Eat Like Ushi

I'm sure the website didn't exist (at least not in English) when I was there nearly 8 years ago. However the convenience of it now is that it explains the dishes I ate much better than I can.

http://www.hiraso.jp/lang/english.html

It's refreshing to know that I ordered all the dishes they now list on the website as their specials. How progressive was I...

In case this information disappears for whatever reason, here's what is says:

Kakinoha zushi
- Kakinoha zushi is descended from the traditional sushi dish “Nare zushi”. Nare zushi is the origin of the sushi in Japan, and used rice for the fermentation process. This was the wisdom from the ancients, so as to preserve the sea products in an inland place like Nara.
- Kakinoha zushi is a treasure of sea and thoughts of people, wrapped in a persimmon leaf which has many benefits and was invented as a medication by ancient Japanese.
- Our ancestors never forget to thank the lives we are taking so we can live. Kakinohazushi contains treasure from the sea (a mackerel), the mountain (a persimmon leaf) and the land (rice). It plays the trinity harmony and remains the wisdom of ancient people. Please enjoy tasting the sense of history and remembrance of the venerable Nara.

Cha gayu
- Cha gayu is rice porridge made with rice, roasted green tea and salt.
- This is also a local cuisine which you may enjoy either hot or cold. A very simple meal but not poor, inelegant but a rich dish. I recommend you to take a time to taste it. It is a gentle meal for your health. You will feel the richness of this meal and would love to have it in everyday life. Each little piece of rice in a bowl contains rich flavours of roasted green tea and expanded with tea moist in beautiful golden brown colour.

Ayu zushi
- Another local cuisine you may like to try is Ayu zushi, this is a traditional style of sushi from ancient times in Yoshino Nara. This style of sushi is one of our specialities and we have been serving this dish to the Royal Family for years.
- Ayu zushi is a very unique style of sushi and is served with a whole cooked river fish on top of the sushi.
- We have two types of Ayu zushi, one is marinated ayu fish with sweet vinegar, which you may enjoy a freshness of the fish and refreshing vinegrated flavor, the other is baked ayu fish which is seasoned with our original soy sauce based sweet sauce.

My memories were the fish:rice ratio was quite low in the zushi. There was a strong fermented/vinegar flavour overall.

Soft shell turtle set course JPY12,705

Note these photos are NOT for the faint hearted...

6 course S39.8, 7 course S59.8

Starter
- Chef's seasonal assorted platter - salmon sashimi, scallop with asparagus, can't recall 3rd

Cold Dish
- Air flown seasonal sashimi platter

Side Dish
- Foie gras chawanmushi topped with black truffle slice
- Gratinated escargots topped with garlic & yuzu butter
- Tempura battered soft shell crab on galette of mash

Soup
- Infusion of cepes mushroom with truffle
- Crab bisque

Main
- Sake-infused grilled unagi on hot stone
- Beef tenderloin on "pu-ye" granite hot stone

Dessert
- Freshly baked warm chocolate cake served with icecream
- Japanese "mo-chi" served with red bean & icecream
- French cream cheesecake

With the recent stint of The Fat Duck in Melbourne (and my inability to win a place, although the price was a little ridiculous), I have been reminiscing about my own adventure at the mothership.

I remember anticipating this meal greatly. I was going to finally book the #2 restaurant in the world for one of the meals of the century. During a short term contract in northern Tasmania, I made the phone call one late evening. I wasn't particularly keen to use my mobile to ring the UK, but the work phone operator was only too happy to connect my call through. With only a few available dates, the 1/10/2009 was keenly booked, and then it was only a short two months before the day.

The restaurant isn't all that conveniently located. It requires an overground train to Maidenhead, then a taxi to the restaurant in Bray. Of course all the taxi drivers know it - it probably contributes more business for them than anything else in the area. The unassuming building stands like a old tavern. The fine dining inside and the French-accented staff elevate the mood to elegant.

