Onjaku, Yaizu (Tabelog 4.55, Gold)

Managed to sneak in on a cancellation two weeks out, so made a quick trip to Yaizu to finally try Onjaku.

Food:

Yamaimo with grilled skin and “raw” karasumi – very mildly flavored, but the undried karasumi and wasabi bring a lot of dimension to the otherwise plain dish. Grilled skin helped with texture and fragrance too.

Fig with peanut miso dengaku – I’ve had much better figs before, but the peanut miso had an incredible aroma that easily made the dish for me.

Hiraaji with hakusai and a negi paste – Again, very light on seasoning in order to highlight the fish but the negi does a lot of heavy lifting.

Owan with shiitake and daikon – Forgot what fish was used here, but overall was a good but basic owan. Appreciated it but not particularly memorable.

Ebodai otsukuri with diced onions – Best dish of the day for me, and probably the best otsukuri course I’ve ever had. The skin was lightly grilled on charcoal which gave it a really nice aroma, and you had all the signature suppleness you’d expect from Sasue Maeda fish. The local foodie beside me agreed it was his favorite dish and audibly had an “oh shit” moment when he tried it.

Renkon mochi with karashi and shiro miso – I love renkon and the asahata varietal they grow in Shizuoka is one of the best in my experience.

Charcoal grilled ise ebj with miso – Apparently that day’s ise ebj was particularly good, and taisho remarked that the miso was in pristine condition. The miso literally could be mistaken for uni and had a very pure flavor. The ise ebi is kept live until midway through service and you can see the flesh convulse on the grill. Had a really nice bite as the interior is kept rare despite having all the charcoal grilled aroma.

Broccoli picked morning of service – charcoal grilled, was packed with flavor. I’ve had broccoli in Shizuoka before so wasn’t that surprised, but it was still a damn good broccoli.

Grilled kinmedai with mizansho sauce – Crispy scales, incredibly juicy, and just perfectly cooked. Another simple preparation that highlights the superior quality of the fish and I loved the floral mizansho sauce.

Slow-cooked turnip – The turnip is placed high up but still exposed to the heat of the grill at the beginning of service, and is slowly cooked until being placed on the coals before the charred exterior is peeled. I don’t usually like turnip, but this was incredibly sweet and juicy.

Shinmai – Very, very fragrant shinmai with great sweetness. This was up there in the plain rice hall of fame for me.

Tachiuo with ebi imo – Again, just incredible fish quality. The flesh was glistening.

Sakura ebi rice – I absolutely love sakura ebi and I had 3 servings of this. They fry the sakura ebi before grilling and just sprinkle it on top of the shinmai from earlier. Simple, but to die for.

Sabazuke rice – Really nice saba with the ginger being a much appreciated touch. This was great, but most of us were too taken with the sakura ebi gohan to get seconds.

La france pear – Just a really nice pear. Nothing more, nothing less.

Yakiimo kintsubo – Simple but good.

The restaurant itself is beautiful and the atmosphere was very serene. It was quite hushed, but not stifling at all. Service was excellent, with the staff going out of their way to refer to you by name which I thought was a nice touch.

Overall, the cooking was very simple and produce forward. I will say that I wasn’t obsessed with every single dish, and I sometimes wished there was just a bit more variety in preparations. The dishes that did hit for me though, particularly the second half of the meal, were everything I’d wanted from an ingredient-driven minimalist restaurant like this. The course ended up costing a bit more because ingredient costs that day were more expensive than usual, but my total bill ran around 23k with tea. I felt it was great value for the quality of food, and they let everyone place their next reservations so I’ll be going back in March.