Archive for the ‘japanese’ tag
[SHANGHAI] Shari
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Shari
Add: 630 Yongjia Lu, near Wulumuqi Lu / 永嘉路630号, 近乌鲁木齐路
Tel: 5466 0320
Hours: [Mon-Fri] 11:30am~2:30pm, 5:30pm-11pm [Sat-Sun] 11:30am~2:30pm, 5:30pm-10pm
Website: www.shari-shanghai.cn
Price: 150~250RMB/person
Visited on: 2012-04
5 minutes before dinner, my friend called and said in an unsure voice, “I’m at the door, but this place doesn’t look like it serves sushi…” Indeed, the colonial villa in which Shari is situated in does not resemble a typical Japanese restaurant, but no one has ever decreed that sushi rolls can only be served in tatami-floorered rooms, right?
We started with an assorted appetizer plate (98 RMB), which included shari tofu (Japanese tofu mixed with mascarpone cheese), umani (Japanese traditional stewed clam), kamonegi (roasted duck and fried scallions with balsamic), tomato with avocado, onsen tamago (half-boiled egg with miso jelly), and nanbanzuke (fried white fish marinated in sweet vinegar sauce).
[SHANGHAI] Kota’s Kitchen
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Kota’s Kitchen
Address: 2905 Xietu Lu, near Lingling Lu / 斜土路2905号， 近零陵路
Tel: 6481 2005
Hours: 6:00pm~1:00am
Website: www.kotaskitchen.com
Price: 150~200 RMB/person
Visited on: 2011-12-04
There’s a warm buzz at Kota’s Kitchen that makes you feel you’ve come to the right place. This intimate, perpetually packed Japanese yakitori shochu bar has all the right elements – skewered items grilled to perfection over Japanese charcoal, artery-clogging but supremely gratifying fried chicken, fried potatoes, fried anything, and Beatles posters all over its walls and classic tunes of “Love Me Do” and “Yellow Submarine” in the background. My favorite yakitori place in town, hands down.
Kota’s Kitchen
Packed, as always
Beatles Beatles Beatles
A meal at Kota’s always starts with a plate of freshly sliced carrots, cucumbers, and daikons with accompanying mayonnaise and a mildly spicy sauce. This is probably going to be the healthiest plate you’ll see all evening.
Appetizer
Let’s start with the skewered items. Our favorite was the tender, luscious chicken meatball (20 RMB/skewer) with quail eggs. I personally also really loved the grilled camembert cheese (30 RMB/skewer) drizzled with balsamic vinegar and beef short ribs (35 RMB/skewer), but really, everything else we ordered – chicken liver (15 RMB/skewer), chicken thigh (15 RMB/skewer), beef tongue (20 RMB/skewer) – were delicious.
[SHANGHAI] Mo-Mo Paradise
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Mo-Mo Paradise
Address: Hong Fang Zi, 2/F, 35 Shanxi Nan Lu, near Changle Lu / 红房子, 陕西南路35号2楼, 近长乐路
Tel: 5236 6038
Hours: [Mon-Fri] 11:30am~3:00pm, 5:00pm~10:00pm [Sat-Sun] 11:30am~10:00pm
Website: www.mo-mo-sh.com
Price: [lunch] 118~128 RMB/person, drinks extra, [dinner] 138~150 RMB/person, drinks extra
Visited on: 2011-11-22
Last year, Sugared & Spiced kicked off the hot pot season with Qimin Organic Hot Pot (still a lovely spot to visit), and this year, it all started with Mo-Mo Paradise. Originally from Tokyo, this hot pot chain now has around 100 branches in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, and its Shanghai branch just opened earlier this year. For 118~128 RMB (lunch) and 138~150 RMB (dinner), they offer all-you-can-eat selections of high quality meats and organic vegetables. Clean interior, excellent service, no fuss.
Mo-Mo Paradise
How to enjoy your pot?
The appetizer plate consists of four daintily put together small bites.
Appetizer
Mo-Mo Paradise offers four broth choices: sukiyaki, shabu shabu, spicy miso, and curry. The most popular choice is the sukiyaki broth, a sweet and savory combination of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin (a rice wine with a 40~50% sugar content).
