Shintori @ Shanghai

Unmarked door in the gray concrete wall lead to an beautiful bamboo garden; only revealing clue is bouncer at the front door…


this hides a massive but minimalist Japanese restaurant which is very easy to miss.


High ceilings, dramatic glass and sushi chef tables with modernist flower arrangements...

We had a "Golden Year Of The Tiger" menu washed down with a bottle of champagne Taittinger.


Three Delights - Vinegar flavored sea eel, fig in walnut sauce and plum sauce-flavored crown daisy and eniki mushroom


Clear Soup - Crab meat egg tofu


Assorted seasonal sashimi


Grilled Dish - pan fried beef tenderloin in Japanese tomato sauce


Deep-Fried Dish - Shrimp tempura


Rice & Soup - Udon in soyabeen milk and miso sauce


Dessert - Green tea pudding with red bean bisque

Although the food was not very creative, it has been for sure amusing. All ingredients fresh and delicious. The best things I had was the grilled dish. Grilled over a stone fire and picking up the smell from bamboo… just fantastic and soft and tender. The green tea pudding - very light, fresh and perfect desert from my point of view.

Probably there are better Japanese restaurants in Shanghai, but if one takes in account full package approach, Shintori is highly recommended.

Rating: 8.5 (out of 10.0)

Shintori
803 Julu Road
French Concession
Shanghai

Fifty Fifty, 6-course omakase dinner

White fish with a spicy salsa, yuzu drizzle, coriander, yamamomo…


otsumami...


robata biff with spicy miso...


salmon...


maguro tataki with yuzusoya and koriander...


sushi and maki selections

This was a quite descent dinner, but far away from something spectacular.

Recommended.

Rating: 7.0 (out of 10.0)

Fifty Fifty
Vesterbrogade 42 (in the passage at the Ny Teater)
1620 Copenhagen V
Denmark

Kabuki Wellington @ Madrid

Kabuki Wellington; one Michelin star restaurant, the space of Ricardo Sanz and probably one of the best place in Spain when it comes to Japanese food.


Behind the enormous bar, Ricardo Sanz...


and his team...


let's start...

This are unmistakable THE signature dishes:


the butterfish with white truffle cream...


otoro served a-la Jamón ibérico and literally melt...


langostino, scallops and the Kobe mini-burger...

Everything was simply exquisite and ideal twist between Mediterranean and Japanese kitchen. The butterfish with white truffle was perfect, the fish fresh, the Kobe mini-burger so tasteful and fun… but otoro was pure joy and in my opinion, as close as possible to gastronomic perfection.

Aright, I admit I've become a sushi snob long before I’ve eat in Kabuki, but Ricardo Sanz definitely served for me a sushi and sashimi that has changed my conception on how sushi can taste; a master of sushi and in combination of the spacious and yet minimalist restaurant... well, it is a kind of magic.

If you up to for a desert, just go for Yofu dessert.

Highly Recommended.

Rating: 9.0 (out of 10.0)

Kabuki Wellington
Calle Velázquez 6
Madrid 28001

Restaurant Etika

Directly from Faroese, Jens Rahbek re-invent sushi kitchen in Copenhagen. Of course he has a lot of experience his brother Kim actually has been behind Sticks'n'Sushi, one of the best fast-food chain sushi restaurant in Copenhagen...

Etika sushi menu span from 275 kr up to 1100 kr... so it is quite ambitious restaurant, but my previous experience tells me Jens can pull it off (see here).

What we had:


Boring but tasty california Uramaki...


North Atlantic scallops, langoustine and maguro... simply amazing and these are among the best I've tasted in in Denmark, especially langoustine.


the kitchen...


the entrance...

And the second try:


Spicy octopus salad (Tako)... delicate and without any elastic texture...


Inside-out softshell crab (kani) and Maguro to abocado...


and good cocktail as a desert...

Such a freshness, taste and silky texture is quite rarely tasted in Copenhagen, and all achieved by the quality of raw materials!

Recommended.

Rating: 8.0 (out of 10.0)

Restaurant Etika
Ny Østergade 14
Copenhagen K 1101
Denmark

Haiku Sushi

Haiku Sushi is an pleasant surprise and definitely a different experience compared to other mid-tier sushi places.

Obviously, businesses wise, this eatery is struggling bit more compared to for example some well know sushi chains.

In any case what was interesting to me is American or better say San Francisco sushi style; different and more crisp/crunch/mayo orientate.


Batter fried shrimp and vegetables tempura...


