I still haven't found what I'm looking for

Pin It

My friend V wanted to catch up before the holidays, and figured we could do with a casual meal.  There are only a couple of people I would normally call on for an occasion like this, and this time I decided to call on RAW Spam Bro again.  As it turned out, our friends at Ginsberg + Chan were doing their staff Christmas dinner at Nikushou tonight, so we had a chance to catch up and try some wines together.

We kicked off with female snow crab (香箱蟹), a seasonal specialty.  In addition to meat from the smaller female, there's also tomalley (蟹味噌), ovaries (内子), and I think some eggs (外子).  Not as decadent as the ones I had in Japan last December, but this will do.  Served with the packaged sushi rice from Sukiyabashi Jiro (すきやばし次郎).

Next came a tempura platter (天ぷら盛合せ):

Ginkgo nuts (銀杏)

Akkeshi oyster (厚岸牡蠣)

Rice cakes with cured mullet roe (唐墨餅) - always happy to have this.

Deep-fried Hida beef filet cutlet (飛騨牛ヒレカツ) - slurp.  Pretty fatty, and very, very tender.

Glass shrimp (白海老)

Yellowtail (鰤) - got some crunch there.

Shanghai crab and kegani chawanmushi (上海蟹と毛蟹の茶碗蒸し) - with ginkgo nuts, Chinese yam (山芋), crunchy chicken skin...

I could definitely taste both types of crabs, along with some ginger flavors.

Then we moved on to the beef:

Thick cut Australian wagyu tongue (厚切りオーストラリア牛タン) - hmmm... not sure this still qualifies as "thick cut".  Certainly thinner than I remembered.

Hanwoo outside skirt, from Born and Bred - RAW Bro had just returned from a trip to Korea, and one of the main events was dining at Born and Bred.  He brought this back as a special item on the menu.  Pretty good.

Kobe top shoulder blade (神戸牛ミスジ) - always very, very happy to have this cut of meat.

Hida ribeye center (飛騨牛リブロース芯) - slurp.

Nagasaki female sirloin (長崎牛サーロイン) - the signature dish with that egg sauce... Always a great way to finish.

Mini Hida beef tendon curry rice (飛騨牛筋カレーライス) - V and I shared an order of this because... it just had to be done.  Unfortunately, this wasn't as good as the previous bowls I've had.  The curry is clearly much more diluted and no longer has the same richness.  It also no longer has the same amount of tendons.  It was still reasonably tasty, especially with the addition of the homemade chili oil.

Traditionally we would get a serving of a variety of Japanese fruits, and tonight was no exception.  Everything was ripe and delicious.

Finally, RAW Bro brought out some kimchi that he and a big group of international chefs had helped make while learning from Jeong Kwan sunim at Chunjinam Hermitage (天真庵).  As it's only been a couple of days since it was made, the flavors were pretty light.

We did OK for two guys in terms of wine, but of course we did share them with RAW Bro and the Ginsbergs.

Daishichi Kimoto Junmai Daiginjo Shizuku Genshu Tamayori Gozen Ginkan (大七  生酛純米大吟醸雫原酒  玉依御前  銀漢), 2013 - a limited edition of 1,200 bottles released to celebrate the 1,200th anniversary of the founding of the monastery on Mount Koya (高野山) by Kobo-daishi (弘法大師).　With a seimaibuai (精米歩合) of 50%.  Nose of banana, sticky rice, a little sharp alcohol, kinda like paint thinner.  A little bitter on the palate.  Later this softened up after more aeration, and got sweeter on the palate.

2001 Arnaud Ente Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Referts - the kind Ginsbergs offered us a pour of this.  Oxidized nose, almost Chinese licorice, with lovely lemon citrus.  Acidity was not too high.

1986 Ducru-Beaucaillou - Served 1½ hours after decanting.  Smoky with a hint of grass.  Actually it was TCA and the wine was lightly corked.  Some graphite and mint, leather.  Pretty nice after 3 hours when the wine has fully opened up, and the TCA faded into the background.

1997 Dubois Chasselas Réserve de la Famille - oxidized nose, sweet like Chinese licorice, but flat on the palate with zero finish.  A little later showed a little flinty notes, and also grassy and green notes.  I carried this back from Switzerland for purely "educational reasons" and figured I would try this with the Ginsbergs.  Well... I'm still waiting to discover a chasselas I actually want to drink...