[SHANGHAI] Organ [3]
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Organ
Address: 66 Ziyunxi Lu, near Loushanguan Lu 紫云西路66号, 近娄山关路
Tel: 5206 5937
Hours: 11:30am~10:00pm
Website: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/organ0417
Price: [Lunch] 40~50 RMB [Cakes] 25~35 RMB
IMPORTANT NOTE: Organ has recently closed and reopened here.
You can tell from my first and second posts on Organ that this discreet little Japanese cafe is one of my favorite lunch spots near my office, so I was very sad to hear that they are moving to Hongmei Lu area in August. Where will I go for lunch from now on?
Organ, moving notice
As the new location is too far from my office, I know I need to seize my last chances to lunch at Organ before they move. So here I am!
New hand-drawn menu
The tofu burger (48 RMB), one of my favorite dishes at Organ, was a delight as always. The patty was soft and tender, perfect with the scoop of turgid, chewy mixed-grain rice served on the side. What made the dish spark was a mound of shiso leaves and a bit of grated turnips topping the tofu burger, each adding a refreshing layer of flavor.
[SHANGHAI] Sushi Oyama 大山鮨 [2]
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Sushi Oyama 大山鮨
Address: 2/F, 20 Donghu Lu, near Huaihai Lu /東湖路20號2樓, 近淮海路
Tel: 5404 7705
Hours: 6:30pm – 10:30pm (closed Sunday)
Price: 800 RMB/person, drinks extra
Once in a while I eat a meal so perfect that I can’t help but grin from ear to ear until long after the meal has finished. Such was the case after my dinner at Sushi Oyama, an omakase Japanese restaurant with menu that changes nightly. It’s a small but elegant place. The decor is simple, the air is filled with light-hearted jazz, and the focal point of the room is an open sushi bar where Oyama-san and a couple of helpers slice, scorch, press, fold, and roll with determined confidence.
I’m charmed by Sushi Oyama beyond remedy.
Sushi Oyama
Business card case
Work station with fresh ingredients
Oyama-san at work
Sushi Oyama serves only one 800 RMB seasonal set menu every evening. For those sitting at the counter, the menu becomes more of a reference – just tell Oyama-san your cravings, and he’ll do his best to satisfy.
[SHANGHAI] Uo Kura 魚藏
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Uo Kura 魚藏 (Hong Mei store 虹梅店)
Address: No. 30, Lane 3717, Hongmei Lu, near Ya’an Xi Lu / 虹梅路3717弄30号, 近延安西路
Tel: 6446-0252
Hours: 5:30pm-11pm
Price: 500 RMB
I arrived at Uo Kura famished and flustered after a hectic Friday at work, and was counting on the food to brighten up my day. My expectations were justifiably high – Uo Kura is said to be on the same par as Sushi Oyama, my favorite Japanese restaurant in Shanghai. Hungry and eager, we made things simple by ordering two kaiseki sets (495 RMB) and complemented that with some a la carte dishes that looked particularly interesting.
Table setting
The set menu, 495 RMB
The set started with a pleasant chilled mushroom soup as the cold appetizer.
小菜：冷制香菇羹
Cold appetizer: chilled mushroom soup
Next came a pot of soup with duck meat ball and scallion, which was way too salty, but the tender duck meat balls were quite delightful.
溫菜：鴨丸京蔥土瓶蒸
Warm appetizer: soup with duck meat ball and scallion
The next appetizers were rather forgettable, and I was especially disappointed by the flavorless uni (sea urchin) topping the abalone jelly. The only thing memorable from this trio was a fragrant shiso miso that came with the scallops and winter bamboo shoots.
前菜三種：文蛤壽司，軟煮小鮑 烤海膽 松子奶油 鮑魚凍，冬筍扇貝配雞蛋味噌
Appetizers: clam sushi, abalone jelly with soft boiled abalone and pine nuts cream,
winter bamboo shoots with scallop and shiso miso
The sashimi set was small but satisfying, with the ama ebi (sweet shrimp) and otoro (fatty tuna belly) being the easy crowd pleasers as usual.
