S's 44th at Kappo Shunshui!

I haven't visited Kappo Shunshui | 割烹 - 旬水 at its Hong Kong street location. No better occasion to visit than to celebrate S's 44th with its kaiseiki-omakase dinner menu. There were only us four tonight, so it definitely felt like we booked out the restaurant for this private birthday celebration. Wheeeeeee.

While dinner began with a 食前酒 of sparkling umeshu, I brought an easy bottle of Ichinokura's seasonal junmai daiginjo to start, and then ordered a bottle of Niizawa Brewery's Hakurakusei junmai daiginjo for the cooked food, and finally a gorgeously smooth bottle of Hamakawa Shoten's Bijofu junmai daiginjo Yumebakari Time 美丈夫 純米大吟醸 「夢許タイム」. It came in a beautifully crafted cedar box from the Kumiko artisans in the Kochi prefecture. This box is crafted without the famed Kumiko geometric patterns. I took it home anyway. Teeehehe.  

The appetizers were really fun and lovely. The sushi became a decadent handroll for us with its horsehair crab and uni. Oof! The sashimi wouldn't be the star at this restaurant. It's decent, it's part of the meal, but I might ask them to do away with it next time. Or treat it as a palate cleanser. Their cooked and grilled items, and soups are wonderful. I didn't care about the beef. It was a deep-fried A5 Miyazaki wagyu tenderloin served with young corn. But I did care about the black truffles shaved onto them — New Zealand's black winter truffle and Italy's white summer truffle. Hahahah. I no like peas, but I'll give those peas some credit. They were good and crunchy. I ate them.

I loved the soup of kinki and grilled eggplant. Absolutely hit a spot. I wanted a second bowl! Heh. I loved the choice of fish in tachiuo (silver beltfish) with asparagus and dried sea cucumber ovary. Beautifully grilled and braised, it was sublime. I was most looking forward to the rice. That was shokuji 食事 — steamed rice with scallops, lotus roots, baby sardines and brussels sprouts. What a splendid meal!!!

There were two types of desserts, and gosh, I enjoyed them loads. These are my kind of Japanese dessert; I'll skip them cakes, cream puffs and wagashi stuff. Presented separately as noodle jelly and black sugar dip, it was gorgeous. I hadn't had a version of kuzukiri boiled and prepped right in front of me for eons. The hand-whipped matcha was the perfect finishing touch. 

The traditional hand-churned black soybean ice-cream? OH YES PLEASE. That fresh sato nishiki cherry. Mmmm. I quickly cleared all my glasses of sake and happily drank matcha and hojicha for that finishing touch to an excellent meal. The teas were so good for the stomach.