No tuna, please

Pin It

I'm back at Gyodoike (魚道生) for an impromptu dinner.  It really has become one of my favorite places for Japanese in town, and I think the chef has started to recognize me.

As usual we let the chef make the call on what to send us, although I did ask for beef to be left off the menu, as well as tuna.  I've asked for tuna to be taken out almost every time that I've been here, but I still have to specify that it's ALL cuts of tuna.  They don't seem to get it here…

Whelk (つぶ貝) - very crunchy.  Nice way to kick off.

Flounder (平目)

Appetizer platter:

White fish (白身魚) - with aloe vera in plum sauce.

Squid tentacles with yuzu sauce; baby abalone with sea urchin - the ゲソ had a nice texture.  The baby abalone was overcooked.

Crab tomalley (蟹味噌) with vegetable fern (過貓) - not sure why the chef added caviar on top.

Scallop (帆立貝) - Hokkaido scallop with a little 炙り treatment

Glass shrimp (白海老) - from Toyama Prefecture (富山県), flavored with a little bit of yuzu and wasabi.

Rosy seabass (赤鯥) - with some myoga (茗荷), red peppercorns and shichimi powder (七味唐辛子).

Grilled firefly squid (蛍烏賊) - yup, shichimi powder (七味唐辛子) again, with a little bit of grated ginger.

My request for "no tuna" once again didn't get passed to the chef, and we were served fatty tuna (トロ) before I asked for it to be taken away.    As a substitute the chef sent us baby conger eels (穴子), which I'd never had before.  Can you say shichimi powder (七味唐辛子)?

Hokkaido oyster (牡蠣)

Grilled tilefish (甘鯛)

Squid (烏賊)

Sea urchin (雲丹)

Splendid alfonsino (金目鯛)

Mackerel (鯖) - as usual, with a thin piece of kelp (昆布) pickled in vinegar.

Because I didn't want any tuna, the chef did not serve us the usual chirashi rice (ちらし寿司) and gave me rice with sea urchin, salmon roe (イクラ) and lightly torched flounder wings (縁側) with a touch of yuzu.

Dessert was red bean paste and jelly.  Not bad at all.