A s(chl)ong for Valentine

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It's Saint Valentine's Day, and in past years we've generally stayed home and cooked, choosing not to play into the commercialization of this day.  This year, though, Hello Kitty wanted a change.  We had initially contemplated flying to Bangkok and spending it with my friend Gaggan Anand at his new joint, but I didn't think I could take time off work.  Well... given the current circumstances, it probably was for the best that we chose to stick around.

When I asked for suggestions on venue, I was pretty surprised to hear the name Tominokoji Yamagishi (富小路  やま岸).  Sure, it's a famous import from Kyoto, but the thought had not crossed my mind that I would try it out so soon after opening.  Well... what Hello Kitty wants, Hello Kitty gets.  So I dutifully made booked us seats at the counter for the second seating.

I hadn't bothered to check out K11 Musea before tonight, and as soon as I walked through the doors I started to regret the choice of venue.  I had completely forgotten about the pervasive vanilla scent that gets flooded throughout the entire mall.  That shit is EVERYWHERE, and there is no escape.  I would be smelling that for the next 3 hours...

The restaurant serves up traditional chakaiseki (茶懐石), and I was kinda looking forward to the experience.

Tea: fukumamecha (香煎茶：福豆茶　煎り大豆、へぎ梅、結び昆布) - a little savory.  The soy beans were very crunchy.

Appetizer: fried oysters, lily bulb and white miso (先付：三陸産セルカキ真砂揚げ、百合根、白味噌羽二重) - the oysters came from Sanriku (三陸), and was served with a sauce made with white miso and lily bulb... which would explain both the grainy texture as well as fermented flavors.   Garnished with sansho leaves (木の芽) and white spring onion chiffonade.

Appetizer: sea cucumber, grated turnip gelée, young spring onion (先付：生子、蕪おろしジュレ、浅月) - the raw sea cucumbers were apparently shaken in a box for more than an hour to deliver a unique texture.  Japanese people do like their sea cucumber raw, but it makes for a texture that's kinda hard to bite through.  The acidity from the gélée accompanied the sea cucumber well, and I did taste some kick from the kuroshichimi (黒七味) from Hararyokaku (原了郭) in Kyoto.

Appetizer: simmered organic radish, monkfish liver, fried tofu pouch (先付：京都京北町有機大根風呂ふき、あん肝、お揚げさん、生姜おろし、降り柚子) - I love fried tofu pouches, and we've got one laid on top of the soft, simmered organic radish from Kyoto.  I was initially happy to hear the chef talk about monkfish liver, but both Hello Kitty and I were wishing for bigger chunks... Oh well...  Topped with a little minced ginger and shaved yuzu (柚子) zest.

Bowl: scallop and tofu skin dumpling, mustard spinach (椀：帆立、湯葉真蒸、霞仕立て、うぐいす菜、へぎ柚子) - rather than a simple and pure dashi (出汁) from katsuobushi (鰹節) and dried tuna, the chef added grated turnip to make the broth.  This was pretty nice.  The shinjo (真蒸) was very, very fluffy and springy, and the chunks of scallops inside were very sweet.  This was very good.

Sashimi: scallop, whelk (向付：帆立、つぶ貝、ポン酢、甘生油あん、加減正油、山葵) - we don't eat tuna, so we got torched scallops instead.  The whelks were pretty gigantic, and the chef took them apart in front of us - sending bits of shell flying in all directions...

Hassun: mizuna, fried kinki with plum (杉八寸：水菜、干瓢輪かけ、辛子黄味酢かけ、キンキ香梅揚げ) - I was rather surprised to see the chef lay out actual hassun (八寸) made of Japanese cedar.  This is one of the courses in a traditional chakaiseki meal, and usually consists of two seasonal offerings: something from the mountains and something from the sea.

From the mountains, we have organic mizuna (水菜) from Kyoto, wrapped with a ring made of gourd (干瓢).

From the sea, pieces of broadbanded thornyhead (喜知次) were seasoned with plum, wrapped in perilla leaves, and deep-fried.  I had never had kinki with umeshiso (梅紫蘇) before...

Sushi: unidog (寿司：うにドッグ) - here comes the signature dish of the restaurant.  Technically there's no sushi course in traditional kaiseki, so Yamagishi-san decided to make it longer and called it a "hot dog"... and the IG-friendly "uni dog" was born.

I had no idea that for the month of February, the restaurant was doing a collaboration with Birdy.  One of the changes made to the menu was to this dish.  Instead of the normal dog with "only" one row of sea urchin, we would all get two rows of sea urchin - which, incidentally, came from the same supplier used by Kiyama (木山) in Kyoto.  On top of that, we would get slices of chicken breast that had been lightly torched.

This was definitely a handful, and perfect for any IG hoe... or anyone who really loves sea urchin.

And apparently, there was one right next to me.  The lady next to me wasn't happy with "just" two rows of sea urchin... she wanted FOUR!  She said she wanted it so she could take pictures and, presumably, to post them online to induce jealousy.  As her companion seemed to be a regular customer, the chef accommodated the request and made a version that was twice the length of the one I had in my hand...  Not exactly the easiest thing to eat, though... as you grab on to this long, flabby black thing and try to shove it in your mouth...

Grilled dish: Japanese snow crab, sudachi (焼物：ズワイ蟹、スダチ) - the chef told us that he couldn't get the snow crabs from Echizen (越前), so the ones tonight came from Tottori (鳥取) instead.  I did see a few eggs on the shells that had been deposited by kanibiru (カニビル) leeches, but there weren't too many.  The meat from the leg was pretty damn tasty, and one had the option of ordering extras.

Seasoned dish: wasabi greens, sweetfish fry, sea urchin marinted in Shaoxing wine, bottarga (和物：花山葵、氷魚、うに紹興酒かけ、煎り唐墨) - the wasabi greens had a pretty strong kick.  The combination of sea urchin, fry, and grated bottarga was right up my alley.

Hot pot: chicken mizutaki, organic turnip, Kujo spring onion (鍋物：華味鳥水炊き、京都京北町有機小蕪、九条葱、柚子胡椒) - this wasn't bad, but I don't think I tasted the yuzukosho (柚子胡椒)...

Rice: Koshihikari, mentaiko, enoki, chirimenjako (御飯：長野県八重原産コシヒカリ、明太子、エノキの粘煮、ちりめんじゃこ) - the steamed rice from the ceramic pot was very tasty, and I actually forgot that the Japanese wagyu "suki-shabu (すきーしゃぶ)" that I saw others having was an optional extra...  Since I would be having big dinners 3 nights in a row, I chose not to pick up the option.

So I made do with the three condiments in front of us - all of which were pretty tasty.

Sweets: blood orange, apple, tsubakimochi (水物：愛姫県ブラッドオレンジ、蜜星林檎、椿餅) - finally, a few items to finish our meal.  The blood orange from Ehime Prefecture (愛姫県) was nice, as was the Mitsuboshi (蜜星) apple from Aomori Prefecture (青森県).

The tsubakimochi (椿餅) was not too sweet, and had a grainy texture.

Of course we finished with some matcha (抹茶).

Nabeshima Junmai Daiginjo Kitashizuku (鍋島  純米大吟醸  きたしずく), 30BY - big on the palate, with lots of depth.