The pre-New Year Kaiseki

The almost empty carpark, the almost empty Iketeru. Am I missing some connection here?

Chef Ricky was taking the evening off (or so as I was told by the waitress) but apparently he was waiting to meet me and rush out to have a conversation about his trip back to Japan with his family (he pointed out worthwhile places to go eat in Kyushu), work, the MIGF gala dinner (and the explanation over the hilarious prize acceptance haka-stance, he was high after downing about 7-8(?) glass of beer in between rounds of being nominated as finalist-in-running). I waved him off early like a father eager to get back to his home and family.

Starter: Steamed Angler Fish Liver in Ponzu Sauce & Boiled Spinach with Baby Prawn in Bonito Sauce
Remeniscent of January's starter (which I enjoyed very much). I like Angler Fish Liver when it is paired with something tangy, like the ponzu sauce here, instead of just being by itself because it can get a little bit oily and heavy in taste.

The bonito flakes and baby prawn garnishing add the best countertexture to the boiled spinach which was slightly overcooked.


















Soup: Clear Broth with Oyster Dumpling
As you can see from the photo, the Oyster (or more accurately, mussel) dumpling which was made mainly from yam was disintegrating in the soup already, have informed the Chef that it was a bit disappointing. Otherwise, this was a bit so-so, but winter shellmeat do taste better.






Sashimi: Buri-Yellowtail, Tuna, White Meat Fish, Squid & Mirugai Clam
White Meat fish was the Bonito, but they ran out of Mirugai Clam (fuming!).

This time I around, I like the juicy octopus sucker and Hamachi (Buri-Yellowtail) more probably because they taste much better in season then other times. The toro was tasty but didn't melt immediately in your mouth and the bonito has mellowed compared to the last few tasting (or maybe I have gotten use to its rawness and can now savour it)
















Simmered: Steamed Cod Fish & Milt served with Ponzu Sauce
I will voice out my curiosity when presented with this dish, a dish simmered with saki in the sauce and served with an accompanying bowl of ponzu sauce, hhhmmmm.......?

Never mind, on with the tasting. The first taste of the sauce revealed the taste of saki without any of the heady alcohol to hit your bloodstream, (unlike warmed saki). It is perfect for the tofu and mushroom which are not screaming for flavour but complementary with the sauce with neither overriding the other.

The milt sac broke a bit and some of the milt has spilt out into the sauce but most of it was still intact to taste, a bit more overpowering blandness than the saki, it is worth drizzling this one in ponzu sauce to contrast the mildly bland aftertaste with the tangy foretaste.

The cod fish was another kettle of fish altogether, it is mellow enough to go with simmered sauce alone but also outstanding if paired with the ponzu sauce at a golden pi. At least I was merrily experimenting with this one.




Grilled dish: Grilled Yellow Tail with Teriyaki Sauce, Grilled King Crab & Assorted Vegetables
Unlike, the menu in January, I like the King Crab this time because the portion was bigger, thus making it easier for me to dig out the crabmeat with that utensil they gave me (again!). So I dug straightaway into it knowing full well the consequence of the iciness of eating crabmeat, not to mention drinking copious amount of tea.

The only let down was probably the anchovies because the skin was not crisp enough and soggy from the vinegared vegetables, hence good flavour, lousy texture.

I will admit that I like the yam and tuna liver pairing more this time, possibly because the liver taste fresher(?). The grilled yellowtail was a bit dry and flaky, but nothing a good dollop of lemon juice wouldn't rectify.










Fried Dish: Deep Fried Puffer fish with Sudachi Lime
Why does the Sudachi Lime resemble a lemon? It looks like a lemon, smells like a lemon, feels like a lemon, taste like a lemon......it is a LEMON!!!

I first had this in February, the serving this time were smaller but juicier, a little bit bony (ie, don't pop the thing in your mouth). A much better execution this time. Just a pity about the Sudachi lime.


















Mains: Assorted Nigiri sushi & Miso Soup
Of the 5 nigiris sushi served tonight, I highly recommend the lightly grilled buri which was scored and garnished with wasabi. It is one of my favorite sushi, there was no hit from the wasabi as if the grilled meat somehow sucked out the heat/hit from the wasabi making it smokingly-wonderful.

