"Shime saba" cured Norwegian mackerel しめ鯖

"Saba" 鯖 is one of the "Hikari-mono" 光り物 fish which has a smooth skin with a blue grey sheen  to it. This group of fish can be strong flavored and may spoil quickly. Japanese call it "iki-gusare" 生き腐れ or "starts rotting while it is alive". Therefore, it is most common to have it as "shime-saba" しめ鯖. "Shime-ru" しめる in this context means "cured" or "salted and vinegar-ed"  しめ鯖.  Because of recent advancements in shipping logistics, however, eating "raw" or "lightly cured" local saba is possible and commonly used especially in the southern parts of Japan. In addition to its freshness, depending on the water temperature and/or where it is caught, the fish may  have a parasite called Anisakis (Ironically, the fresher the fish, the higher chance of Anisakis). So it is a bit of a risk eating this fish raw even in Japan.  Cooking and freezing make it safe but "vinegar" apparently doesn't kill Anisakis immediately. Most of the mackerel we get fresh here is Spanish mackerel. "Shime-saba" available in our Japanese grocery store is Norwegian mackerel imported and prepared ("vinegar-ed", packaged and frozen) in Japan and exported to US. So these are quite safe without any chance of Anisakis still surviving, albeit the quality of the fish may not be the best and tends to be "over cured". We (especially I) still like this. I realized that I posted variations on how to prepare shime-saba but never posted Shime-saba simply served with condiments and soy sauce. So, here it is. I served it with grated ginger, finely chopped scallion (which I  soaked in water and then strained and removed the excess moisture). I also made cucumber and wakame seaweed salad with sumiso dressing 胡瓜とわかめの酢味噌和え and salt broth marinated sugar snaps スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

To prepare a frozen package of shime-saba as sashimi, first thaw it in the refrigerator in the package (I usually leave it overnight), remove it from the package, rinse and blot it with a paper towel and cover it with a sake-soaked paper towel for 5-10 minutes (I do this in the hope of reducing any excess fishiness that may be present). This fish does not have any scales but has a thin semi-tranparent skin which needs to be peeled off starting from the head side's edge. Although not really needed but I added several parallel shallow cuts along the length of the filet and then cut crosswise as seen below.

Soy sauce, grated ginger and scallion all work well with this fish and of course, the only drink that goes with this fish is sake. This was the very first dish of the evening and we enjoyed it.

Simmered eggplant and shime-saba with grated daikon 茄子の忘れ煮としめ鯖のおろし和え

These are four appetizers we started with one evening. I tend to make the same things we like but this time, for a change, I made two new dishes. In the picture below, clock-wise from upper left are vinegar cured Japanese mackerel or "shime-saba" in grated daikon dressed in ponzu しめ鯖のおろし和え, long simmered Japanese eggplant or 茄子の忘れ煮, squid "shiokara" 塩辛 and salmon "nanban" 鮭の南蛮漬け.

I bought a package of frozen vinegar cured Japanese mackerel or "shime-saba" from the Japanese grocery store and realized I already had another package in the freezer. So I decided to use the old package. I have served this several different ways including simple sashimiしめ鯖の刺身, ceviche  鯖のサビーチェ, and moulded sushi 鯖の押し寿司. I saw this recipe on line and made some modifications. This is very similar to what I made using tuna sashimi 鮪のおろし和え, previously. I garnished this with chiffonade of perilla and a wedge of lemon. I served this the evening I made it and then, again the following evening. After some time in the fridge, the flavors amalgamated and it got much better.

Ingredients:
One package of shime-saba, thawed, lightly washed with sake, patted dry, thin skin removed, and then cut into thin (1/4 inch) slices.
2 tbs ponzu shoyu ポン酢醤油 (from the bottle, or equal mixture of rice vinegar or citrus juice and soy sauce)
2 inch long daikon, peeled and grated and excess moisture drained*
Rehydrate dried seaweed mixture, arbitrary amount (optional)
Chiffonade of perilla and lemon wedge for garnish

*I use a grater with a meshed receptacle inside the bottom container which automatically drains excess moisture from grated daikon (or any other items). I made  sure to taste before assembling into the dish since some daikon is atomically hot. This one was ok.

Directions:
In a bowl, add the shime-saba, grated diakon, seaweed and ponzu and mix, I also added additional yuzu juice (from the bottle) for a good measure. I let it marinate for several hours to overnight, then topped it with the perilla and lemon.

This is a good dish. The daikon really makes this dish and goes perfectly with cold sake.

