Hisashiburi Imamura

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It's been such a long time since I went back to Imamura (今村), my favorite sushi place in town. Last night I finally did revisit after a prolonged absence, and I came away with a very, very full stomach as well as some fond memories.

We arrived at the restaurant fairly late, but still found it to be full. I guess the economy hasn't hit this place as hard as some others. We sit down at the bar, asked the chef for omakase, and waited for the food to arrive...

Two pieces of hirame (鮃) was laid in front of me, and we were off! Along the way we had kinmedai (金目鯛), buri (鰤), kohada (小鰭, tastes like sanma), and moved on to all kinds of shellfish like mirugai (海松貝).

We took a break from sashimi and shared a matsuba crab (松葉蟹). This was really interesting because we were served with four different tastes of the crab. First we had the eggs (外子), which were tiny and - what else - fishy. The texture was very interesting because the eggs were so tiny, even smaller than the tobiko (飛び魚の卵) that one normally finds in Japanese cuisine. Then the crab meat was separated from the shells, and you have both the legs and the body with very different tastes.

The body was much sweeter, while the legs were naturally more chewy with more bounce. Finally you have the crab roe (内子) or the base of kanimiso (蟹味噌). All very good stuff.

This was followed by a selection of sushi, which started with uni (雲丹) that was very fresh and sweet, and included very sweet anago (穴子) and some seared toro (炙りトロ).

I was uncomfortably stuffed by this point, and realized that we have had about 18 different types of sashimi, the crab, followed by 8 pieces of sushi! That's a good meal by any account...

The chef was kind enough to pour me a cup of sake at the end of the meal, as I had chosen not to drink during the meal because of some wine consumption before dinner. This was the Kikuhime Yamahai Ginjo (菊姫山廃吟醸), from one of the best sake houses in Japan. This was very fragrant and a bit on the dry side.

I finished with a fruit plate, which was a bit disappointing. The melon wasn't very sweet, but the apple and the pear were OK. I didn't realize until afterwards that they have homemade yokan (羊羹). I'll remember to do that next time...