Ah fuck, this one was a little difficult to write as well. I wrote a pretty glowing review about Kurosaki after my last visit in December and I stand by that that meal was superb – virtually few flaws in a style I greatly enjoy and demonstrated a tremendous amount of growth since I’d long seen him last.
This visit was a touch different. I still enjoyed my meal here and I’d absolutely come again but I think I’m also shifting Kurosaki to my “once a year” list and I’m probably gonna keep those visits to winter. Tonight was a late dinner seating with mostly Japanese folks and then four foreigners at the end of the counter, sadly I wasn’t getting a meal with someone I knew this time so conversation was a little sparse but I recognized some of the apprentices including one of them I thought was the second most competent of the bunch last visit and we got to talking in between courses so I still had fun.
My precious visit had a huge full team dedicated to the service and all of them were doing a pretty solid job – Kurosaki-san himself is stern but not mean and it works well with the personality of his team members. Tonight there was a private room seating with the second chef and staff were split between the two services leading to a general level of inconsistency and several notable quality/service issues that werent present in my previous meal.
Courses tonight were:
1. Tara shirako + the three Kai dashi (I think hamaguri, asari and another I forgot) surinagashi. Solid as always 2. Not a course but the classic gotemba wasabi 3. Kinmedai shabu shabu, ponzu was pretty strong but kinmedai itself was very good quality 4. Kue misoyaki isobeyaki, nekase for 3 weeks. Solid – I liked this a decent amount 5. Aka nameko, fuckin huge – loved this 6. Nigiri starts w Sakura masu shoyu zuke from Kyoto (miyazu?, unsure what I heard). I don’t normally like masu or iwana n so on but these recent ones have been solid – there’s depth beyond simple fat n even that fattiness has tasted better than a lot of the stuff I’ve had in the states weirdly (even the high end ones that get imported) 7. Netsuki saba from amakusa, 直送. Fun presentation n nigiri was solid, not worth the money he likely paid for it 8. Tsunami again w Komochi yari ika with geso stuffed into the head as well. Excellent if a touch overly sweet – was nice with the wasabi and a glass of hinotori I ordered 9. Kohada direct from Amakusa like the saba, the one in winter was EXCEPTIONAL. This was alright 10. Kuruma ebi from yamaguchi, hmmmm. I think this, the next course and the extras was where the staffing thing really showed up – mine was perfectly mi cuit but kinda tasteless whereas it was good last time 11. Echizengani – had some shells n mine was overcooked. Taste itself wasn’t great either. Such a disappointment from how truly exceptional this was last visit 12. Murasaki uni from Amakusa, 直送. So this meal was actually pretty close to Akira I just have had troubles writing it because I wanted to be objective but I still like the place. This was solid – better than Akira’s version and about in line with Riku’s version. 13. Sayori, solid 14. Otoro zuke, from Shizuoka. Alright 15. Akami zuke, from the same. Alright 16. Chutoro zuke, alright 17. Kuruma atame age – not the best version I’ve had of this this trip and a little worse than last time Nodoguro oshizushi, kind of fishy? I think the atari negi (mixed w ginger jus) was meant to 18. help combat that but it still came through a little too much. Great fat level, just spread the fishy taste and coated my mouth w it so kinda sucked a little 19. Kanpyo maki 20. Tamagoyaki, these crème brûlée-esque tamagoyaki are fun but I do kinda prefer the more cakey versions or some
Extras:
1. Tenmi, shari nicely acidic but got cold 22. Chiagishi, shari kinda mushy n overcooked 23. Yaki torafugu shirako, the grilled outer layer was exceptional but flavour itself wasn’t great a little light, even for fugu shirako
I’d define this meal as one racked with inconsistencies – likely in part due to the splitting of staff as well as a season that I did not feel fully maximized Kurosaki’s major strengths. Courses that were electric the previous meals felt substandard and displayed cooking errors unthinkable for someone I’d considered a bit more exacting, even in his early years.
It’s no biggie though, I still liked the meal overall although this time it did feel very expensive since the service and food was worse. I’d still recommend it but try and come in winter – I think you’ll still have a great time.
I had a whole thing talking about the new restaurant he’s opening up but he’s just teased it online so if you wanna know more details lmk otherwise I’ll just leave it here.
Oh wholly unrelated, if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area – I’m doing the Fu Hui Hua raffle again. I’ve got two additional seats and rules are same as before – just lmk you’re interested and pay for your own meal if chosen. I know it can feel like it’s invite only at this point and I’d like to allow more folks to try it out. I want to be upfront that we had like 100+ folks apply last time so it is a bit of a roulette type thing but easier than sitting on their waitlist which is like 9x from what someone else told me
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Ah fuck, this one was a little difficult to write as well. I wrote a pretty glowing review about Kurosaki after my last visit in December and I stand by that that meal was superb – virtually few flaws in a style I greatly enjoy and demonstrated a tremendous amount of growth since I’d long seen him last.
