Another smoky evening

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It's no secret I'm a big fan of David Lai and his restaurants, but one outlet which I've never been to has been Kushiyaki Beco (串焼 べこ), the JV between David and Satoru Mukogawa of Sushi Kuu (寿司喰).  So three years after it opened (the anniversary party was held earlier in the week), I finally got a chance to go when the Specialist requested kushiyaki/yakitori for dinner.

I arrived and was led upstairs to a table by the stairs, which placed us pretty much directly above the cooking area.  This would be really interesting, as I couldn't for the life of me focus on the nose of the wines we had brought... I seem to recall a somewhat similar experience just two weeks ago...

Knowing that we didn't want our dishes coming at once, I cautioned the Specialist and we ended up ordering in rounds.  We do have two bottles of wine, so the food had better come staggered so that we can stretch out the evening!

Ox tongue (牛タン) - David had recommended this, although we would have gotten it anyway!  Thick cut and delicious.  Great texture and flavors.  Should have gotten more of these!

Short rib (カルビ) - paled in comparison to the tongue.  We had higher expectations but this turned out just OK...

Chicken meatballs (つくね) - I found this a little unusual, as many other versions come in one long piece, while we've got 3 meatballs here.  The other unusual aspect is that the surface was much rougher, and while the texture was always crunchy and chewy thanks to the chopped up cartilage inside, the minced chicken itself was also more chunky and fatty than I expected.  Different, but not bad.

Chicken thigh (鶏もも) - actually this was better than the short rib...

Baby sardine cracker (たたみイワシ) - I love it when the Japanese invent snacks like this... a thin, crunchy cracker made of itty bitty tiny sardines... Soooo unhealthy, but soooo good!

Chicken soft bone (鶏軟骨) - not bad, but my favorite chicken cartilage is still the deep-fried version at Irori (いろり)...

Tri tip (うちもも) - OK, so it would be totally unfair to compare this with the last piece of tri tip I ate... at Restaurant André in Singapore.  My first bite was nothing special - although the meat did have a higher amount of beefy flavor - until I came across a tiny bit of charred fat with my second bite.  THAT little bit of fat was pretty heavenly, and reminded me of the awesomeness of what I had in Singapore.

We can't exactly be having meat all night, so an order was put in for some stir-fried vegetables.  Seasoned with black pepper and shredded bonito.

Asparagus (アスパラガス)

Grilled rice ball (焼おにぎり) - I wasn't exactly hungry, but felt I needed some carbs since nutritionists would want me to have a balanced diet...  This was a little under-seasoned for my taste, so I added some soy sauce (bad boy!) and shichimi (七味).

We didn't need any dessert, but the manager offered us free ice cream... The Nikisaku Ice (二期作アイス) from Kochi Ice (高知アイス) was pretty awesome.  It's made with rice harvested around Nankoku City (南国市) in Kochi Prefecture (高知県).  The individual rice grains are embedded in the smooth and creamy ice cream, providing an interesting texture and bite.  It wasn't long before I greedily lapped up every last bit.

So what were we drinking that I was desperately trying to appreciate through the smoke?

Jacques Selosse V.O. (dégorgée le 28 Avril 2009) - ripe and mellow, with toasty nose and straw, marmalade and caramelized sugar.  Version Originale is a blanc de blancs made from 3 successive vintages.  Can I just tell you how much I love what Anselme Selosse does?

2002 Pontet-Canet - ripe and fruity, smoky, grilled meats.