My very first fine dining tasting experience, spoiled by the brilliant Jun Takai of Takai by Kashiba in Bellevue, WA. The 23-course omakase tasting meal featured local and international fish, mixed with fresh and aged preparation styles.
The champagne and sake pairing came with four tastings; Champagne Laherte Freres Rose de Meunier, Tedorigawa Kinka Sake, Otokoyama Sake Junmai Kimoto Special Pure Rice Sake, and Champagne Pierre Gimmonet & Fils Gastronome Blanc de Blanc to finish.
Two summers ago, I had the great pleasure while serving at Matthews Winery in Woodinville, WA in working an event we hosted for the legendary Shiro Kashiba. He flew in from retirement in Japan to give a speech in front of 150 attendees, with sushi paired with several of our sauvignon blanc options. I became friends with Ed Kashiba at this event over a bottle of our Tenor label Grenache. Ultimately I decided I must visit Ed for my first fine dining experience and was not at all disappointed. I was very fortunate he stopped by our seats at the Chef’s Counter to say shake my hand so I could personally give him his gift bottle. I could not say enough kind words about the Kashiba family, thank you Ed.
Unfortunately there was no printed menu of the tasting to reference and sometimes it was a little difficult to understand what was being served. I don’t have a great write up of the food pictured, frankly I assume the intelligent people in this subreddit can let me know what I was enjoying. I will mention a special shout out to the Sardine dish which Takai said was his personal favorite on the menu. I think I also figured out Blue Fin Tuna is my favorite sashimi of choice.
Highly recommend
by lambandsyrah