First of all, they have given me some of the most photogenic dishes I have ever seen. There was flowers, there was forest, there was red. They were quite pleasing to look at and they needed someone much better with a camera than me. But at the same time, for the dishes in the beginning portion of the course, while they were so pretty, they reminded me of the quote from the film called the menu, going as “..Fancy, deconstructed avant bs.” I mean, that would be quite exaggerated claim regarding the menu, but I kept thinking about the line during the first 4 courses -excluding the finger foods-
It seemed to me that I was going to be left disappointed, but things started to change from then on. They started to serve me dishes accompanied with the explanation going like, “This is [ingredients’ name and how they prepared them] and it would give [flavor profile, smoky, savory and etc].” No “representing the forest and ocean.”, No “imagining the scenery of….”, just properly prepared and produced menu items with the fresh ingredients. They were simple, delicious and most of all, not confusing.
People seem to question regarding whether this place deserves 2 stars and in my opinion, yes they -kind of- do. To put it simply, I have seen worse. That could be said on evert category. Ambience, cooking and service. But to be honest, I think Nobuo is mile ahead of them.
The detail of the dishes are
- chorizo mousse inside of soft candy, finger food. It reminded me of the texture of 달고나(Dalgona) -the dessert from The Squid Game- if it has been made thinner
- Oyster ice cream and pickled cucumber, herbal sauce also made from the oyster.
- Crab with almond cream and also the sweet almond sauce that is with more like clotted cream like texture on the bottom. Redeemed the last one.
- Various local greens and the sauce made from them served with creamy egg on the bottom.
- Coconut milk and ajo blanco, surrounded by pickled apple and flowers
- Scallop Carpaccio -although invisible in the picture-, sea urchin and smoked walnut cream. Simple and well produced and presented. Everything the staff told me it would have been there was indeed there and nothing went against each other. Favorite item for tonight.
- Locally sourced red shrimp with sweet beet and also the red shrimp based sauce and pickled onion on top. Condensed flavor of the shrimp from the sauce was the best part in my opinion.
- Fish skin with butter and red pepper based sauce. This one made me straight up “What were they thinking?” The fish skin was cut too thin for me to fully appreciate the texture and while they put so much emphasis on the sauce, the utensils given were simple folk and knife set, therefore it was extremely hard to actually taste the each part.
- Grouper, cooked in lower temperature -sous vide? Maybe, the staff did not use the term- , oyster sauce and nori on top of them. Taro and edible clover to give some texture and acidity in an attempt to distant the dish from ‘too seafoody’. Third best one of them all.
- Lobster and caviar, beurre blanc infused with lobster shell and marigold on top of them. Second best one of them all.
- The last one before the dessert, chicken breast with demi glaace sauce, the sliced truffle is only there for making the guest not forgetting that this is indeed finedining experience. Although it was delicious, it was an odd choice for the main portion of the course.
- The dessert, lime infused apple slices with banana ice cream on top and toffee powder sprinkled on top. Taste of toffee and apple slices completely towered over the banana ice cream.
- Secret menu item, the second dessert ‘The soap’, they made toffee and butter into a bar of soap and it starts melting in your hand right after. The foam is said to be made with lemon grass, but I could not catch it. The idea of eating the melting bar of soap was interesting enough, so, it gave me joy.
- Petit 4, marshmallow, canelé, honey cracker and truffle chocolate, served with blood orange tea.
by ExSogazu