I made the eggplant dish since I got 2 Japanese eggplants at the Japanese grocery store a week ago and did not immediately use them. (My wife was kind enough to reminded me that eggplant, even the Japanese kind, does not improve with age.) The dish is also from the same web site I got the recipe for the mackerel dish. I decided to make this since it does not use any oil and looked healthy and simple. The Japanese name is "Wasure-ni" 忘れ煮 meaning "forgot that it was still simmering" indicating involving long simmering. The original recipe calls for "hoshi-ebi" 干しエビ, small dried shrimp, which is used to add "umami" flavor and fresh "myouga" 茗荷 but I did not have either one so I skipped the shrimp and substituted fresh myouga with vinegard myouga 茗荷の甘酢漬け we made almost one year ago as a garnish. I added slices of ginger in the simmering liquid whihc was not part of the original recipe. I served this with blanched broccoli rabe which is the closest we can get to "Nanohana" 菜の花.

Ingredients:
One Japanese eggplant (this one was on the larger side), remove the stem end, cut in quarters lengthwise, multiple thin slice cuts on the bias through the skin into the flesh but not all the way through and immediately soak in salted cold water for 10-20 minutes.
2 slices of ginger
Threads of ginger root for garnish (skin, slice thinly and then cut into thin threads).

For broth
1 cup Bonito broth (I made it from a dashi pack)
1/3 cup of concentrated Japanese noodle sauce (or mirin and soy sauce in equal amount).
two slices of ginger (original recipe calls for 1 tbs dried shrimp)

Directions:
Heat up the simmering broth until boiling
Put the prepared egg plant, the ginger slices and cover with a inner "otoshi" buta 落とし蓋 (I used a silicon "otoshi-buta" or cover it with an aluminum foil made it to a round, slight smaller than the pot opening, place the lid and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

This is a really good dish. The eggplant got really soft and absorbed the flavors of the broth. I served it cold which is perfect for summer.

The picture below is the usual salmon dish I make which is always good with cold sake.

Shown below is frozen "shiokara" from the pouch. Again, only the drink that goes with this is sake.

So, we enjoyed all four appetizers with a sips of cold sake. Our home Izakaya is not bad at all.

Mackerel hand-shaped sushi 鯖の棒鮨

Shime-saba しめ鯖 is vinegar pickled mackerel and a very popular item in Japan. The best is fresh local “branded” mackerel (such as “Seki-saba” 関鯖) prepared in-house but, nowadays, the risk of Anisakis is rising possibly due to warming of the sea water. (The fresher the mackerel the higher the Anisakis’ risk. In addition, curing the fish in salt and vinegar does not kill the Anisakis but freezing does). We can easily get shime-saba in the U.S. packaged and frozen. Although there are so many varieties of  mackerel, most frozen packages coming from Japan to the U.S. use mackerel from Norway as I understand it. I have posted molded sushi made of shime saba which is called “baterra” バッテラ or “oshizushi” 押し寿司. This type of sushi is famous in the Kansai region 関西. In that post, I said that the classic preparation requires a thinly shaven sheet of kelp called “Shiroita konbu” 白板昆布 placed on top of the fillet of fish. Such a preparation is next to impossible to get here in US. Some days ago, however, I found a package of frozen mackerel with a sheet of kelp already on it in Tako Grill’s frozen case and got it. This must be a new product which became available recently since I saw the identical item at the Japanese grocery store as well as at Catalina Offshore products. 

Instead of using a mold to shape the sushi, I made it freehand which is called “Bou-zushi” 棒鮨 (“bou” means a rod or stick). The picture below shows the “saba-no-bouzushi” 鯖の棒鮨 I served as the ending shime dish one evening. As you can see, the surface of the fish is covered with a layer of thinly shaven kelp.

Ingredients:
One package of frozen vinegar cured mackerel as described above, thawed, tail portion cut and tucked in to make an even width.
Sushi rice (my wife made fresh rice for this).


Directions:
Instead of using oshizushi mold, I formed a log of the sushi rice about the same length and width as the mackerel by hand (you need to wet your hand).
Using a silicon sushi rolling mat (relatively recent acquisition, you could use a regular bamboo mat covered with plastic wrap or wet tea towel), place the mackerel skin or kelp side down.
Place the log of the rice onto the mackerel.
Press the rice lightly against the mackerel and roll the silicon mat (top image in the picture below)
Tighten the mat and also press on both sides of the rice to make the rice and the mackerel form a slightly flattened cylinder and unroll (bottom image in the picture below).

Wet the knife and slice about half inch thick (below).

In this cut surface, you could see bottom rice layer and top mackerel layer and surface kelp layer.