Green olives with subtle flavour and fantastic bread with crunchy crust with spreadable salted and unsalted butter start things slowly. Then comes the procession of overwhelming sensory load.

Amuse Bouche
- Lime Grove (nitro poached green tea & lime mousse) - mousse bathed in liquid nitrogen then sprinkled with green tea. Cleansed the palate.

Entree
- Red Cabbage Gazpacho (pommery grain mustard icecream) - mustard-flavour icecream with a sweet cabbage sauce;
- Fat Duck Film - a delicate film which gives a mint/oak flavour to your tongue in anticipation;
- Jelly of Quail, Crayfish Cream, Chicken Liver Parfait & Truffle Toast (with oak moss) - water is poured over the oak moss to create a mist of oak scent flowing over the table. The moss flavours the air whilst you eat the parfait and truffle toast.

Main
- Roast Foie Gras (president plum puree, braised konbu & crab biscuit) - delicately soft foie gras. The alternative (for my friend) was a sublime piece of aubergine;
- Mock Turtle Soup c. 1850 "Mad Hatter Tea" - hot water added to the golden medallion of dashi/konbu broth surrounded by gold leaf. This tea is added to a bowl consisting of layered beef & fat, tofu (i think) with mushrooms, a few cucumber and pickles and thus mock turtle soup is born;
- Sound of the Sea - seashell with an iPod playing ocean & beach soundtrack, sashimi of yellowtail, mackeral & halibut, sand of tapioca and fried baby eels, foam of seaweed and vegetable stock, added sea jellybeans;
- Salmon Poached in Liquorice (artichokes, vanilla mayonnaise, golden trout roe & manni olive oil from Tuscany) - exquisitely cooked and flavoured salmon, better than Nobu's miso cod;
- Powdered Anjou Pigeon c. 1720 (blood pudding & confit of umbles) - perfectly cooked pigeon.

Dessert
- Taffety Tart c. 1660 (caramelised apple, fennel, rose & candied lemon) - the tangy candied lemon syrup with the blackcurrant sorbet is a whole new level of iced desserts.

The Not-So-Full English Breakfast
- Parsnip Cereal - chips (similar to almond slices) with parsnip milk poured on top. I adore cereal, but this tops them all for sweetness and flavour;
- Nitro-Scrambled Egg & Bacon Ice Cream - an 'egg' is cracked into a pot. liquid nitrogen is poured in. they stir... and bacon-flavoured ice cream that looks like scrambled egg is formed;
- Hot & Iced Tea - a drink of sweet lemon tea that is hot, before a hit of ice cold tea in your mouth.

That tea is followed up by an enormous menu of actual tea, should you fancy.

Apres
- Chocolate Wine "Slush" c. 1660 (millionaire shortbread) -  chocolate and delicate wine mixed and aerated. Rich chocolate, a layer of caramel, crisp shortbread base;
- Cheese platter selection;
- Wine Gums (historic trade routes of Britain) - 5 wine gums of mead, cognac, madeira, sherry, rum.

Finally a bag is handed to you with a small selection of designer sweets to take home. Added in is a printed copy of the menu.

"Like A Kid In A Sweet Shop"
- Aerated Chocolate (mandarin jelly);
- Coconut Baccy (coconut infused with an aroma of black cavendish tobacco);
- Apple Pie Caramel with an Edible Wrapper;
- Queen of Hearts (white chocolate with fruit compote).

It is unlike anything I've experienced before. With the passage of time, I think I've had meals with overall flavours that I've enjoyed more, but the multi-sensory journey that this brings is still unparalleled.

The menu itself was £130, but added onto this was the price of the arrival drink, cheese, service and the trains. Altogether it came out to £190 or so. Considering these days the UK Fat Duck charges £180 and the Australian one was $500 per person, I think my time was a bargain, and at the height of its powers. I count myself lucky for that opportunity. I don't know if I'll dine at The Fat Duck ever again, but I will return for Dinner (http://eatlikeushi.posthaven.com/dinner-by-heston-blumenthal-london-03-2012).