Sugared & Spiced

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Inagiku 稻菊

Address: Shanghai Marriott Hotel City Centre, 2/F, 555 Xizang Zhong Lu, near Fengyang Lu / 西藏中路555号2楼, 近凤阳路
Tel: 2312 9888
Hours: [lunch] 11:30am-2:30pm [dinner] 5:30pm-10:30pm
Website: www.shanghaimarriott.com/dining
Price: [lunch] 130~580 RMB [dinner] 600 RMB+
Visited on:  2012-02-11

Please note that this is an arranged tasting, so my experience is possibly more positive than a regular visit.

The recently opened Shanghai Marriott Hotel City Centre houses a few high potential restaurants, one of them being Inagiku. The restaurant originally began as a small tempura joint in Hamamachi back in 1866, but as its popularity grew, Inagiku opened its first international branch at the Wardorf Astoria in New York, and it can now be found some very fine hotels like Four Seasons Hong Kong, Shangri-la Manila, and Park Hyatt Beijing. Overseeing the Shanghai branch is veteran Inagiku chef Shinji Morihara, who puts together an extensive offering of premium sushi, teppanyaki, and the famous Inagiku tempura.

Inagiku

Sushi bar

The interior is fresh and contemporary with navy blue and blonde wood. The main dining room, featuring separate sushi and tenppanyaki bar, overlooks the Winter Garden. The space also includes five private dining suites, seating up to 10 guests.

Interior

Corner table

Inagiku serves 19 Business and Premier Lunch Sets (yes, 19!), all starting with a refreshing appetizer and a baby green salad. Simple and clean.

Appetizer

Baby Leaf Salad

Before the rest of our sets arrived, came an a la carte order of Australian Premier Wagyu Strip Loin Steak (80g 190 RMB). Teppanyaki is another focus of the restaurant, and this plate certainly exemplified that. Minimally but perfectly seasoned, and so very very juicy.

 Australian Premier Wagyu Strip Loin Steak (80g RMB 190)

 Australian Premier Wagyu Strip Loin Steak (80g RMB 190)

Here is my Premier Sashimi Set (480 RMB), an absolute abundance of food. What it involved in addition to the appetizer and baby green salad: assorted sashimi, tempura, foie gras egg custard, rice, pickles, side dish, miso soup, and ice-cream.

Premier Sashimi Set (480 RMB)

One of Inagiku’s most celebrated dishes is its tempura. The secret is the type of frying oil they use, which is made from top grade Nagano White Sesame refined through a traditional process called “tamashibori”. Though the tempura still seemed a bit oily to me, it is quite significantly lighter than the typical tempura you will find in other restaurants.

Tempura

What’s interesting is that the tempura is served with three types of dipping salt: matcha, curry, and ginger. We were told by the restaurant that Japanese people actually prefer dipping tempura in salt instead of the dashi sauce, since this way the tempura can retain its crispness.

Dipping salt

Matcha salt

But if you so desire, you can also dip your tempura in the dashi-mirin-soy sauce mixture.

Tempura dipping sauce

Then there is a fresh and quality plate of assorted sashimi – uni (sea urchin), ika (squid), akami (tuna), toro (tuna belly), sake (salmon), hotate (scallop), Botan ebi (Botan shrimp), with freshly grated wasabi.

Assorted sashimi

Here’s a snapshot of the Premier Chirashi Sushi Set (460 RMB) my lunch date ordered. That’s quite a good looking bowl of chirashi there, no?

Premier Chirashi Sushi Set, 460 RMB

Chirashi

Both sets came with foie gras egg custard.

Foie Gras Egg Custard

Miso soup, and pickles for the rice. I quite liked the crown daisy leaves that were added to the miso soup, which gave the bowl a uniquely appetizing aroma. Wish I had room for the rice and pickles, but by this point I just had to let them go.

Miso soup

Pickles

The meal ended with a small cup of black sesame ice-cream (green tea and vanilla flavors also available). A simple but satisfying finish.

Sesame Ice-Cream

Inagiku is quite expensive and I’m not so sure if I would come here on my own, but it certainly is a nice spot for business gatherings. Call ahead to book one of its private dining rooms should you be looking to entertain some important guests.

Private dining