Credit to the bonito flake covered sushi (I forgot to ask the chef, too focus on the first one). Wonder what would have turned up in the Chirashi sushi, but then again, I prefer more innovation in the nigiris sushi.
















Dessert: Musk Melon & Strawberries
Nothing much to comment on this old take but I must say that the strawberry is sweet and red this time rather than white and sourish.











After dinner, Chef Ricky even sent his assistant, Tasuo, out to talk to my after the whole meal was over. (He even called his assistant before the conversation to brief him, but I wonder whether or not he is hiding back there in the kitchen.....NOT!). Now that is what I call service. I guess Chef Ricky deserves his break to spend more time with his family.

Awaiting more feedback on my food reviews, Say it so in the comment section.

I have a twitching muscle just below my left eye

*twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, go to mirror,
twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch, look at it,
twitch, twitch, twitch, twitch...twitch......twitch......twitch.......
turn away from mirror, twitch! twitch! twitch! twitch! twitch! twitch! twitch! twitch!*

does it hate me staring at it so much?

Streamyx in the house!!!

Woohoo, busy downloading all the scrabble-necessities and other things.
My home computer should be ISC-ready in about 5 minutes (need to install java first)

4th & final stop on the MIGF train

Ambience was good, lighting is ambient (hence your camera will need flash unless well seated. Apologies to all readers for my shadowy presence in the photos)

My only 1 request was for them to play some vocal-less music softly so as to not drown out the sounds of the animals and cricket songs drifting in from the forest, which sounded so much more harmonious than the music.













































Bread & Breadstick with olive oil & Vinegerette and a sourish mince meat dumpling to fend off my hunger pang after I was forced to work twice as hard for my dinner: i.e. walk to and from the carpark twice looking for my wallet.























AntiPasti: A selection of Carpaccio
Palcido Chianti Docg 2005, Tuscana (red wine)

The oyster and beef were dress in the same dressing while another set of beef was covered with freshly grated parmesan. Very simple but full of flavour, no taste of rawness or deadness.



















Sorbet: Sorbet of Ruccola

Like something that came out of the fridge and doesn't thaw evenly: melty on the outside, frigid on the inside, I have to say that the Hilton ones looks better.
You can an initial hit of bitterness before a mellowy sweet aftertaste lingers in your mouth, not so bad when it is liquid.






Primi:Lightly smoked Potato Dumplings with smoked Duck confit and Foie Gras Sauce
Palcido Pinot Grogio 2006, Tuscana

springy, spongy, wholesome. like some savoury tong yuan, I love this even more than ravioli or jiao zi. Golden pi is 3-5, some crust, some duck meat, Voila! I really must get this recipe from the chef!

The white wine here tasted acidic but cleans the palate of any heaviness from having one too many potato dumplings. At this point, I was feeling tipsy from the wine (is that even possible?), will probably be too red/drunk to speak to the chef at this rate.

Secondi: Wagyu Veal Shank Stew served with grilled Polenta
Window Shiraz 2005, Margaret River
Love the crunchy vegetables. Since we are dealing with the shank, don't expect any tenderness, just a good cut of meal done well (slightly tough to cut but very bitey to chew with). The stew was meaty but the polenta (the yellow well made from flour and corn) was thick and uneven, hence you can see the charcoal bits on the outside of the polenta. some part were a bit raw too.



Desserts: Assorted miniature chef dessert platter
Ruffino Serelle 2002, Tuscana
Desserts Wines: Amaretto or Sanbuca

I like the orange chocolate here slightly more than gobo. The cowmilk gelatin mellowed out the tangy raspberry sauce. Could see the 3rd one. Kaya characote just too firm not melty like the brulee from Gobo.

Thet served the Ruffino afterwards, it was okay for a dessert wine. just the right hit.

Amaretto or Sanbuca: aka sweet or strong, I went for sweet. Gah! it was syrupy and cloyly sweet. I think I just burnt a hole in my stomach and killed off numerous brain cells for having something that has the same impact as my first taste of XO when I was 15 years old.


Awaiting more feedback on my food reviews, Say it so in the comment section.

