vickichowder: SASHIMI

DINNER AT HOME: MOUNT WASHINGTON, LA

, by vickichowder

IMAI, GEORGETOWN

Our friend's had their Japanese restaurant opened for almost a year and I still haven't been yet! After I went once a couple of months ago, I've been visiting once a week since then.

Now every time we come on a weekend (is when they stock types of fish aside from salmon, tuna, butterfish, mackerel, ...), we get orders of these fish:

Clockwise from 1200: Hamachi/yellowtail, sea bass, sea bream, flounder

Flounder is the one laid out in a fan. Texture has more of a bite and does not necessarily 'melt in your mouth'. You can get a varying taste by adding the grated radish (orange), green onion, and an almost yuzu tasting sauce. Very good.

I've ever only had sea bass cooked, and knowing that there was a sashimi sea bass available, we had to try it. Maybe because I have been so used to the texture and flavours of cooked sea bass - that I think I enjoyed this less that I would have hoped. Good.

Sea bream. I've had it where they score the skin in a diamond pattern and then torch the skin lightly. Here, the sea bream is completely skinned. Nothing special here, but a good change in taste from salmon and tunas. Okay.

My favourite hamachi / yellowtail. I order this everytime now, and it isn't even one of the in-stock-on-weekend only fishes. The fat marbling is dispersed well (unlike salmon where you can clearly see the lines of fat from meters away - which of course is not literal.)

And then when it is not weekend we get the chef's choice:

I don't usually get these cause it'll come with the surf clam, of which I was never fond (cause it would be tough and hard to chew). But chef here scores the underside of the surf clam in a criss cross manner so that it is remarkably easy to bite into.

Tuna tataki here is coated with black pepper and when not ordered as an appetizer, does not come with the yuzu sauce and green onion, radish garnishes.

Clam sake broth soup. So intensely flavoured. I underestimated the flavours simply because this broth looks see-through and clear. But it hits you right away - the sweetness of the clam, the umami from the mushroom (which I would assume is heavily involved in the flavouring of the broth), the kombu, dashi (involved in this seafood taste), and the sake (very mellow). The amount of clams in there were very plentiful. This kind of soup is the warming soup you'd like to have when you're sick or trying to recover from a hangover. Very good.

Cool Autumn: One of the four season rolls they offer. Chef makes 4 very different rolls with different techniques to capture the 4 seasons. The autumn one includes a sweet savoury eel and crispy salmon bits, and a smooth avocado. It's drizzled with more of that sweet savoury sauce, bonito flakes, and refreshing slivers of green onion. Probably ordered this at least three times. Very good.

I actually came here on so many occasions I'll need at least three more posts of the same restaurant. Coming soon.

Currently in the lovely SF where I am reunited with my very missed foods and a drink that only bartenders here know: Tokyo Tea. But the people living here don't seem to know it well?

Anyhow, its been so bittersweet leaving home after only spending a week there and then having to leave yet again. I will, however, make good use of my time here to take in all the good food. Speaking of which I still have a bunch of places that I shot in SF from a few months ago that are still due a post.

I have been lazy as usual.

, by vickichowder

ABALONE

JABISTRO, TORONTO

For my birthday we went to JaBistro...

And ordered ahi tuna, chopped up with spicy mayo, green onions, micro sprouts, salmon roe, uni

Eaten with some crispy seaweed.

This was on the daily special. Was very much like spicy tuna, but made elegant and with the uni and roe. And I just have to comment that the rectangular bamboo board is actually the same one from Dollarama. I don't know about the box though.

Lobster miso. Who knew miso could taste so good. They dislodged most of the lobster claw meat while keeping it pretty in the shell so it was easy to pick out and eat. It's a rather large bowl of soup when you compare it to the ones you typically get from the black-outside-red-inside-with-lid bowls of miso everywhere else. There were probably 2-3 bowls of the small ones in this one large bowl.

There is our pretty platter being made by the very energetic chef

We were debating whether to get the $50 platter or $100 platter. According to our very informative server, the difference is quality and selection. So of course we dived in on the $100 platter, adding also the lobster platter (at market price) (which included the lobster miso soup).

Wagyu skewer and clusters of lobster sashimi up at the very top

Wagyu was all that we had hoped it to be: the well marbling of fat was cooked very slightly, keeping the meat soft and melt-in-the-mouth (when you put it in your mouth).

