Tokyo 2010 day 5: the roar of the dragon

Day 2 of the Michelin run, and I start off at Tempura Kondo (てんぷら 近藤).  This place was recommended by foodies and have themselves two little macarons, so I was hoping for another great experience like what I had 3 years ago.

I arrived a few minutes late, and ended up being seated at the last seat in the corner of the back room... which means that I wasn't getting served by Kondo-san but by his little munchkin.  Oh well... As usual in Japan, I asked for omakase and waited for the magic to arrive...

Two prawn heads (海老の頭) arrive immediately - a sign of what's about to come.  Nice, crunchy protein to kick off lunch.

Two tiger prawns (車海老) follow, each one scored 5 times with the knife before being dipped in batter.

Asparagus (アスパラ) - a little hot and needed to cool down a little so don't burn myself...

Sea urchin wrapped in shiso leaf (雲丹紫蘇) - interesting, but I think sea urchin is probably best served raw.

Green bell pepper (ピーマン) - this was still steaming after a while, even though it's been cut in half.

Japanese sillago (鱚)

Shiitake mushroom (椎茸)

Big-eyed flathead (女鯒)

Ginko nuts (銀杏)

Giant clam (蛤) - I never thought about deep-frying a clam, but I guess if you could do it to an oyster then a clam's pretty much the same thing.

Lily bulb (百合根) - the lily bulb was huge, not like the ones I normally see in Hong Kong and China.

Sea eel (穴子) - I thought this was a little muddy... not exactly the best I've had.  Kinda disappointed because this should have been one of the highlights of the meal.

Cuttlefish (イカ) - surprisingly this wasn't part of the omakase, but I wasn't going to let this one slip by!  It was reasonably thick, but no where near the thickness of what I had at Hayashi (はやし).  This was also slightly more difficult to bite... interesting because it's a lot thinner but I couldn't get a clean bite all the way through.

Unfortunately this isn't sweet potato season, so regrettably I didn't get to taste Kondo-san's famous sweet potato (薩摩芋) tempura.  Bummer!

Finally I had the tencha (天茶), which is a piece of kaki-age (かき揚げ) over a bowl of tea rice (お茶漬け).  The kaki-age was very nice, as it was full of little pieces of scallops instead of the usual mix of vegetables and tiny shrimp.

The bill came to be the same as Hayashi.  Honestly, I enjoyed my lunch at Hayashi a lot more.  This was more like a production line, and the chef is constantly dipping and flipping in mechanical motions, rushing to put items in front of the customers.  The temperature of the oil also seemed higher, so that the items could be prepared in less time.  At Hayashi, there was only one counter and back then only 3 customers.  The chef did things slowly, with low heat, and the whole experience was just so much more relaxed.  Kondo may have the stars, but Hayashi wins in my book.

I still needed to get my hands on those Bijofu Yuzu, so I make one more trip to Omotesando Hills and head straight for Sake Hasegawa (酒はせがわ).  I sat down at the bar to enjoy a sip (or two) of sake, while I arranged for the delivery of a batch of those yuzu babies a couple of days later.  I finally got to buy them!!!

I started with a glass of Juyondai Junmai Daiginjo Shichitare Nijikkan (十四代 純米大吟醸 七垂二十貫).  This was very smooth, with a good balance between the sweet and dry side.  Pleasant to drink in the middle of the afternoon.

Next was a glass of Bijofu Lemon (美丈夫 レモン) which I took on the rocks.  It was OK, but nothing close to the Yuzu.

Finally I tried some Azumaichi Bemolle (東一 黒糖梅酒 ベモーレ). It was definitely umeshu (梅酒), but with the distinct flavor and sweetness of muscovado. Not bad.

I met a French couple from Paris on their first Japanese vacation, who came to taste some sake.  We had a good time talking about sake, wine, chocolate... and they were an interesting couple.  There was also another Japanese couple who were comics, and they stopped by for a drink before performing tonight.  I guess you just meet lots of people at a bar...