This was a very satisfying dish. The layer of mackerel was very thick, but very tender and well seasoned. My wife really like this and said the ratio of sushi rice to fish was perfect. With the addition of kelp layer, it is authentic and tastes better (I think). Since I did not have to find and soak the mold ahead of time, this method was a bit easier to make.

Mackerel ceviche しめ鯖のサビーチェ

In our household, once an item goes into the freezer, it tends to "fall off the radar screen" and gets lost. When my wife digs deep into the freezer in search of something, she always finds some very old item. On one such occasion, she pointed out a package of pickled mackerel or "shime-saba" しめ鯖. I knew it was old but I had no idea how old. I defrosted it one weekend and it was not edible. So, on a subsequent weekend, I bought some "fresh" frozen pickled mackerel. I did not take any chances this time and, the next day, I made this dish. I got this idea from a recipe on line.

This is a good dish. Perfect with cold sake.

The addition of vegetables added more volume.

Ingredients:
One package frozen "shime saba" pickled mackerel (#2), Thin skin peeled off and cut into a
bite sized pieces (#3).
1/2 sweet  onion (I used Vidalia), cut into thin slices (#1)
2 skinned Campari tomatoes, cut into thin wedges (#1)
1 Jalapeño pepper, seeded, veined and cut into fine dice (#1)
lime juice (from 1 lime) or lemon juice
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
1-2 tsp olive oil (I used our favorite Spanish olive oil)
1/2 cucumber (I used American mini cucumber), thinly sliced for garnish

Directions:
Just mix it all up (#4) and dress with the lime juice, and olive oil. Season it with salt and black pepper (#4). Let it stand in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
I garnished with the cucumber

This is better than just eating the mackerel like sashimi with soy sauce, wasabi or ginger. Since the shime-saba had just been bought, it was nice and not overly pickled. This is indeed a very good way to serve shime-saba. This dish is not as challenging to people who are not into sashimi and mackerel in particular.

Vinegared mackerel and smoked salmon molded sushi しめ鯖、スモークサーモンの押し寿司

The molded sushi or "oshizushi" 押し寿司 ("oshi" means "to press or push") or sometimes called "hakozushi" 箱寿司 ("hako" means a box). As opposed to more familier "edomae sushi" 江戸前寿司 or Tokyo-style sushi, the molded sushi is easier to make as long as you have a special wooden mold. Sometime ago I saw a wooden sushi press mold or "oshizushi hako" and bought it so I could experiment with it. In general oshizushi is not commonly available in the U.S. restaurants or sushi bars. I do have a very nostalgic memory, however, of one of the few times we had oshizushi.

Digression alert: We had recently moved to Los Angles and were looking for a new sushi bar to call home. We stopped at one "Japanese" restaurant and I started ordering several small dishes a-la-carte as we usually do, when the very bossy Kimono-clad middle-aged Japanese waitress informed us that we would be ordering one of their combination platters--no choice. A very large platter appeared featuring sashimi and other many American-style Japanese dishes (yakitori skewers, tonkatsu etc) with big slices of water melon on the side. This looked more like a American-Mexican combo-platter. As a result, we dubbed this place "Casa sushi". Needless to say, this was the first and last time we visited. 

After some more, less-than-sucessful explorations, we finally found a small sushi place that became our regular．It was recommended to my wife by a carpet cleaner (an unexpected source of such information) who happened to notice Japanese artifacts in our household while cleaning the carpet and asked if that meant we liked sushi. We were astounded to learn that he was a sushi connoisseur having conducted an extensive survey of sushi restaurants in the LA basin. He pronounced this restaurant the best in the region.  It turned out to be the type of restaurant where drivers of 18 wheelers fresh off the freeway parked their rigs out front, bellied up to the bar to eat sushi and discuss the finer points of raw fish with the owner chef (the LA sushi scene was quite different from what we were used to). The owner-chef of the sushi bar was from Kyushu 九州 and the young chef-de-cuisine was from Osaka 大阪. The young chef was quite creative. One evening he presented deep fried tempura sushi roll with the comment, "when it comes to food I'll try anything once." One evening he presented us with "oshizushi" (off the menu), which was from his native Osaka. Somehow that one dish particularly stuck in my mind when I thought about that restaurant or oshizushi. 

Back to the sushi: I made two kinds; one is the classic of oshizushi called "battera" バッテラ (near side in the above picture and the picture below) and the other more Western style, smoked salmon and cream cheese oshizushi (the far side of the picture above).

The non-tradtional oshizushi with smoked salmon, cream cheese and nori (the picture below) was based on my wife's suggestion (she referred to is as the Osaka version of Philadelphia roll). Actually she lined up all the necessary ingredients without my asking. So this was her creation and I just assembled it.