A Private Menu at Iketeru this November

A packed carpark, an even more packed Iketeru (so much for that hypothesis). So I will be sitting at the sushi bar. At least I get to see Chef Ricky in action behind the sushi bar. The saki bar (where the old entrance use to be is smallish but intimate. A good place to have a tip before moving to your table but the low lying table makes it a drinker's lounge more than a dining place.

The preface to this menu is that many of the ingredients were sourced from the Iwate prefecture in preparation for a visit here by the head of the prefecture. Thus, Chef Ricky was able to give me the chance to sample some local Japanese ingredient rarely exported outside their country.

Starter: Fresh Iwate Oyster, Wakame Seaweed marinated in Lemon, Spiced Burdock Root & Vinegared Sea Cucumber:
If you thought the Hiroshima Oyster was big. This one is easily twice the size of that and yet it slid down the gullet smoothly like you down a water slide. Three drops of lemon are all you need to dispel any of the raw aftertaste that oysters normally leave in your mouth. Definitely one to remember.




The Wakame Seaweed is the one farmed off the seabed by female divers, it has a silky texture and was given a tangy zing with some lemon/lime sauce. The spiced Burdock root (a.k.a gobo in Japanese) is crunchy yet has a mellow earthy flavour unlike its appearance. The vinegared Sea Cucumber was thin and bitey (Q!) like squid instead of the normal springy texture (Chef Ricky mentioned that the it was deliver fileted but frozen), an accidental surprise.



































Sashimi: Hagami, Yellowtail Sea Bream, Squid and Octopus sucker:
A crunchy Octopus sucker sliced in two is an excellent way to start this dish. Moving on, I like the firmness of the squid (taken from the part near the tentacles, so very muscular), hence a good deal of bitey-ness.
The yellowtail Sea Bream is up to standard, compared to past tastings so no worries but the Hagami is a lean, red, tasting supreme piece of meat (probably only outclassed by Toro).




Simmered: Radish Jewellery Box with Abalone, Prawn, Fish Milt & Angler Fish Liver in Simmer Radish:
Yay! I finally get my cod fish milt in the treasure box. The serving this time was much more firmer than the last one. And everything else was pretty much up to standard.























Grilled dish: Grilled Iwate Oyster
This arrived piping hot off the grill, I couldn't even pick up the shell (ooh! ouch! hot hot!). I was a bit sceptical at first when Chef Ricky presented this but it tasted very sweet and you don't even need much lemon juice, if not at all.









Pike meat fishballs, Burdock Root, cabbage and Tofu in Paper Bowl:
How very quaint, Whee!
the fishballs (made out of pike, miso paste, ginger and grated yam) were meaty but not springy like normal meatball, instead they disintegrate because the yam is overcooked. The Baduk root here is slightly bitter, but mellowy. The surprising part was the sourish dasheen stock (Chef Ricky apologizes for that)




















Mains: Spicy Soba Noodles
Served ramen style with carbsticks, wakanabe seaweed, cucumber and kimchi, I asked Chef Ricky if he has plagerise from the Koreans (he laughed it off), pointing out that Iwate if close to Korea and this local variant of the Iwate Soba noodles is best served cold in a soup. Given the coolness of the soup, you taste the heat but it doesn't burn. Goes very well with the wakame seawees and the noodles are opaque and bitey.




















Dessert: Black sesame pudding & Lime Sorbet
Back to the usual dessert and I am not complaining. The pudding is one of my favourites and the lime sorbet is much better given the new machine they are using.









Chef Ricky was always there explain every dish. I managed to dribble more information out of him. (Maybe I should sit in front of the sushi bar from now on). Yes, I did get Chef Ricky to pay for his punishment: a copy of the festival menu with his autograph in it when I visit him today.

Awaiting more feedback on my food reviews, Say it so in the comment section.

3rd stop in the MIGF train

Was detoured to Chynna to meet two sisters who want to try out the festival menu. So whee!!!! to me. This one turned out very different from Ling's experience.

The moment we were seated. Out comes the teapot with the long neck to pour us a cup of 'Welcome Tea'. It ended up tasting more like a herbal soup than anything else (prepared 1 day in advance, according to Chef Lam, just to dissipate the flavours of the herbs so that most people won't find it too pungent. Thos who have taken Chinese medicine know what we are referring to.)