This visit was a touch different. I still enjoyed my meal here and I’d absolutely come again but I think I’m also shifting Kurosaki to my “once a year” list and I’m probably gonna keep those visits to winter. Tonight was a late dinner seating with mostly Japanese folks and then four foreigners at the end of the counter, sadly I wasn’t getting a meal with someone I knew this time so conversation was a little sparse but I recognized some of the apprentices including one of them I thought was the second most competent of the bunch last visit and we got to talking in between courses so I still had fun.
My precious visit had a huge full team dedicated to the service and all of them were doing a pretty solid job – Kurosaki-san himself is stern but not mean and it works well with the personality of his team members. Tonight there was a private room seating with the second chef and staff were split between the two services leading to a general level of inconsistency and several notable quality/service issues that werent present in my previous meal.
Courses tonight were:
1. Tara shirako + the three Kai dashi (I think hamaguri, asari and another I forgot) surinagashi. Solid as always
2. Not a course but the classic gotemba wasabi
3. Kinmedai shabu shabu, ponzu was pretty strong but kinmedai itself was very good quality
4. Kue misoyaki isobeyaki, nekase for 3 weeks. Solid – I liked this a decent amount
5. Aka nameko, fuckin huge – loved this
6. Nigiri starts w Sakura masu shoyu zuke from Kyoto (miyazu?, unsure what I heard). I don’t normally like masu or iwana n so on but these recent ones have been solid – there’s depth beyond simple fat n even that fattiness has tasted better than a lot of the stuff I’ve had in the states weirdly (even the high end ones that get imported)
7. Netsuki saba from amakusa, 直送. Fun presentation n nigiri was solid, not worth the money he likely paid for it
8. Tsunami again w Komochi yari ika with geso stuffed into the head as well. Excellent if a touch overly sweet – was nice with the wasabi and a glass of hinotori I ordered
9. Kohada direct from Amakusa like the saba, the one in winter was EXCEPTIONAL. This was alright
10. Kuruma ebi from yamaguchi, hmmmm. I think this, the next course and the extras was where the staffing thing really showed up – mine was perfectly mi cuit but kinda tasteless whereas it was good last time
11. Echizengani – had some shells n mine was overcooked. Taste itself wasn’t great either. Such a disappointment from how truly exceptional this was last visit
12. Murasaki uni from Amakusa, 直送. So this meal was actually pretty close to Akira I just have had troubles writing it because I wanted to be objective but I still like the place. This was solid – better than Akira’s version and about in line with Riku’s version.
13. Sayori, solid
14. Otoro zuke, from Shizuoka. Alright
15. Akami zuke, from the same. Alright
16. Chutoro zuke, alright
17. Kuruma atame age – not the best version I’ve had of this this trip and a little worse than last time
Nodoguro oshizushi, kind of fishy? I think the atari negi (mixed w ginger jus) was meant to 18. help combat that but it still came through a little too much. Great fat level, just spread the fishy taste and coated my mouth w it so kinda sucked a little
19. Kanpyo maki
20. Tamagoyaki, these crème brûlée-esque tamagoyaki are fun but I do kinda prefer the more cakey versions or some
Extras:
1. Tenmi, shari nicely acidic but got cold
22. Chiagishi, shari kinda mushy n overcooked
23. Yaki torafugu shirako, the grilled outer layer was exceptional but flavour itself wasn’t great a little light, even for fugu shirako
I’d define this meal as one racked with inconsistencies – likely in part due to the splitting of staff as well as a season that I did not feel fully maximized Kurosaki’s major strengths. Courses that were electric the previous meals felt substandard and displayed cooking errors unthinkable for someone I’d considered a bit more exacting, even in his early years.
It’s no biggie though, I still liked the meal overall although this time it did feel very expensive since the service and food was worse. I’d still recommend it but try and come in winter – I think you’ll still have a great time.
I had a whole thing talking about the new restaurant he’s opening up but he’s just teased it online so if you wanna know more details lmk otherwise I’ll just leave it here.
Oh wholly unrelated, if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area – I’m doing the Fu Hui Hua raffle again. I’ve got two additional seats and rules are same as before – just lmk you’re interested and pay for your own meal if chosen. I know it can feel like it’s invite only at this point and I’d like to allow more folks to try it out. I want to be upfront that we had like 100+ folks apply last time so it is a bit of a roulette type thing but easier than sitting on their waitlist which is like 9x from what someone else told me