To make battera, I used a packaged "shime saba" しめ鯖 which is bought frozen and vacuum packed (#1). I cannot get fresh enough mackerel to make "shime saba" myself. After thawing, I removed the transparent thin skin first (#2) and cut it lengthwise (the width has to match the size of the mold. You may have to solve some geometric puzzle to fit the fish best in the bottom of the mold with the skin side down. I layered it with thinly sliced vinegared ginger (#3) and perilla leaves (again cut into the width of the mold, #4). I then placed the sushi rice, about even with the edge of the mold with out pressing (#5). I then pressed the rice with the top plate of the mold (#6).

To make the smoked salmon oshizushi, I placed the smoked salmon on the bottom of the mold,  a thin slab of cream cheese, and a narrow sheet of nori and sushi rice.

You could make any kind of oshizushi this way. You could flavor the sushi rice by mixing chopped up perilla, pickled plum, or even aonori or "furikake" ふりかけ. You could make two different flavored rices and assemble oshizushi with two layers of rice. The topping could be anything such as fish, meat, omelet, and vegetables like avocado, myouga, cooked shiitake etc. Actually, if you do not have or do not want to get the special mold, you could just use a plastic wrap to make a cylinder of rice (which is called "bouzushi" 棒寿司, "bou" means "log") instead making it rectangular using an oshizushi mold.

This was the ending dish of the evening. We originally tried to go to Tako Grill for dinner but just as we were about to leave, a severe thunderstorm rolled in. We waited for a while but there was no sign of the rain letting up so we decided to stay in. Although we were eating at home our mouths were ready for the flavor of vinegared rice and this is what we came up with.  We both really enjoyed these two kinds of oshizushi. Although if truth be told, I also had a hankering for "toro" and there was no substitute for that in our freezer. 

In a true traditional way, battera should have been covered with thin sheet of kelp shaving called "shiraita konbu" 白板昆布 or "baterra konbu" バッテラ昆布 but I did not have one and I have not even tried to get one. My wife suggested that it might help to make the thickness of the shime saba more even. I will try to improve next time. I have a feeling that my wife may be inspired to come up with other ideas for oshizushi--lamb sushi anyone?

Vinegard sanma sashimi 〆さんま

When I pontificated about sanma  さんまor pacific saury, I mentioned that "sashimi" of sanma is not unusual now.  (This is because of the improvements in distribution that get these perishable "blue" fish quickly to the market.  One aspect of this improvement is that this formerly lowely  fish has been “up-graded” in status and has become much more expensive in many sushi bars). I was surprised to see frozen and vinegared sanma or shime-sanma 〆さんま in the freezer case of our Japanese grocery store. Although vinegared mackerel or シメサバ is very common, I have never seen sanma sold this way and promptly bought it.

I served it with two kinds of cucumber salad (one with thinly sliced myoga and one with thinly sliced red onion, both salted, washed and then excess moisture wrung out and dressed in vinegar dressing). I also put both grated ginger and wasabi.



As you can see below, this is very well vinegared and the meat is all opaque (i.e. chemically cooked) which is the same in packaged frozen vinegared Mackerel.



The below was how it came. One package had three filets of sanma.



After thawing, I blotted excess moisture and sliced it slightly obliquely.



The shime sanma tasted very similar to shime saba or mackerel. The vinegar was a bit sweeter than I would like but my wife thought it was fine. As I mentioned, the meat was throughly vinegared and opaque. If the center was a bit closer to raw would have been better but I am asking too much.

The only drink  that goes with this is sake. This sake called "Tozai Living Jewel" is widely available in US and appears to be an export only brand from Kizakura brewery 黄桜酒造 in Kyoto, Japan. We have tasted turbid sake from them before called “snow maiden” “Tozai Yuki musume” 東西雪娘.

The current one is "junmai shu" 純米酒  and it is not too yeasty, Although it does not have depth or complex flavors or fruity note (which is more from ginjo and daiginjo flavors) and the taste disappears quickly in the palate (i.e. short finish),  it is quite a drinkable sake. This one went particularly well with a strong oily fish with vinegar and sweet taste of vinegared sanma we were having.

So, we enjoyed this dish and sake.

Yuzu Japanese restaurant 柚子 日本料理店

I always have my radar up for any new (particularly Japanese) restaurant, that opens near us. I noticed a Washington Post article about a Japanese restaurant that opened about 1 month ago ("soft" opening) in our neck-of-the-woods. Judging from the WP article and the restaurant's website, I decided this was a place we had to try particularly since they have omakase ($80 and up). So one evening we signed up and tried it out.

