Pin It
It's been more than a year and a half, and I'm back together with my Tokyo gang for another round of wines. This time around H-man booked us a private room at
YAKITORI燃, which specializes in Californian wines and is, apparently, happy to let us bring more than 1 or 2 bottles to dinner. For someone who normally stays away from yakitori joints due to her disinterest in tasteless chickens and a dislike of innards, Foursheets is having her second yakitori dinner in just 3 days. We did tell the restaurant that she wishes to avoid innards, so they offered her substitute skewers.
The
Moe Course (燃コース) includes 7 skewers, a warm dish, a cold dish, a carb dish, plus dessert for a pretty reasonable price.
Oden (おでん) - with tofu, egg, maitake (舞茸), and spinach.
Chicken wings (手羽先)
Heart (こころ)
Simple salad with shio kombu (塩こぶのシンプルサラダ)
Breast and leek (ねぎま)
Knee cartilage (ひざ軟骨)
Tail (ぼんちり)
There was a dish with fish cum, so I happily gave it up and let others enjoy.
Chicken meat balls with yolk (つくね黄身付き) - came with the yolk of a Maximum Koitamago (マキシマムこいたまご) from Amada Tokyo (アマダ東京). That was a serioiusly good yolk!
TKG chicken soup set (TKG鶏すーぷセット) - we were offered a choice of carbs including
oyakodon (親子丼),
chicken stock ramen (鶏白湯ラーメン)...etc, but the minute I heard the word "TKG" - which is short for
tamago kake gohan (卵かけご飯) - I was sold.
The rice came topped not with shaved
katsuobushi (鰹節) but
toribushi (鶏節) made of chicken instead.
We've got the raw egg on the side...
Then it was up to me to mix it all together. I was so, so happy!
This chicken soup on the side was damn tasty.
Having not been told by H-man that we had a minimum charge for using the private room - which, of course, made perfect sense - I thought we weren't spending enough while occupying the room. I also wanted a little more veg, since Japanese cuisine doesn't often serve up enough for a Chinese palate. So I ordered up a few extra dishes.
Winter shiitake (どんこしいたけ)
Grilled eringi (エリンギ一本焼き)
Liver pâté with baguette (レバーパテ バゲット付き) - with figs added to the
pâté so there was some sweetness to offset the bitterness of the chicken liver.
Grilled mozarella with nori (モザレラチーズ 磯辺串)
Yuzu sorbet (ゆずソルベ)
Sansho and milk gelato (山椒ミルクジェラート) - this, along with the yuzu sorbet, both came from
Kiminoka (キミノーカ) in Wakayama Prefecture (和歌山県). This was pretty interesting as the fragrance of
sansho (山椒) was definitely there.
Crème caramel (プリン) - I can't say 'NO' to any プリン I see in Japan, especially when a yakitori joint decides to make it themselves. Slurp.
Our gatherings have always revolved around wines, and tonight we chose to bring together wines from the late, great Henri Bonneau.
2017 Ultramarine Blanc de Blancs, disgorged November 16, 2021 - nose was very toasty and buttery.
2022 Yukidoke Shonai Pinot Gris - pretty fragrant on the nose.
2007 Henri Bonneau Châteauneuf-du-Pape - drank about 1 hour after opening without decanting. Nice nose of prunes, spices, with meaty notes. Still got the tannins around but with good acidity balance.
2007 Henri Bonneau Réserve des Célestins - drank about 1½ hours after opening without decanting. The nose was definitely a little farmy but also more fragrant, more savory notes along with some leather. Tannins were very silky on the palate. More than 2 hours after opening the nose opened up and showed beautiful floral notes that reminded me of certain kinds of soap.
1998 Henri Bonneau Réserve des Célestins - drank a little before 2 hours after opening without decanting. The nose was definitely more fruity and sweet, but not quite to the level of being jammy. Sweet on the palate, too. This was rich and really lovely.
1986 Henri Bonneau Réserve des Célestins - drank about 1½ hours after decanting. Definitely more farmy on the nose, but this wine was so elegant and lovely, very alluring.
It's always fun to catch up with these friends who have known each other for close to 30 years, who have shared many meals - both homecooked and not - in different cities across continents. We've drunk a lot of good wines together, and let's hope there is a lot more to come!
No comments:
Post a Comment