Iwashi (鰯) is coming into season as we speak. Even though it sounds like an exotic Japanese fish that is seldom available at your run of the mill Japanese restaurants or kaiten sushi places, we are sure that almost of you readers have, at some point in life, eaten Iwashi, because it is non other than the humble sardine.
In our case, we have Ma-iwashi or Sardinops melanostictus (真鰯) in the restaurant. It's also known as the Japanese Sardine or Spotted Sardine. We don't think it's necessary to describe what a sardine looks like but most people are surprised by how big the fresh ones are with head and all. It's still not much flesh to go around but worth every bit. It's one of our favorite fish for sashimi. You will be wondering right now if we are crazy to serve sardines raw?!? Trust us, it's the best way to enjoy this soft and fatty fish. It's stronger and oilier tasting than Aji but the flesh has a creamy texture that is found in no other fish. Sashimi is the only way to appreciate the texture and flavour together with the slight grittiness of the small bones left in the meat. Most restaurants avoid serving this because of the image of it being a cheap canned protein to supplement instant noodles in the late of the night, but also because it is a highly labour intensive to prepare. The chef must pin bone this fish after filleting and it a very tedious process for your maximum enjoyment.
In case we haven't convinced you with the gourmet goodness of eating Iwashi, let us tell you about the health and environment goodness of consuming this fish. Iwashi being a silver skinned, fatty fish is loaded with omega-3 and DHAs which are good for lowering cholesterol and risk of heart diseases. If you crave fats, at least eat ones that make you healthier. This fish being a shortlived mass spawner, also has very low levels of mercury compared to apex predators like tuna or swordfish, so even women of reproductive age can safely enjoy these little morsels of ocean flavour. Also because of it's attribute of being shortlived, there is little fishing pressure on wild stocks, so choosing this over a bigger, longer-lived fish, you are also saving the planet's ocean. Most of the time, sardines are used as feed stock to caged reared tunas and there isn't a better time to cut out the middleman or middle-fish, and get your protein direct from source.
We started serving it last week but haven't been recommending it to everyone because it was a small batch to check quality of the fish. We are serious about only giving you the best. Now that we are sure that the fish is fully and truly good for eating do we unleash it upon customers.
Spring is also Sansai (山菜) season. Sansai can be literally translated as mountain vegetables. It's not necessarily wild as most of it are farmed but they usually have different requirements from other table vegetables and more often than not tend to be seasonal. What sets sansai apart from yasai is the taste. Sansai should taste like spring; clean and fresh. When you enjoy a piece of sansai, it should feel like taking a deep breathe of clear, spring mountain air.
Sansai is not one plant but a collection of seasonal plants. Currently we have fuki no to, taro no me, kogomi and fuki in the restaurant, with more varieties to come soon. Sansai was once exclusive to high end japanese establishments but we are now bringing it to you at an accessible price and location.
Our chef recommends sansai tempura this week as it will preserve the more complex taste of sansai better. By biting through the crispy coccon of the tempura protecting the succulent plant within, you will first get a note of herbaceous mild bitterness with or without a little astringency, but that is soon replaced by sweetness on the tongue as the saltiness of the tempura sauce mixes with the rest of the items in your mouth. Don't rush through the morsels but slowly savour the lingering aromas of a mountain forest.
Fuki is also available as ohitashi which is a dish simmered in dashi stock.
Phone line and fax line are not working. Phone in shop rings but can't pick up the call. No dial tone either. Strange. No DSL signal too. How can a restaurant function without a phone?
We are working late into the night to get the pricing of the items spot on. It's real easy to set a highly profitable price but we believe in giving our customers value for money, so we are putting in more effort in this area.
TIP: Don't just look at the price or slices of the fish/meat you get. Check out the total weight on your plate. Avoid being mislead!
Japanese Cherries or Sakuranbo (桜ん坊 | さくらんぼ) are just coming into season and will last through to end of June. Sakuranbo is what the Japanese call their own variety of cherry whereas they will refer to imported cherries as cherry. The appearance of Sakuranbo on market shelves herald the arrival of summer. What we are getting now are ones grown in greenhouses and the sun ripe ones start in June proper. These cherries are obviously smaller than most cherries and of a cheerful blush red. Small fruits means more skin, therefore more flavour.