The restaurant is much larger than you would expect from outside.
We were seated at the counter (Chef's table) which can accommodate 4 comfortably or 6 extremely good friends. The interior is nicely decorated with framed Japanese washcloths or "tenugui" 手ぬぐい along one wall.  (Washcloths is really an understatement because the Japanese have raised these humble household items to an art form--with nicely done colorful prints and whimsical subjects). The counter appeared to be a very impressive brand new solid slab of walnut wood.
We were greeted by a smiling Chef Yoshihisa "Yoshi" Ota (above). After a few dishes and drinks, we asked how he deiced to open this restaurant. He said, it was a long story that would take days to tell but he gave us the “cliff notes”  (truncated)  version. As a young sushi chef, he worked in Sushi Den in New York. After returning to Japan, he had an exclusive small Japanese restaurant in Ginza for 10 years. When "Kushi" Izakaya  was planning to open in DC he was contacted to be a chef there. Remembering his stint in New York, he wanted to come back to the US to serve "real" Japanese dishes to Americans and took the position as head Chef for Kushi. Fast forward a few more years and another stint at Sushi-ko in Chevy Chase, he realized his dream and opened his own restaurant Yuzu. He wanted a small restaurant where he would serve guests who appreciated and enjoyed real Japanese food. He thought about opening his restaurant in New York but there are so many Japanese restaurants in New York. Besides, he and his family had lived here for several years and developed an attachment to Bethesda. So he decided to open this restaurant here.

When faced with the selection of libations, we had to realize the hard fact that in Montgomery county, where this restaurant is located, the county controls the sale of alcohol. This makes it very challenging to stock good sake/liquors since the restaurateur has to go through the county liquor stores/board with all its rules and regulations rather than just purchasing through any wholesalers as is done in DC for example. Although Yuzu obtained the liquor license almost 1 month ago, Yoshi was disappointed that things were coming in very slowly and their sake list was rather small. We chose "Haiku" 俳句 which used to be our house sake. Slightly yeasty but still a rather agreeable sake.

Our course started with sunomono 酢の物 with “midorizu” 緑酢 (meaning “green vinegar” which is a vinegar dressing with grated Japanese cucumber) dressed thinly sliced conch and crab. Conch can be often too chewy but this was very nicely prepared. Next was flounder ヒラメ thinly sliced "Usuzukuri" 薄造り(below left). Other dishes included a simmered dish or "Nimono" 煮物 with homemade "Ganmodoki"  雁擬き with bamboo shoot and pork belly, vegetables dressed in tofu-sesame dressing or "shira-ae" 白和え (below right). All nicely done.

Although the order is not exact, another dish of deep fried "Kasago" カサゴ or scorpion fish in a broth with mushrooms (below) was also very nice.

At this point, we were really enjoying the dinner and I stopped taking pictures (I am not as dedicated as other food bloggers). We had a small sweet vinegar picked vegetables as a "hashi yasume" 箸休め meaning "to rest the chop sticks". This was very refreshing; not too vinegary and not too sweet.

After this, we went into a "sushi" course. All were good especially the fatty salmon "aburi" 炙り. Anago アナゴ was also memorable with a nice sweet and tangy sauce. Marinated "tuna" or “zuke” and regular "tuna" were served one after the other for comparison. Sea scallop was fresh. It tasted sweet and buttery. Shime-saba しめ鯖 was also excellent. Ama-ebi (done half-and-half with wasabi and yuzu koshou) was also good. I may have missed few more items. Chef Yoshi served us rolls of tuna (or salmon, I am not sure) and Japanese pickled daikon “takuwan” 沢庵 as "shime" 〆 or "ending" item for the sushi course with a very nice and hot miso soup with red snapper (meat and jaw bone in it) in  a good briny broth.

In terms of special seasonings, Chef used a real fresh “wasabi daikon” rhizome from Japan grated on the traditional shark-skin grater adding a nice fresh wasabi taste to the dishes. As for the name sake, a large fresh yellow yuzu, again from Japan, and yuzu-koshou 柚子胡椒 were used effectively in sushi and other dishes.

As a desert, "mizu youkan" 水羊羹 with, we think, a maple syrup-based sauce, which is a nice American twist for this traditional summer-time Japanese sweet. At this point, we were quite full.

This post was not meant as a review of the restaurant but rather our first impression of Yuzu. The restaurant is still in a "preview" or "soft" opening phase. Yoshi told us that he would like to do the "Grand" opening soon. As a result, the restaurant and staff were still "ironing out some of the kinks." For example, the front door kept locking and wait staff continually had to rush to let in customers who were vainly pulling on the door to get in (not good for business if the customers are locked out). Early in the evening when the restaurant was rather empty, everything went OK but as the tables started filling up, we could see that things got a bit frantic especially for the chef who prepared sushi and sashimi orders for the tables as well as taking care of us at the counter. His attention was drawn in so many different directions .

