Kaiseki at Kaygetsu near Stanford.
Menu
Course 1: bell pepper tofu
It's not really tofu...and I didn't really like it. However, they had uni imported from Japan with rich flavor.
Once I put the uni in the mouth, I breathed into the mouth with lips sealed and allowed its rich aroma to fill my mouth.
A mixture of sweet, salty, and 濃稠 began to fill my mouth.
B+ for uni and creativity.
So kaiseki is known for different plates for each dish. This bowl for sashimi reminds me of a clamshell.
I am very critical of fresh fish, since my mom educated me on what to look for.
Also I have a very sensitive palette, so I could actually taste if something has been inside the fridge or water has been sitting out for too long.
All these are defrosted fish, and they have been frost bitten. :P
Freshness is a must in sashimi, when it's been frozen for too long, when unfrozen its texture is usually very soggy and the meat has no...elasticity(?).
Also, the right cut of the meat is crucial.
The salmon tasted fishy and soggy because it's not fresh, the toro was fiberous when it's suppose to be fatty and melt away on top of the tongue like butter, and the white fish is just...soggy.
Major fail for a restaurant like this...
(am I being too critical?)
F
Slow cooked veggie.
Nothing really stands out since I am not accustomed to these mountain wild veggie, thus I cannot appreciate its freshness.
However, I did enjoy the mixture of the mountain potato and broth mixed together.
The soup base is extremely light, and probably made with tsuyu.
B+
Hassun, or 八寸.
I suppose it got its name from a tray that is 8"X8".
Aside from tolerable sushi piece in the middle, everything else was just really great!
The softshell crab was perfect. I was surprised a cold dish softshell crab did not taste fishy at all.
Great marinade.
The lotus root slice was stuffed with egg yoke mixed with yellow mustard. A little spicy and tangy.
Salmon marinated in miso was pretty good, there was also anago and tamago that were just really good.
A for this one.
Fried dish.
Can't see it in the back, but the dish consisted of:
tempura shiso leaf, ginger, and Kobe beef wrapped in bamboo shoot wrapped in yuba and tempura the whole thing.
I was pretty impressed with their tempura skill.
Batter is light, which is not easy...
The shiso leaf is really good. Actually, there wasn't much flavor, but I am just impressed they could tempura a leaf...something so...light.
I couldn't appreciate the kobe beef, since I am not a big red meat eater.
A for the leaf!
Grilled dish.
The chicken roll (left) is so delicious. It's oragnic dark meat wrapping around fishcake.
The salad on the right is supposedly truffle oil salad.
I tasted no truffle oil. Maybe they only gave 1 drop using piping?
Regardless of the stingy truffle oil, I give it A for the great chicken.
Gohan. Rice was well cooked with 5 veggie. Soup was ok. The pickled veggie is ok.
By this time my stomach was about to explode since I drank so much tea, so I can barely taste anything now.
Everything is so light in this dish...I wonder why they brought it out after chicken.
I can't rate this one since I couldn't taste it. It's my fault.
The dessert box.
On the lower left corner is the black sesemi "mochi", which is no mochi at all. It's made with the same style as the first dish, which I have no idea how it's made.
However, the fragrant black sesame in conjunction with black sugar syrup was a wonderful mix.
The top right corner was frozen banana with cream rolled in a green tea sponge cake. It was good, but nothing special about it. It's topped with fresh strawberry and syrup.
The big blob next to it is red bean paste.
A for this one.
I think the restaurant is about a B+ to me.
The menu comes with sake pairing. The whole idea of eating with wine seems a bit silly to me, especially for Japanese food. Since everything is so light in flavor and the point of eating a lot of Japanese food is about freshness, having alcohol that numbs the palette really does not make sense. Then again, it could be because I am a lightweight drinker nowadays. No more frat parties for me.
I was just telling Shinning that if we don't celebrate birthdays and forgo the presents, we could probably start buying expensive designer furnitures to decorate our new place.
However, the idea seems a bit sad since there won't be any kind of celebration...
I guess I still need my Ph.D. to make more money.
It seems variable though.
Some of the part-time faculty makes about $120,000 a year, some of them make about $70,000...
I guess hardcore education makes more than clinical teaching.
Comments (22)
wow..what a nice way to celebrate a bday.
You don't need presents to celebrate. My friends and I don't really get each other anything for bdays, enjoying each other's company over some alcohol is better than any material gift for me.
And yeah....furniture gets so expensive. I got pretty depressed on how much more I've had to spend on making my first house a home after my big ass downpayment check was cleared
@caihwei - Wow! You bought a house already?!
Are you one of those finance people?
@Wangium - finance? lol no. I rather play with money than work with it. I used to invest heavily in stocks & bonds back when my income was 100% disposable (living with parents). Made a few good choices that paid off greatly
yeah i never drink alcohol with japanese food, only tea. the dessert looks yummmmy, and so does the stuffed lotus root lol
i think i need to eat more than just sushi when it comes to japanese, those dishes look so different.
john and i have been giving each other big gifts over the past three years, but i think it's a waste of money, too. but it's a birthday, it's nice to make it special with a nice restaurant.
@stepaside_loser - Who's John?
@TomaccoPie - Shanghai has this lotus roots dish that's stuffed with sweet rice and cooked in rock sugar and sweet olive.
It's a cold dish and very yummy too.
I've only seen that in China right now.
@Wangium - my closest friend, who happens to be gay
Oh, I so want to eat dinner with you now. Such attention to detail and great food analysis!
As soon as I read the menu, that bell pepper "tofu" made me suspicious. Making food pretend to be something it isn't seems like a recipe for disaster, no pun intended.
Still, glad you were able to have an evening out to celebrate such a special occasion.
That's a nice birthday dinner. Being a lightweight drinker means more dollars being saved.
btw - I would be very intimidated to cook for you.
What a sumptuous multi-course meal! We'll be heading up to SF this July 4th, but sadly, I have already booked another place for W's birthday dinner. Otherwise, your Japanese restaurant is definitely worth a try!
ps. I'm sure S will feel very special and happy dining at this place!!
Yup, more education always pays.
@christao408 - "attention to detail"...that's a nice way to put it XD
@ElusiveWords - Yeah...shinning is always scared of cooking for me because of the way I criticize professional chefs, but I think home cooking is very different. It's made with love :D
@curry69curry - Where are you planning to take that person?
I'd give the gohan dish a B+. The pickles were yummy, but the rice and miso didn't have quite enough flavor.
@ElusiveWords - welcome to my world. :) We have an agreement now - as long as he thanks me for cooking first, he can criticize all he wants afterwards. ;)
@ElusiveWords - @speedracer74 - Well, I do welcome criticism with my cooking though.
That's how I know I can improve...
It's important for me to get the just right amount of flavor for the people who are tasting it.
So next time I cook for him or myself I would add X grams more or less sugar/salt/soy sauce and stuff
what a good way to celebrate a birthday....the food looks yummy...
Looks delicious. Black sesame and black syrup. Where do I get some. ;)
@brooklyn2028 - I saw them in convenient stores in Taiwan... :D
@Wangium - Cool! I'll try to find it when I'm there in about a month!
Yum! The food looks amazing!