Tokyo Teaser
The final posts will take awhile but here are some teaser pics. Basic take-aways from this trip? Japanese chefs are not infallible, high-end sushi gets better yet, Luxeat is cool, the Japanese know ice cream, and Thomas Pynchon may have been writing about kaiseki chefs in Gravity’s Rainbow.
- chuck
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caramelcorn said,
November 17, 2009 @ 6:56 am
omg… please post the reviews soon.. looks damn bloody good
Food Snob said,
November 17, 2009 @ 8:46 am
simply incredible photos…
sygyzy said,
November 17, 2009 @ 11:26 am
Is that a bowl of uni?!?!
chuckeats said,
November 17, 2009 @ 12:33 pm
in (possibly) its own cool seawater – yes…
ulterior epicure said,
November 17, 2009 @ 2:15 pm
Shockingly gorgeous tiger prawns.
What follows that mackerel (?) photo? It almost looks like chicken tendon.
Dan said,
November 17, 2009 @ 9:55 pm
The third picture, talk abotu the third picture!
chuckeats said,
November 18, 2009 @ 3:19 pm
ulterior – they were kuruma shrimp – which sounds like it’s basically the same thing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penaeus
that is an (sea, i believe) eel liver – it was served after its (presumably) own flesh as sushi. it is rather strong and quite good – but that small piece is about the right size – more than that and it would be too much.
ulterior epicure said,
November 18, 2009 @ 3:22 pm
@ chuckeats: What was the consistency of the eel liver. It almost looks like it’d be bouncy, or chewy.
chuckeats said,
November 18, 2009 @ 3:26 pm
i don’t honestly remember. i do remember an eel liver found in the bottom of a soup at Nogwai was very rubbery; and i liked the one pictured *much* more – so i presume it had a more creamy than rubbery texture – it was charred on the often-magical grill of Sushiso Masa.
Misha said,
November 23, 2009 @ 11:48 am
Sawada (in photos above) is absolutely incredible. There are few meals you remember in vivid detail. This one makes the list at the highest level. I’ll post full account soon.
I am not sure it’s possible to visit Tokyo only once.
chuckeats said,
November 23, 2009 @ 2:04 pm
Misha, I can’t say I remember it in vivid detail but it is one of the best meals available on this planet – looking forward to your pics and review.
And, yes, my only regret on this visit was that it was the same season as my last visit – the Japanese are so crazy about seasonality that one must visit each season, at a minimum, to begin to get a full idea of the wonder of their food.
Renée said,
November 24, 2009 @ 9:20 pm
As I’ve always tooted (and bias – the season that I have always visited) that Oct-Nov is the best [time to visit Japan] because it features my favourite items: chestnuts and sweet potatoes. I can’t wait to see what combinations of these two sugary starches you had on your trip!
Lars said,
November 28, 2009 @ 10:42 am
WOW!
Looks awesome:)
I really want to go back after my trip this autumn.
You were right about Ryugin, damn nice,,,,,, but i still think that my best meals were at the sushiplaces with Kanesaka as no 1 , Sushi Saito and Sushi Shintaro really close – maybe even better if i would have had dinner there- and Mizutani at 4:th place.
I have had probs with the pictures but it will come out soon;)
We had great meals at L.C. Narisawa, Kondo and plenty more but I strongly advice you to go To Inakaya in Roppongi if you want to have a fun night at a grill.
Eat and live well!
Robert-Gilles Martineau (ロベル) said,
January 12, 2010 @ 1:55 am
Dear Chuck!
Greetings!
As busy as ever!
Great pics as usual!
Did you check where the wasabi came from?
Cheers,
Robert-Gilles
ChuckEats » Ubuntu (Napa) – The Boundaries said,
April 21, 2010 @ 3:41 am
[...] was a late October (2009) meal, immediately after the currently-being-blogged Tokyo trip.3 The food is obviously more bombastic when compared to the monkish stylings of Japanese cuisine [...]