Ochobo 千代保
Add: 2F 20 Donghu Road / 东湖路20号2楼
Tel: 5404 7866
Hours: 6-10pm (closed on Sunday)
Price: 580 RMB/set
Visited: Oct 2015
Dinner at Ochobo, the sister restaurant of Sushi Oyama and Kappo Yu. The kaiseki set is priced at 580 RMB, making it the most affordable of the family, and I find the portion to be more manageable as well (I tend to leave overstuffed from Sushi Oyama and Kappo Yu). Reservation recommended.
Menu, written on a paper fan, changes monthly.
Sake cup selection.
Steamed egg custard, with delicious flavor from matsuba crab.
Favorite part about sitting at the bar: seeing the chefs at work.
Sashimi plate: sweet shrimp, bream with sea urchin, scorched mackarel, chutoro tuna belly. All excellent, except my piece of chutoro had a very chewy tendon.
Charcoal-roasted free-range chicken with three toppings: wasabi, figs, and vinegared mushrooms. Not especially impressed.
A cup of honey osmanthus tea to cleanse the palate. This was lovely.
Tempura #1: Chinese yam with sour plum and shaved bonito.
Tempura #2: half-cooked yolk. The chef explained that this is quite difficult to do, as the yolk needs to be frozen to the right degree before getting coated and deep-fried. Very nice texture.
Tempura #3: shrimp.
Main course option 1: beef sukiyaki, served with a hot spring egg. Perfect texture when cooked till just pink as instructed.
Main course option 2: roasted golden thread fin bream with black truffle sauce and shaved black truffles. Not memorable.
Smoked salmon rice topped with salmon roe marinated in smoked soy sauce. There are also cubes of Chinese yam and Japanese omelet to add some extra layers of texture and flavor.
Desserts: grapefruit jelly, glutinous rice ball and chestnut. Simple and light ending, as it should be.
580 RMB for all of the above, not too bad. There are less courses than at Kappo Yu and Sushi Oyama, making it more manageable for me as I find the amount of food at these two restaurants to be excessive. If you are not full at the end of the meal, you can of course order more at additional cost. A place to come back to.