The omakase course was quite good. The sashimi was fresh and the chef did many different treatments to extract the best out of them but nothing was unexpected or spectacular.  We understand the chef had to balance the quality and cost. We were a bit concerned that the restaurant seemed too large for the present contingent of wait staff and, particularly, for one chef, no matter how talented, to pay attention to all the details. We sincerely hope this restaurant will succeed. We look forward to seeing a few sous chefs, and an expanded sake list on our next visit. We will be back.

Special take-out Kaiseki box from Sushi Taro 寿司太郎のテイクアウト特製会席弁当

Prior to COVID the omakase counter at Sushi Taro was our special-occasion-go-to place. As a matter of fact, we had a reservation in March this year but because of COVID, that got canceled. I knew for some time that, although the restaurant was closed, Sushi Taro has been doing take-out. But getting there either from home or work for the pick-up was impractical. Since I started thinking about the NewYear “Osechi” 御節 from Sushi Taro, I contacted them. I was delighted to find out that they are going to do Osechi for the next New Year and I quickly placed an order. During that interaction, I learned that they do special omakase kaiseki boxes-to-go and that they can deliver. I quickly placed an order. Delivery was scheduled for Friday at 5pm. We were like little kids in anticipation. I even "just happened" to come home from work a bit early for the delivery. It arrived in two, two-tiered (bento or modified jubako?) boxes. (a total of four boxes with three compartments each). We initially thought we got two identical sets but when we opened the second box, surprise!  We were totally blown away. All compartments contained many wonderful different dishes. The first one had some cooked dishes, two different kinds of sushi. The cooked dishes in the top tier were still warm.

The second set included fresh sashimi and sashimi fish dishes.

Disclaimer alert:  This entry is just for us to remember what we enjoyed so we can relive the experience. A menu was not included so in some cases I am guessing what the dishes were and may be totally wrong.

We started with sashimi 刺身. Akami 赤身, chu-toro 中トロ, hamachi ハマチ, salmon サーモンand ama-ebi shrimp 甘海老.

From upper left clockwise: grilled ginko nuts 焼銀杏 (We love ginko nuts.We used to be able to buy small cans of boiled ginko nuts but they totally disappeared and we have not seen them for sometime. ), California Uni カルフォルニア雲丹, cod roe たらこ (not a “mentaiko” 明太子 but with some spice), grilled egg plant 焼きナス (it must have also been smoked. It had a nice smokey flavor and the broth was subtly seasoned and delicious ).

Abalone liver simmered with sansho 鮑の肝煮物 (I think this is seasoned with whole sansho pepper 実山椒, a type of “arimani” 有馬煮, this is a perfect drinking snack and we love it, the red berry must be goji berry or “kuko” クコ), sake steamed abalone 鮑の酒蒸し with a nice seasoning , I think the next one is Hokkaido "bafun" uni 北海道のバフンウニ , and under the cover is ikura marinated in soy sauce いくらの醤油漬け. (On one of our visits to the restaurant we had an impromptu uni tasting to compare California vs Maine vs Hokkaido - they are all good but I am a little partial to the Hokkaido uni mostly because I am originally from there. 

From the left upper clockwise: Some kind o pate/paste. I am not sure but monk fish liver ("ankimo" 鮟肝) may be included, some kind of fish liver simmered, edible flower petal (probably chrysanthemum) and chestnut "sibukawa-ni" 渋皮煮.

The dish shown below was a small whole simmered fish with roe, "kanroni" 甘露煮.  I thought this could be "Ayu" sweet fish but it was not.  So, I don't know exactly what it was. It could be "Iwashi" イワシ sardine. It was cooked to tenderness and the bone was soft and could be eaten. It was topped with "shiraga-negi" white hair scallion 白髪葱 . This is an example of the attention to detail characteristic through out these dishes. The scallion was a small detail but it went very well with this fish and really set off the dish.

From the top, kaskino-ha-zushi 柿の葉寿司 (trout sushi wrapped in persimon leaves), flower renkon 花輪レンコン and shime saba oshizushi (battera) しめ鯖の押し寿司 or バッテラ.

Nigiri-sushi 握り寿司. From the top left clockwise: Hamachi ハマチ, Toro トロ, kohada コハダ, sweet omelet, anago with “tsume“ sauce 穴子, and saba サバ or sawara さわら.

