01/10/2012

Wagu beef – Kutani

So my friend was eager to try out some japanese beef.

So was I. Its been a while since I’ve been to teppanyaki. Teppanyaki is a recent style of Japanese cooking which involves cooking food on a massive plate in front of the customers.

You can see our raw food sitting on the plate. Fish and vegetables. But let me get back to the story.

We went to the Ritz Carlton, Kutani which is inside Hinokizaka (one Michelin star). Now usually I am very skeptical of Michelin stars applied to asian food…

So it started off well. Would you care to choose your chopstick sir?

And now all ready.

Just missing some small thing.

Ahh, there it is. Roast beef? Oh yah, a bit weird. Quite good. But I’m not here for british food.

I’m here for this. Wagu beef. See that fat marbling?

Just in case you missed it, here is a closer picture. It has so much fat it probably looks like my heart at the moment.

Ah well, sometimes you either can live a long untasteful life, or die in happiness.

I know which one I would choose. You?

Anyway, to distract us from the main course here is some dover sole. On the left are three different types of salt. Some bitter type of salt (black) normal sea salt (white) and ginger salt (yellow). And the fishy.

Dover sole on a lemon daikon base with ladies finger. It was so juicy and flavourable. Perfectly cooked.

How do you make it so juicy? Treat it like a baby. I kid you not. The chef spent 5 minutes “caring” and “washing” this “baby” so tenderly. Every 5 seconds he would scoop the juice and drizzle it back over the fish.

Anyway, no I haven’t forgotten about the main course. This is beef fillet.

The left side is garlic. Yes garlic flakes grilled on the stove.

And the beef fillet is on top of rock salt.

Here is another look.

You know the expression “melt in your mouth”?

Well, this was practically melting on the plate (or salt in this case).

I would describe the taste, but anything I would say would be inadequeate. Instead, let me describe the reaction from my friend tonkatsu boy (see previous post). Basically the opposite to that. That means good things, just in case you were wondering.

Also because of my excessive greed, we also had sirloin. This was even more juicy (more fat).

My morbid curiosity was asking wondering how fat the owner (now deceased, poor cow) really was.

But things don’t stop there. You need some beansprouts on the side.

Some veggies to pretend you are being healthy. Now these both would deserve their own accolades in any other post.

But too bad this time. Outdone by the meat.

Some miso soup to wash it all down.

And the best fried rice of my life.

Each grain was “standing up” as it was perfectly cooked. And see all those tiny ingredients? That’s what happens when you dice egg, garlic and nuts. The cook spent 10 minutes lovingly twirling the rice like a pizza every 5 seconds to ensure the taste seeped in without burning the rice.