The lobster was very crisp, and like the shrimp, creamy. We had lobster sashimi at Guu Sakabar, and I liked that one more. It was blanched very slightly, then cold shocked, making the lobster meat so much softer and creamier than just, plain raw.

Salmon, hidden under the swirl of daikon skin, with very distinct near-the-belly layers of fat, was not particularly better than the sashimi grade salmon you can get at the fish market on certain days.

The piece (or was it 2) of geoduck was amazing. Crisp and crunchy, and very creamy as you laid it on the tongue.

The uni was the same uni from most Japanese restaurants (they took it out of the very distinct sectioned white container I had once ordered from the Japanese food wholesaler). Had I expected more? Yes of course. For a 100$ platter I expected a bit more.

We had three types of tuna: lean, medium fatty, and full fatty (left to right, increasing in lightness of pink). We ate them in that order, savouring the fattest for the last. Yes, it really was the best piece of tuna I've ever had.

Above the tuna, underneath the swirl of daikon (which I think serves very little aesthetic purpose) is kanpachi, or amberjack. The entire slice was creamy and full of flavour, especially in the red colored flesh.

The scallop was cut in half lengthwise (semi circle), was not fresh (i.e. previously frozen) and still had the extraneous piece of muscle clinging to the side (which they should have removed). Last week we bought fresh scallops from the fish market to eat raw, and it was better than Jabistro's.

In there somewhere was also a slice of abalone. Abalone is best when raw or very slightly blanched. They served it raw here and it was indeed good.

On the right, is the shrimp head with the creamy delicious head innards, and an extremely sweet and clear tasting raw shrimp meat (not in the picture)

Then is hamachi (translucent and pink) and sea bream (with dark skin still on). Hamachi or yellowtail, was not exceptionally different from other places, but sea bream, what is usually not available at many Japanese restaurants, was delicious here. The chef scored the skin and torched only the skin, contributing to an almost smoky smell. It has a very distinct mild taste and a meaty texture.

What did I not like about this sashimi platter?
The excessive use of cucumbers scattered all throughout and touching my fish.

Ok yes, maybe it makes everything look better (gives the platter more dimension) but I'm not a big fan of having the taste of cucumber on the pieces of fish that are touching it.

I ordered the JaBistro slipper, which had a cherry that piqued my interest. My friend got the green tea mojito. Both were very refreshing.

The matcha brownie was amazing. I don't even like brownies but this was an exception. Very dense but not too chewy, they gave us 3 or 4? pieces of very strongly concentrated matcha cake. It was not crumbly, and almost creamy in texture. Sitting on top of a bed of a crisp cookie and pistachio crumbs was your typical matcha ice cream (I want to say it is the one and only Hime one), accompanied by blueberries and strawberry quarters (you know, when they cut a strawberry down the tip into 4).

Yes, and that is chocolate sauce and matcha powder circling the edge of the plate. Being a person who doesn't like chocolate that much enjoyed the little bit of chocolate here very much.

Let me borrow your hands for a sec so I can give this *four thumbs up*

Those knives, are so beautiful and could easily cost more than my tuition *drools*

Along with our receipt came a chocolate for each of us. And because you're at JaBistro, you don't just get any after dinner candy but Valrhona dark chocolate. They are famous for being camel-toe-shaped.

It's on urbanspoon!

Zomato as well!

It was dark and you can only see my silhouette, right by the fish's mouth *points*

P/S

At Trader Joe's (during our Washington trip) we found a hybrid fruit:

We were going to buy some (actually it was only me that was going to buy one out of curiosity, but we ended up buying brie instead (again it was just me that wanted to buy the brie.

Dear Readers, where will you be eating for your birthday?

, by vickichowder

AYCE

FULFILLING MY CRAVINGS

Click to see JJ Japanese Thai on Urbanspoon!

While waiting for my other friends to come I take pictures.

Have you met my love for butterfish?

A craving that's been lingering around for more often than not is my sudden need for sashimi once a week or once every other week. And that's how I ended up choosing JJ Japanese Thai restaurant to eat all-you-can-eat for dinner:

There's so much variety here, but I still can't get my mind off that salmon.