Pictured below large prawn/small lobster; probably "botan-ebi" ボタン海老 (raw) in a gentle broth,  topped with myoga, roe (cooked), and julienne of red and green sweet pepper. The sweet pepper and sweet meat went well together complementing each other.

Crab meat, jelle sauce, ikura, slices of dried persimmon 干し柿 and other items. Again, sweetness of the persimmons and crab are good match.

The next three dishes are all cooked and contain some kind of fish/sea food. The selection of ingredients such as the matsutake, myoga, chestnuts and kabocha in these dishes as well the use of eggplant and persimmon in the dishes above exemplify the autumn season.  The use of seasonal ingredients is another example of the attention to detail shown through out the dishes in these boxes. 

Underneath of all the vegetables were two good sized shrimp balls shinjo エビしんじょ(minced shrimp and white fish paste). Fried lotus root, kabocha, simmered "fu" gluten cake, matsutake stems, green beans topped with zest of “kabosu” かぼす.

Simmered “kabu”turnip かぶ, chestnuts 栗 and fish (cod?). The green is most likely “Mizuna” 水菜 .

Small tasty fish (I do not know what it is), simmered, matsutake 松茸, fried shishito ししとう, picked myoga 茗荷の甘酢漬け.

Fortunately, we just got a shipment of sake from Tippsy sake. We had a cold “Kagatobi” 加賀鳶 純米吟醸 from Ishikawa-prefecture 石川県. We throughly enjoyed these wonderful dishes in the comfort of home. It was quite a memorable treat!

Tokyo Izakaya Part 2 東京の居酒屋 パート２

Honoka, Musashi Koyama 穂のか、武蔵小山

Before we visited Japan, we consulted the preeminent Izakaya expert, Jon of EOITWJ, and this was one of his recommendations. In addition, Rebecca of “Ichi for the Michi” has more than one extensive and detailed discussion of this place. This post is just to preserve our own “sake pickled” memories of the evening we spent there.

I called Musashi Koyama from the U.S. to make a reservation. I had to call early in the morning my time aiming at just before opening at 6pm Japan time. I was not sure if the master indeed recognized this reservation was made from the U.S. Nevertheless, on the second night in Tokyo with some jet lag lingering, we ventured out to Musashi Koyama 武蔵小山. You have seen the front of Honoka before in the aforementioned blogs but this is a must-have shot. I think we tasted a few from the list in the front of the store which appears to be updated frequently.

“Try not to be late” (in our case we had three transfers of metro and train lines from Ginza) but it is difficult pinpointing “on time”, as must happen to many people who don’t actually live in the neighborhood, we arrived early. After confirming the location of our destination and taking a picture of the store front, we killed time by wandering around the downtown (or main street) of Musashi Koyma until the opening time. It is a very quaint suburb and it was kind of nostalgic (for me) and interesting (for both of us).
Of course, we noticed the port hole building as soon as we came out of the narrow alleyway where Honoka is located and snapped the obligatory picture of “the house of the twenty port holes”.

Although, we knew by the description we read that this place was small, it was smaller than we expected. The  L-shaped counter will sit two at the shorter end and 5 or 6 at the longer end. The toilet was clean and functional but the door is multi-segmented to accommodate the tight space. The master, his assistant  (wife?) and young “arubaito girl” アルバイトの女の子 or “arbeiten Mädchen” (meaning part time help) appeared to be the complete complement of staff.

Although the izakaya was not full, we were somewhat disappointed to find our assigned seats at the shorter end of the counter behind the “frying” or “grilling” station. The partition protecting patrons from accidental splashes from the fryer served as a very effective barrier isolating us from the rest of the counter and any communication with the master (albeit the upper half was transparent plastic). I had been looking forward to interacting with him but all communications went through the “arubaito” girl or “assistant”. This included some chiding “If you wanted to order more sashimi you should have kept your soy sauce plates”. There were only 3 other customers and one left fairly early so the long counter in front of the master remained completely vacant while we were delegated to huddle behind the fryolator. This is not to say, we did not enjoy the sake and food. There is no question, the master knows his sake. The food he prepared was excellent. Here is our account of what we enjoyed.

The followings are the sakes we enjoyed from the amazing collection of sake available. One thing that impressed us (and we also found at other sake-oriented Izakayas in Japan) is that there were so many good sakes in hon-jouzou 本醸造, tokubetsu junmai 特別純米酒, junmai 純米酒 and jumnai ginjou 純米吟醸酒 classes, particularly if you know how to identify these good ones. Dry or savory, all the sake we tasted were good and I am not capable of describing them in detail (please refer to two posts of Honoka which contains an extensive description of the sake she tasted at Honoka;  some overlapping with what we tasted).

