Year-end team lunch

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'Twas the last Friday before Christmas, and the guys wanted to do a team lunch together.  As usual I let them pick what they wanted to eat, and someone decided it was a good idea to go to Sushi Sase (鮨佐瀬)... OK, so I know these guys wouldn't want to be taken out to Tsui Wah (翠華) or Kau Kee (九記)...

Once again I took the traditional sushi set (織部 握り), and asked them to change out any tuna in the set.  They do use domestic Japanese tuna (本マグロ) caught around Hokkaido, so I'm glad I insist on not having any...

As usual, a steamed egg custard (茶碗蒸し) to start us off...

Striped jack (縞鰺) - with a little relish made of horseradish, leeks, and bonito flakes.

Sweet shrimp (甘蝦) - gotta say these were some of the fattiest sweet shrimps I've ever been served...

Horse mackerel (鯵) - very yummy, with some ginger, spring onion, and that sauce called 三星醬 again.

Yellowtail (鰤) - wild, and surprisingly not crunchy at all as I had expected during this season.  Nice smoky flavors from the skin.

We get a bowl of miso soup right about now...

Surf clam (北寄貝) - with a little soy sauce and a drizzle of sudachi lime (酢橘) juice.

Salmon (鮭) - Hokkaido king salmon (大介), with nice, deep flavors and a wonderfully soft texture that could only have come from aging.

Mackerel (鯖) - I love it when they use these wafer-thin slices of kelp on top of the neta (ネタ)... Mackerel is one of my favorite kinds of fish, both for the flavors as well as texture.  While I expected the smoky flavors here, I was surprised at the sweetness that probably came from the tare (タレ) or the kelp marinade...

Salmon roe (イクラ) - I would never complain about one of my favorite things...

Horsehair crab (毛蟹) - served with crab tomalley (蟹味噌) on top, and the flavors here were so strong and wonderful.  One of the two pieces I received in lieu of the chopped toro and pickle roll (お新香トロ巻き).

Octopus (蛸) - the other substitute piece, where the chef got out this big tentacle and cut out a slice...

The octupus was very, very tender, but retains a degree of chewiness.  Yum.

Conger eel (穴子) - pretty decent.

Egg (卵) - well, I guess I've gotten used to the idea of having the "lower end" egg with set lunch... but I do have to say that somehow I absolutely loved this today.  Instead of just being sweet, the umami flavors of mirin (味醂) dominated.

Tanuki udon (たぬきうどん) - as if lots of rice expanding in the stomach with the miso soup and tea wasn't enough, we get a bowl of udon at the very end, just in case you were still hungry.  Unfortunately the soup today was much too salty and full of MSG...

A pretty good lunch, and I think the others enjoyed theirs, too.