I arrived at dinner very early, as I didn't want to be late for another meal.  RyuGin (龍吟) is tucked away in a small alley just a stone's throw from Roppongi Hills, and have earned themselves two little macarons.  The decor was totally modern, befitting its reputation as a "modern kaiseki" establishment.  The dragon motif was everywhere... on the ceramic decorations on the wall, the decorative plates on the table, decorative sake cups... even the paper coaster underneath my mineral water!

Since I'm here, what else would I be drinking other than sake from Kokuryu (黒龍)?!  I start with Kuzuryu Daiginjo Kanshu (九頭龍 大吟醸燗酒).  This was brewed to be drunk warm, which is not normally how high quality sakes are drunk.  But I don't really enjoy hot sake, so I take it cold anyway.  It was slightly dry on the attack, but a little sweet on the palate.  Finish started out a little sweet, then changed to the dry side later.  Seimaibuai of 50%.  Gotta love that velvet label...  A little off-topic, but the name 九頭龍 reminds me of 九頭龍斬 - one of the attack forms described in the Japanese comic Samurai X (るろうに剣心). Will I be able to perform the attack if I keep drinking this?!

The amuse bouche came in two parts: dadachamame potage (だだちゃ豆ポタージュ) was made solely from dadachamame (だだちゃ豆), a particularly flavorful cultivar of edamame (枝豆) grown in Yamagata Prefecture (山形県).  I swore I tasted bacon in the potage, but was told there were no other ingredients...

The little cube of tofu was topped with coriander that has been simmering in soy sauce and ginger.  Very salty and full of flavor.

Assortment of "summer vegetables" in fresh "oshitashi" style with simmered "abalone" and "kuruma ebi prawn" ("夏野菜くし" のさわやかな "お浸し" "煮鮑" と "車海老" を添えて) -  this medley of 15 summer vegetables was slow-cooked for 6 hours at 80 degrees Celsius.  I counted only 12... with cucumber, baby corn, okra, edamame, asparagus, ginger stem, shiitake (椎茸), winter melon, eggplant, shiso flower (花穂紫蘇), bamboo shoot and a small green veg I didn't recognize.  The tiger prawn was barely cooked... very nice!

"Premium sea urchin" from Hakodate and cold egg custard "grilled corn" style with deep fried leek (北海道 函館の "極上うに" "焼とうもろこし" 仕立ての冷製茶碗蒸し 揚葱をふりかけて ) - the fresh, thin leeks were nice.  The corn from Miyazaki Prefecture (宮崎県) was raw and very sweet, and I could taste the sugar and starch in the grainy texture.  And I love cold chawanmushi... so refreshing in the summer.  Needless to say the uni was superb.

Tokushima "pike eel" clear soup with premium soup stocked from bone of "pike eel" (徳島県産 "鱧" の椀 "鱧" の骨から抽出した極上のスープと共に) - looks like pike conger is THE seasonal item, as I'm having it for the second evening in a row.  My server told me that they studied the anatomy of pike congers by putting it through an X-ray, so they could figure out how the numerous bones are structured.  They slice through the eel at a 26-degree angle for the bones...  There were eggplants from Kyoto and perhaps some myoga (茗荷) in the soup, and there was dab of plum sauce on the fish along with a sprinkle of yuzu (柚子) rind.  To be honest, this presentation of the conger looks like an animal's brain to me...

Fresh "greenling" from Ibaraki and smoked "bonito" sashimi with seaweed (茨城県日立産 夕方の "アイナメ" と 燻し "鰹" お造り 洗い海苔を添えて) - the bonito came with chopped spring onions and some marinated cucumber.  The greenling came with grated radish soaked in ponzu (ポン酢おろし).  I really liked the seaweed, too.

Chef Yamamoto's Summer Specialite (sic): grilled "ayu" fish over charcoal with chill presentation, RyuGin special "benitade sauce" using "watermelon" (シェフ山本 夏のスペシャリテ "泳がし鮎" の炭火焼 涼しげな演出と共に "すいか" を使った 龍吟名物 "紅蓼酢" を添えて) - this was definitely special... the one course I could smell every time a waiter walked past me carrying it out from the kitchen.  The sweetfish was grilled with bamboo leaves and had this amazing smoky fragrance - the smoke was still rising as the dish was presented.