刺身 Sashimi
[SHANGHAI] Ginza Bairin 银座梅林
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Ginza Bairin 银座梅林
Address: 4/F, IFC Mall, 8 Shiji Da Dao, near Lujiazui Huan Lu 国际金融中心商场,世纪达到8号4楼, 近陆家嘴环路
Tel: 5015 5087
Hours: 10:00am-11:00pm
Website: www.ginzabairin.com
Price: 100~200 RMB/person
Crunch! That’s what you’ll hear when sinking your teeth into a piece of crispy deep-fried pork cutlet at Ginza Bairin. Since 1927, this tonkatsu specialty restaurant has been coating the choicest premium grade pork loin in homemade breadcrumbs and deep frying them in 100% premium cottonseed oil to a satisfying golden brown. The result is pork cutlets with light, crackling skin coating irresistibly tender and succulent meat, and when drizzled with the signature Bairin Tonkatsu sauce then paired with a bowl of perfectly cooked Japanese rice, there simply is no better lunch in sight.
Ginza Bairin
Ginza Bairin interior
The wall
Interesting ceiling
The menu mainly consists of variations of tonkatsu (fattier cut, leaner cut, in a sandwich, with curry, etc.), but there are also options such as shabu shabu or noodles for those who are not in the mood for fried pork cutlet (but why would you come to Bairin if not for the pork cutlets?)
The menu
Tea, love the cup
To get a taste of Bairin at its purest, we ordered the Rosu Katsu Set ロースかつセット(98 RMB small, 128 RMB large). The kurobuta pork loin (黑豚) used in the Rosu Katsu is known for finer fat marbling and shorter muscle fiber which make the pork tender but not greasy. If you prefer a leaner cut, opt for the Hire Katsu Set ヒレーかつセット(108 RMB small, 138 RMB large).
Rosu Katsu
[TOKYO] Toraya 虎屋
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Toraya 虎屋
Address*: Galleria B1F, Tokyo Midtown, D-B117, 9-7-4 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Tel: +81-3-5413-3541
Hours: 11:00am-9:00pm
Website: www.toraya-group.co.jp
*Various locations in Japan and France. Check website for details.
Tokyo Midtown Galleria B1F is a foodie wonderland. Sleek and stylish shops of Sadaharu Aoki, Henri Le Roux, Jean-Paul Hévin, and Maison Kayser bewitch passerby with their alluring display of bright colors and fancy garnishes. Admist all the hustle and bustle, the understated elegance of Toraya is in a class of its own. One of the oldest makers of traditional Japanese sweets, Toraya has been supplying confectionery to the Imperial Family since the 16th century. For those with an appreciation for the subtle sensibilities of wagashi (和菓子), Toraya is a must-visit.
Simple, beautiful packaging
The sweets at Toraya appeal to much more than just the sense of taste. Rather, they engage all fives senses of appearance, taste, texture, scent, and sound. Appearance: the beautiful combination of shapes, colors, and designs, inspired by both natural and cultural images, is a feast for the eyes.Texture: soft or crisp, moist or dry, the texture one feels when handling, cutting, and tasting the sweets reveal the quality of ingredients and superior craftsmanship. Taste: the natural, distinctive flavors of ingredients are showcased through careful preparation. Scent: delicate fragrances enhance the taste without overwhelming the subtleties. Sound: lyrical names from classical prose or poetry, often suggestive of a particular season, are a pleasure to the ears.
Two types of monaka
Despite being overdosed on sweets from Toshi Yoroizuka, I bought a box of monaka (最中), confectionary made of azuki bean filling sandwiched between two thin crisp wafers made from sticky-rice. The package includes two varieties of monaka: cherry blossom shape with soy bean paste (白餡), and plum blossom shape with red kidney bean paste (こし餡). Like most wagashi, monaka are quite sweet and are best when enjoyed with a cup of green tea.
Cherry blossom and plum blossom
Soy bean paste filling
Other than monaka, Toraya also makes beautiful renditions of namagashi 生菓子 (seasonal cakes in the forms of flowers and leaves), yokan 羊羹 (thick jellied sweet made of azuki bean paste, kanten and sugar), higashi 干菓子 (a dry sweets made with glutinous rice flour, sugar and starch), and much more. Next time in Japan, make sure to visit a Toraya branch and try some of their exquisitely crafted Japanese traditional sweets.