The atmosphere was really nice and quiet, and the washrooms were beautiful (which is the main thing I use to judge the overall cleanliness and quality of the restaurant). The only thing I didn't like about JJ was the service we received from the servers. They seemed rather unenthusiastic and got several of our orders wrong (she often gave us different sashimi from the ones we told her we wanted). But oh well - we can always get more!

We paid an average of $35 (some got more drinks than others), but I can see the differences in sashimi when going to a nicer AYCE now: the size and thickness of each slice is similar to sashimi from an à la carte menu.

Butterfish and salmon tataki - sashimi that's lightly seared on the outside

Determined to make our money's worth of this place, we tried to order a lot of the sashimi as well as other seafood dishes. My favourite seafood dish was the salmon tataki because the sauce that they pour on top is a bit spicy and cuts the fat in the salmon really well! The one thing I didn't like about the salmon tataki was that they seemed to be coated with crumbs!

Beef tataki

I ate with one of my friends who is 99% carnivorous, so we got several orders of the beef tataki - which was also extremely delicious. The deep fried garlic slices went well with the softness of the nice and rare beef (I love it that way). Very tender and a must-order-as-much-as-you-can dish if you happen to be eating their AYCE option.

Chicken teriyaki

The chicken teriyaki was grilled, but still very moist and flavourful! Though most of the vegetables that were underneath the chicken remained uneaten, it was taken away by the server who knew that it probably wouldn't get finished. She was right - it wouldn't have, as our mouths were too occupied with meat, seafood, or the foods of the deep-fried kind.

Mini sushi pizzas

I was disappointed but also relieved because the piece of rice was so small. Disappointed because since it was such a thin piece of rice it was dry after being deep-fried. But glad that it was small because it didn't fill us up too much.

Deep fried gyozas

My most memorable memory of going to Krispy Kreme was not the gush of their distinct smell that goes through your olfactory senses the moment you walk in, nor was it watching the bare doughnuts roll through the waterfall of white glaze - the sense that retained my most memorable Krispy Kreme moments was none other than my sense of taste!

The guy shoots rings of chocolate batter into the hot vegetable shortening

This doughnuts are covered with a thin layer of their sweet glaze

A while back, the Krispy Kreme workers would kindly offer a freshly fried and glazed doughnut off the hot rolling racks to whoever went in and asked (I would often go for seconds and insist that I needed to give one to my dad - which was, of course, not true, because I would end up eating the second one too!).

The cashier lady kindly microwaved a few for us so we could eat it "fresh"

Now, free doughnuts from my favourite doughnut shop no longer exist - so my excitement that bubbles when I see the "Hot Now" sign lit up no longer bubbles as much as before. But the absence of free doughnuts will never stop me from satisfying my Krispy Kreme cravings!

One last need that must be continually satisfied is my need to take pictures of the foods I am about to eat - before it is eaten. And so this weekend my breakfast was delayed for 10 minutes as I tried to find the better plates, cups, and positions that the foods would look best in. All that time spent was just to capture this:

Good morning food!

My mom made a sponge cake with kabocha squash, a Japanese pumpkin (remember how I said I liked pumpkin flavoured things and eating kabocha?). Along with two nicely ripened kiwis, a Korean persimmon (which has seeds!), and a cup of hazelnut coffee, I enjoyed the relaxing breakfast I've been longing for.

MUAH MUAH MUAH

VICKI CHOW

P/S

I went into the holiday break with the mindset that I'd be able to catch up on my missed hours of sleep - but I was wronged. Those two weeks didn't do much good to my black circles and under-eye bags, so I hope to be able to sleep more this school term (which I doubt will happen too *sad*)

Recently discovered that sleeping on my back is more comfortable that I thought it was *yay*

Oh yes, since I went back home this weekend, I had my typical weekend diet which meant of dimsum Sundays.

Do you have a typical weekend/weekday diet? What does it consist?

, by vickichowder

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DINNER AT HOME: MOUNT WASHINGTON, LA

IMAI, GEORGETOWN

JABISTRO, TORONTO

FULFILLING MY CRAVINGS

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DINNER AT HOME: MOUNT WASHINGTON, LA

IMAI, GEORGETOWN

JABISTRO, TORONTO

FULFILLING MY CRAVINGS

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