They were skewered and arranged in particular poses before grilling - so that they would look as if in the motion of swimming - and laid out on a stone slab meant to simulate a river.  A very pretty presentation...so Japanese... Parts of the organs were removed to dial down the bitter taste, and a watermelon/red pepper sauce accompanies the fish.  The chef chooses sweetfish that are no more than 16cm long, in order to ensure the proper taste and texture.

Halfway through dinner and I'm out of sake, so I move up to Kokuryu Daiginjo Ryu (黒龍 大吟醸 龍).  This was much richer in terms of flavors... A little drier on the palate and sharper in terms of alcohol, although I could still taste the sweetness and the classic banana nose.  Seimaibuai of 40%.

"Warm" and "chilled"... "shark fin" "celeri" and "amanaga pepper" "sky blue small eggplant" with "kegani crab" jelly sauce ("温" と "冷" "フカヒレ" "セロリ" "甘唐" の熟々生姜あんかけ "琉璃色茄子" の冷製仕立て "毛蟹" のジュレを流して) - this course came in three parts and plays on the different temperatures food is served at.

The eggplant with crab meat was cold and pretty nice, with yuzu-flavored jelly on top.

The shark's fin with green chili pepper and bean sprouts was warm but totally uninteresting for a guy like me.  It seems like a way to add an expensive (and totally un-environmentally friendly) ingredient.  I thought this was the weakest point of the meal by far.

The foie gras torchon with fig, myoga in sesame sauce was very nicely done.  A very pleasant combination of flavors.

Charboiled "wild eel" from Biwako Lake with "ginger orange" (琵琶湖産 "天然大鰻" の炭火焼 "ジンジャーオレンジ" を添えて) - the eel definitely tasted of dirt and really needed the sansho powder on the side.  The marinade was a combination of sake, soy sauce and vinegar. The young sansho leaves(木の芽) on top were pretty tasty and tingling...

"Simmered rice with matsutake mushroom" and grilled "kuroge wagyu" beef from Iwate, miso soup with "shiba shrimp broth" ("早松茸の炊き込みご飯" と岩手県産 "黒毛和牛" の炭火焼 "芝海老出汁" の赤出汁と共に) - the wagyu beef was very nicely grilled.  Enough fat to impart flavor but not too much to turn you off.

The rice was delicate and fragrant.

Even the pickles came wrapped as nigiri... and the flavors all worked together in one bite.

The server asked if I had more space, so what else did I say but reply "Yes"?!  I was then served two small portions of carbs...

karasumi ochatsuke (カラスミお茶漬け) was great.  I love bottarga and I love having ochatsuke (お茶漬け), so what's not to love about the combination of those two?!

yuzu soba (柚子そば) was also a no-brainer for me...

-196 degree Celsius candy apple and +99 degree Celsius "apple jam" (-196°Cの "りんごあめ" と +99°Cの "アメ炊きりんご") - we go molecular with the first dessert.  The apple-shaped candy shell contains apple juice that has been frozen to powder by liquid nitrogen at -196°C.  Then warm apple jam is poured on top, and the combination of the two is pretty interesting.

Hot parfait RyuGin style, Vol. 8 "Peach and So" (熟々仕立ての 龍吟パフェ 第八作 "桃と蘇") - parfait with red wine crumble, peach, caramel ice cream and cream cheese "So".  Pretty interesting combination, both in terms of flavors and textures.

At the end of the evening, I was a very happy man.  I had high expectations for RyuGin, and I was certainly not disappointed by Chef Seiji Yamamoto's (山本征治) creative cuisine.  I was also most impressed with the knowledge of the waitstaff, who were able to answer every one of my questions regarding the ingredients and the method of preparation.  You certainly don't see that in many places...

P.S.  The sole bathroom on the premises is the most impressive one I've visited in recent memory.  It was stocked with a bewildering selection of amenities... single portions of mouthwash in several flavors; paper cups with a dedicated faucet for drinking water; cotton buds; toothpicks; those tiny brushes used to floss one's teeth; perfumed hand cream in small plastic jars; rubber sheets used to absorb excess grease from one's face; drink mix to combat drunkenness; eyeglass issue; and mini eyeshadow sticks for the ladies...all in different colors!