Toraya
[TAIPEI] Cafe Megane 眼鏡咖啡
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Cafe Megane 眼鏡咖啡
Address: 5 Lane 52 Si Wei Rd, Taipei 台北市大安區四維路52巷6號
Tel: (02) 2708 4686
Hours: 12:00pm~10:00pm [Closed Tuesday]
Website: http://coffeemegane.com/
Price: [Drinks] 100~220 NTD, [Food] 180~280 NTD
Somewhere near the Tun Hwa/Hsin Yi intersection hides this stylish little café with an attitude. The decor is warm in a subtle palette of natural wood and yellow lighting, but the the wait staff serves with a cool nonchalance – not a frosty or rude manner, but it’s just not the usual warm friendliness typical of Taipei. This irked me a little bit (it’s amazing how fast I’ve grown used to remarkably amiable service in Taipei in the few days I lingered in the city) but this disinterested, thanks-but-I-don’t-really-care-what-you-think mannerism fits squarely with the general vibe of the café.
Cafe Megane
The bike
The signs
There’s a table of four and a table of two, plus 6 slots at the bar and a few outdoor seats. It’s a tiny space, and no, they don’t take reservations. We were lucky to have the whole space to ourselves for a weekday lunch, but it’s not surprising that this place gets packed on weekends.
Indoor seats
Outdoor seats
Megane is Japanese for “eyeglasses,” and sure enough, there was a collection of old-fashioned eyeglasses in the cabinet.
The glasses
The ubiquitous glasses logo
The kitchen
The menu doesn’t offer a wide selection of food items. When in the mood of something savory, you are left with two choices – the onigiri set, or the chicken stew.
The menu
The onigiri set includes two types of Japanese rice balls – the onigiri of your choice (salted salmon or spicy cod roe) and an onigiri of the day, which happened to be flavored with shiso and other fragrant herbs on the day we visited. The set also comes with little mounds of side dishes – gobo slices, egg salad, broiled green peas, pickles, and seaweed salad – and a small bowl of kombu soup filled with daikon, carrots, gobo, konnyaku, and a chicken wing. Light and tasty.
Spicy codfish roe onigiri set 辣鱈魚子飯團套餐, 280 NTD
Onigiri of the day 每日精選飯團
The accompaniments
Kombu soup
The chicken stew is simply a larger version of the kombu soup in the onigiri set, with the addition of fish cakes and a dab of yellow mustard. It’s very light, bordering on bland, but not a bad choice if you are looking for something to soothe the stomach. Next time, however, I’ll definitely go for the onigiri set instead.
Chicken Stew 雞肉煮物, 200 NTD
[SHANGHAI] Organ [2]
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Organ
Address: 66 Ziyunxi Lu, near Loushanguan Lu 紫云西路66号, 近娄山关路
Tel: 5206 5937
Hours: 11:30am~10:00pm
Website: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/organ0417
Price: [Lunch] 40~50 RMB [Cakes] 25~35 RMB
IMPORTANT NOTE: Organ has recently closed and reopened here.
I was absolutely enchanted by this cozy, unpretentious Japanese cafe during my last visit and knew I’d be back very soon. The same warm colors, the same eclectic decorations, the same soothing music on the background…despite the disturbances caused by a few kids running around, Organ is still a charming little oasis.
Organ 2nd floor
Cozy as usual
Here are more of Organ’s handmade menus. Just lovely.
Handmade menu
FYI, Organ is donating 5% of their earning to Japan’s earthquake relief effort.
Notice
There is an interesting looking dish called “jyaco-soboro” rice じゃこそぼろご飯 on the menu. Having no idea what this was, we ordered to find out. “Jyaco-soboro” turned out to be fish simmered in soy sauce, sugar, mirin, and ginger until the liquid is almost gone, so it was somewhat like furikake but much more moist. Combine that with bits of fried egg, pickles, shiso leaves, and a sprinkling of white sesame, it was the perfect topping to a bowl of steamy hot mixed grain rice.
“Jyaco-Soboro” Rice, 42 RMB
We also tried rolled cabbage ロールキャベツ, which is ground pork wrapped in cabbages leaves and cooked in consommé. The version at Organ is topped with demi-glace and served with a Japanese-style egg roll. Quite delicious, as far as I could tell from that one small bite I tried.
Today’s special: Cabbage Roll, 40 RMB
Cabbage roll closeup and Japanese-style egg roll
My favorite was the black curry with rice 黒カレーライス, which was like no other curry I’ve tasted before. The dark color came from black sesame and ひじき (hijiki, a brown seaweed), which gave the curry a wonderfully rich and unique flavor. The chunks you see in the pictures are gelatinous beef tendons, a delicious deviation from the usual beef or chicken used in curry. And yes, that is a raw egg topping the rice.
Black curry rice, 40 RMB