Rainbow roll, Dynamite roll, Spicy Crunch Roll, Tuna, Salomon and King Fish Nigiri, etc.


On the way home... so, be careful what you are doing; SpiderMan is around...

I'm not saying I adore the style, but it is fun to try it out.

Rating: -

Haiku Sushi
Nytorv 19,
1450 København K

Nobu London, a new wave of Japanese cooking

I consider Nobu as one of the leaders in new wave Japanese cooking. It has an original vision and quite a few signature dishes.

Unfortunately this time around, I haven't had a chance to have a full blown dinner because... simply, we arrived very late (23h) as I had some more important place to attend (read my blog post) :-)

However, what we had, although simple, everything tasted simply delicious:


Sushi dinner


Tenderloin of beef with teriyaki source


Tempura dinner

All this washed down by Hokusetsu Junmai Dai-Ginjo a very very silky and in the same time passionate sake.

This is no doubt one of the very top Japanese restaurants in Europe I've visited.

All operation are smooth and on time, it has a fantastic sake and wine list by the glass and by the way, this restaurant is rated number 34 on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.

Recommended.

Rating: 8.6 (out of 10.0)

Nobu
15 Berkeley Street
London W1J 8DY

Lunch at Dai San Harumi, a guest blog post

This is contribution from my friend Rickard Zerpe; enjoy!


The street rep of this joint puts it right up there with with the big guys; like for example Mizutani, and the word is that the captain of the establishment, Nagayama-san is a stern and somewhat eccentric fish otaku so it was not without a dash of fear we entered his modest sushi bar in Shimbashi.


working hours ;-)


Rickard and Marcus


Nagayama-san surprised me with his chatty and happy manners. He proudly fetched a copy of one of his sushi books for us to use through out the lunch to look up the various fishes that made up the 10.000 Yen omakase we ordered.


ready for omakase...

Due to the new years holiday, the supply of fish was a bit limited, something that turned out to be a mixed blessing.

Nagayama-sans opening of the meal was a bit of disappointment. For the life of me I cannot remember what it was and we failed to nail the little bugger on photo too. My memory tells me it was some sort of white, stringy fish that left me far from impressed. Might have been Hirasuzuki, Sea Bass.


Saba (Mackerill). What a comeback! The Saba was nothing less than jaw dropping deliciousness. The only Saba I have tasted that could rival this one was at the aforementioned Mizutani. Due to the limited supply of fish this time of year, Nagayama-san served us Saba twice.


Kohada. Nagayama-san continued the course with another master piece. The Kohada is supposedly very difficult to get right, but Nagayama-san really came through here.


Ika (Squid). One member of our party can usually not stand squid, but he had nothing but praise for this one.


Shibi maguro (Young tuna). Not so fatty as the Oootoro, but very rich in taste.


Ootoro (super fatty tuna). Excellent! Accordingly to Nagayama-san he usually does not serve this one for lunch, but due to the limited fish supply he chose to serve us this 2000 Yen a pop Ootoro. This was the high point of the meal for me.


Ikura (Salmon Roe). Nothing to complain about here. Very good, though a bit pale in comparison to the amazing Oootoro.


Hotate no kaibashira(scallops). Excellent.


Kisu no kobusime (Japanese sillago). The Kisu is a bit blend in taste. To remedy that, kelp is used to inject flavor in the fish. Very good.


Kuruma ebi (Prawn). I cannot remember anything in particular about this one.


Miso soup


Uni (Sea urshin). Very tasty. The uni carried lots of interesting flavors.


Mushi anago (Steamed sea eel). One of my favorites. So rich in taste! A bit messy on the fingers though.

Temaki sushi. I have no special memories of this one except that Nagayama-san urged us to eat it very fast. In fact so fast that we failed to catch it on photo.

Tamago. Good, but not all that memorable.


Onigara yaki (Grilled shrimp). Awful! Onigarayaki is supposed to be crunchy and crispy, but this one was undercooked and hence virtually impossible to chew. After chewing on a tiny piece for a few minutes I gave up. None of us could eat it. A total disaster. Too bad Nagayama-san ended the otherwise excellent course in this way.

With the exception of the disastrous closing of the meal, Dai San Harumi delivered an exceptionally good lunch to a very favorable price. The highlights of the course definitely compares with that of the big guys, but the quality seemed a bit more uneven if, compared to, for example with that of Mizutani.

Dai San Harumi,
1-17-7 Shinbashi, Minato-ku, Tokyo