So what do they taste like? The answer is simple: Like Cherries! But with differences, of course. Sakuranbo is not the least bit tannic or bitter compared to the darker skin USA variety we might be more used to. The skin is firm but breaks apart when bitten into yielding a thin layer of konnyaku jelly like texture. The flavour lies mostly in the skin. The flesh is soft and sweet with a mildly alcoholic tinge yet has little acidity. We have no idea what the pit/seed tastes like. The pleasant floral cherry aroma lingers in your breath but doesn't taste like cough syrup which some of the dark skin cherry might.
Sakuranbo! Blueberries are for size reference.
They are available starting now from good supermarkets and restaurant but take note that they are not cheap. Expect to pay S$200/kg. They are a bit too pricey to be used in preserves but they certainly can be steeped in shochu and sugar. Another popular way to serve them is in the middle of a clear jelly cube.
Things are really heating up in the shop fast! We've never seen so many workers cramming for space in the little restaurant trying to cut, mount and clean-up at the same time. 2 more days to end of the week and 2 more days to completion of renovation works.
The glass doors are up together with the lightbox that will be our signage.
We think the wood veneer above the counter lends a touch of class to the restaurant. Don't worry about the spotlights, they are LED, so there will be little heat to distract you from the dining experience at the counter or spoil your food.
We met some food and sake suppliers today and will be seeing more of them tomorrow. The European salmon supply is returning to normal but that's not a huge concern to us in the first place. The real bad news is that Japan has placed a ban on beef export. NO WAGYU! At least not from Japan. We firmly believe in quality of what we serve lies in the quality of our raw ingredients. There is no replacement for Japanese beef, especially Miyazaki beef (some say the best wagyu in the world). Yes, there are Australian Tajima Wagyu and USA Snake River Wagyu, but these are technically not Japanese beef and therefore not the real deal. When it comes to meat, it's not just about the animal breed or feed that they consume but there's also husbandry of the animal and passion of the ranchers that determine quality of the meat. Maybe we will spend more time talking about the different grades and types of wagyu on another day but just be aware that not all wagyu come from Japan.
The Big One is still there. Waiting...
This is the first of the many writeups on food items that we will roll out whenever we have something in season or good to recommend to you.
Have you ever noticed that most of the fragrance of a citrus fruit is concentrated in the rind or skin of the fruit? Ironically, with the exception of the yuzu, when we have a fresh citrus fruit, it is the rind/peel that we commonly discard and only eat/use the sweeter or juicier flesh inside. Then there is the hassle of having the peel the skin to get to the edible bits. When you look into the details of the skin, the citrus oils are contained in the zest (thin, outer, coloured part) and the inner, white pith is almost always unpleasantly bitter. Wouldn't it be great to have a citrus where you can eat the entire fruit, like a pear or apple, thus savouring all the flavours?
Enter the Kinkan (金柑) or Japanese kumquat! A calamansi sized relative of the orange. It comes into season early in the year. We might be more familiar with the ornamental varieties that sprout out of nowhere during Chinese New Year. In this case, it is the fresh, farmed-for-eating, Kyushu Kinkan that I have in the picture. The entire fruit is edible but you may prefer to spit out the seeds. Yes, you can bite into the fruit, skin and all, if you want to experience the whole Kinkan. The fruit is packed full of flavour. Interestingly, the skin is the best part of the fruit!
The best way to eat it is to cut it into quarters lengthwise so that you can see and avoid the seeds. It is optional to remove the fleshy part but it is the skin that you eat. You must be wondering what it tastes like. It kind of taste like a cross between an orange and lime in aroma, with muscat like sweetness in the pith, whereas the flesh is sour and has a stringy texture. Eating a Kinkan leaves a citrusy, savoury and creamy after taste. Some people might feel a little tingling on their tongue, similar to after eating fresh yuzu zest. If consumed in excess, there is a risk of mouth ulcers. The flesh can be extremely acidic so persons suffering from gastritis should avoid that portion. Another way to eat it is to cut it lengthwise, get rid of the seeds, then freeze it so you get a Kinkan sorbet.
It's coming to the about the end of the season soon. I hope it is still available when we open so that we can serve it to you. In the mean time, Kinkan is available at good supermarkets that have a selection of Japanese fruits. Get some and try. If you like oranges, you will love the Kinkan!
