Had a lovely lunch Ichigo Ichie at its new venue. I hadn't visited before today. The restaurant terms its offerings as 'fine-dining kappo'. In its previous venue, I've not bothered with the higher-priced menus because I didn't bother with premium sashimi or beef. I just want that donabe rice.
Our standard $188 seven-course menu (including a dessert of fruits) came in its usual consistent and dependable quality. There's pretty much nothing to complain about a meal. It's perfectly executed. However, I felt that Chef Akane Eno's menu and choice of dishes have evolved through the years to meet the demands of her regular clientele.
The somen was a bit rich for me. It's the restaurant's signature dish. It was topped with Bafun uni, Kuruma ebi, and thankfully a lighter tonburi (とんぶり / it's vegan caviar, derived from seeds of the summer cypress in Akita) was used instead of caviar. That would definitely be popular with her regular patrons or even new ones who really like prawns and uni.
I didn't know what to make of the Managatsuo ohba fry. I like silver pomfret. But to have it completely coated in shredded ohba leaves and fried up, that meant I couldn't even remove the ohba. While I like perilla oil, I'm not keen on eating the leaves. I ate it anyway, trusting that there wouldn't be bones in there.
I had no issues skipping beef in the donabe because I prefer rice like this done with fish, not meat. Chef Akane Eno obliged by using tachiuo (belt fish) instead. That was excellent. I could do without the many slices of manganji pepper. I don't mind them, but it was a tad much to overwhelm the taste of the fish.
The lunch was predictable. While everything was delicious enough and met all expectations, I don't find it particularly memorable. I think that's why the problem lies — it's absolutely textbook perfect. There's nothing outstanding about it.
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