We started out with flights of dry and sweet sakes.

This is the line up of “dry” sake.(from left to right)
1. 三千盛　純米　超特　極め辛口, 岐阜県　Michi-sakari Junmai cho-toku extreme dry、Gifu prefecture
2. 白瀑　純米　ど辛＋１５, 秋田県　Shirataki Junmai do-kara (extreme dry), Akita prefecture
3. 山形正宗　辛口純米 Yamagata Masamune Kara-kuchi (dry) Junmai, Yamagata prefecture.

We liked all of dry sake here.

This is the line of “sweet” or non-dry sake (from left to right)

1. あぶくま純米吟醸雄町、福井県　“Abukuma” junmai ginjou Omachi, Fuku-i prefecture
2. 鍋島三十六万石　中汲み無濾過純米吟醸、佐賀県　Nabeshima naka-kumi, mu-roka (middle press, non-filtered) Junmai Ginjo
3. 鳳凰美田　Wine-Cell ワイン酵母仕込　純米吟醸　山田錦米 2012, 栃木県　Junmai Ginjo Fermented with Wine yeast, Yamada-nishiki, Tochigi prefecture.

Again, all were good. As to #3 sake, my understanding is that this is Houou Biden fermented using wine yeast. The portion we were served was turbid or “nigori” but other description of this sake appears to refer to clear sake. This one, to me, was too sweet. It needed more acidity to counteract.

(From left to right)

1. 純米天狗舞原酒, 石川県　Tengumai, Junmai Genshu, Ishikawa Prefecture
2. 磯自慢　特選　特別本醸造、静岡県　Isojiman toukusen tokubetsu honjouzou, Shizuoka prefecture
3. ソガペールエフィス Numero Six 純米吟醸 生原酒,  長野県 Sogga Pere et Fils “Numero Six” Junmai-ginjou Nama Genshu (Miyama Nishiki)、Nagano prefecture.

The last one here was brewed in Obuse Winery 小布施  using wine yeast. This one was called “Numero Six”, so possibly seventh batch of the year if the “Neuf” was not counted as “Numero One”. This was a just last dreg left in the bottle and may not be representative. Fairly subtle mild favor with some acidity reminiscent of Sauvignon blanc.


(Left)

田酒　特別純米酒、青森県、Denshu Tokubetsu Junnmai, Aomori prefecture.

We must have asked for an another round of Izojiman since the bottle appeared again. We must have really liked this Tokubetsu honjouzou Isojiman. This really tells you the depth of sake in Japan. Surely Izojiman Daiginjo is nice any time any where but even this “lower” class Isojiman, it held its own and we really enjoyed it.

As to the food, it was also superb. Here is the assorted sashimi.. Tuna and shime saba しめ鯖 were especially good.

I am sure we are missing few items since I am not as a good picture taker as other bloggers. It was my impression that when at Honoka, this is the must-order item; assorted flavor grilled miso. These are perfect small nibbles between sips of sake. We particularly liked the walnut miso (Since my gig is to make Izakaya dishes, this will be reproduced soon). We expected the “Uni” one to be better.

I am sure we had one serving of this dish before the miso; Sea urchin from Hokkaido. But it was so good we ordered another. This definitely was not previously processed but removed from the shell by the master himself.

After we ordered “Squid Okizuke”, the master recommended (through intermediary) this dish; shark cartilage dressed in salted plum さめの軟骨の梅和え. This was with  nice crunch but quite salty.

We could not pass genuine Hokkaido shishamo  北海道本シシャモ.

The check, at least by our standards, seemed reasonable after the extravagant feast and sake tasting. If we did the equivalent of this evening (although it is just not possible anyway) in the U.S., the bill would have been three or four times larger.

We staggered to Musashi Koyama station. I thought I had it all figured out how to back track the way we had come. We took the train to Meguro 目黒. From Meguro we were to take the Mita line  三田線 to Mita and change to Higashi-ginza line 東銀座線, sounds easy. After taking the subway from Meguro, however, I noticed that the first two stations were correct but the 3rd and 4th were not. So we got off hastily at Roppongi 1-chome (In retrospect, we took Nan-Poku line 南北線 instead of Mita line). We emerged to the surface in a very high end residential neighborhood with lush greenery and big mansions. It was fairly dark with a blustery tropical wind blowing. This did not look like in the middle of Tokyo. We were not entirely sure where we were. In addition to absence of neon lights was an absence of taxis. After some effort, we finally found one and the ride to our hotel was, fortunately, fairly short.