I knew there would be another visit. A friend wanted to go for her birthday. She asked for the Chef’s tasting menu, for the four of us. What we got was a selection, chosen by the chef from the regular menu.
We started off with the yam tempura, which were not part of the tasting menu. Sweet potato cut french fry style fried in tempura. It was amazing.
Up next was the Tai miso soup. Sort of a luxury miso soup, with a variety of mushrooms. Tasty.
The spicy chicken was indeed spicy, it reminds of the flavors of gojujang sauce.
The pork belly was tasty. It tasted of Chinese five spice with soy undertones. Here’s a version of the recipe. He mentioned it cooks for six days.
What really shines are his house specials. Okonomiyaki, a Japanese style pancake. The bonito flakes got the audience going as they looked like they were fluttering in the air.
Here’s another house special, the Treasure of Ocean roll. The dry bean curd wrap was an interesting touch.
At this point, I thought we had about eight or nine dishes, but when the server asked if we were still hungry, one of my friends said yes… So we got another three dishes and dessert. Not hungry anymore, just a bit full.
I really like the yam chips that came with the Ayumi Unagi. The rest of the dish was good too, but I was too full to properly enjoy it.
There’s always room for dessert. I had the mango panna cotta. The mango syrup reduction was very rich and flavorful. The banana bread was an interesting touch.
We had the opportunity to chat with the chef, Oscar, and his wife, April. They are both very genuinely nice people who really care about their food. As we left the restaurant, we realized it was quite full and sort of amazed how quickly our food came out.