Being offered the choice of the mocktail vs the cocktail, I went for the non-alcoholic option simply because I will be driving the girls back to their home. Simply put, it is Mango juice + Sprite (but not balanced enough for my liking), since it is probably layered: Mango juice at the bottom tasted cordial sweet and Sprite on top just fizzled out by the time you taste and it is just flat. (Or perhaps it was soda water?)



Appetizers: Double-happiness combination platter - Peking Duck In Authentic MoMo Pastry & Oven-baked Tomato stuffed with Seafood Hotchpotch and
Cheese
Since one of the girls could not take prawns, we managed to needle Chef Lam into providing an alternative: Peking Duck in MoMo pastry. And it is as traditional as you can get, with a few new stuffings like century eggs and pickled ginger, this one is a throwback to a genuine chinese icon. Instead of the (often wrongly used) egg pastry, we get the genuine MoMo pastry, which has a lighter taste that doesn't overwhelm the duck. Definitely something that reminds me of Beijing 2001 trip there.

Inside the Oven Baked Tomato, the seafood hotchpotch include mussels and scallop hidden under the cheesy lid. To quote Tolkien: "One mouthful to have them all". Nothing was overdone, after your initial cheese hit, the shellfish meats will slowly rolled across your tongue, parading around like a catwalk en route to your gullet. The tomato is probably a good background flavour, always hiding there, never in the limelight but you just know that it is there.

Mains: Duet combination of Tutti-Frutti platter - Honey–glazed Pineapple with Gherkin & Crispy Sliced Chicken Breast and Golden-fried Polenta Roll filled with Risotto and Durian accompanied by refreshing Lime Sorbet with Sour Plum

Very different presentation from Ling's. My guests and I found the crispy vermicelli more attractive(?). I do like the Polenta roll with durian filling. It taste very very funky, with a mild hint of the risotto or rice. now if only they could make it very pungent and stink it to high heavens. Nothing much on the chicken breast and pineapple combo. Although tender and flavoursome, it ended more like a hit-and-run experience.

Chef Lam introduced the lime sorbet as a safeguard against the durian-breath for foreign gourmands but I would like mine with more sour plum sauce to balance out the overwhelming lime.

Soup: Doubled-boiled Superior Shark’s Fin Broth with Wild Ginseng and “Pipa” Bean Curd
Instead of the usual mishmash you get at chinese banquets (those mixed with egg flowers and assorted rojaks), you get something like a consumme. Taste pure and deep just the way we chinese like our soup. One of the sisters commented that it taste almost like the welcome tea we got but Chef Lam assured us that the preparation was different. The beancurd though tasted a bit more complex than what I have come across before (must sharpen my tongue somemore), so I couldn't really describe it but I do have a hint: be a idiot and dip it in the soup for maximum effect








Mains: Stewed Duck Leg Confit with Abalone and Sea Cucumber in Brown Sauce & Steamed Glutinous Rice with Barbecue Duck, Chicken and Dried Shitake Mushroom
From the onset of the presentation, I almost thought that I was at a chinese wedding banquet, the illusion only dispelled by the present of 'wax meat' on the plate. This is definitely one of the tenderest duck meat I have ever tried. No need to mention that the accompany sides are very much superior to what you would get at chinese wedding banquet: less if more especially when the broccoli is crunchy, the abalone is just right and sea cucumber is springy than your home trampoline.

The rice dish is so chinese rice dumpling-ish, but we did find that the accompanying red tangy-spicy sauce (szechuan dou ban jiang, according to Chef Lam) lightens up what would have been a heavy dish. All the flavours just seem to stick to the rice itself making it quite a fantastic treat.



Dessert: Homemade Yellow Wine Cheese Cake with Ginger Flakes
Yellow Wine is the traditional drink given to women after childbirth and was used to make the sauce with pistacho nuts and strawberry jam. The cheesecake and its base were soft but firm, much better than the cakes out of the freezer that you get from the specialist cake shop. The hit was probably the oven roasted ginger flakes sitting atop the cheesecake, very very pungent to say the least.


Chef Lam is the chattiest chef I have met so far in the festival and has the patience to explain anything and everything we directed to him. Definitely a worthwhile night and a good menu for people who have never tried chinese fine dining before.

Awaiting more feedback on my food reviews, Say it so in the comment section.