chef did for pairing foods. Apparently they've got a hundred recipes back there.

It's very difficult to participate in this potentially unlimited tasting menu because you really want to know what the man with the skewers is going to fry up next, but most of us have finite stomachs, and at some point, eggplant or no, there must be an end.

For sheer fun, that's one of the better dining experiences I've had. And, of course, it was satisfying in every single way.

I have no photos, I was too busy eating. So here's a photo of a sleeping cat instead.

CRW_0505.CRW

You must login to leave a comment

TrackBacks

No TrackBacks for this entry.