japanese restaurants, don’t even talk to me unless you’re serving sakura mochi
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ordered the shogun’s meal, because goose. supplemented the grilled unagi and steamed flounder from the taisho and ikkyu meals, because glutton.
there’s no sakura mochi emoji so I’ll be using dango instead 
hassun - fresh yuba, green pea and mekabu seaweed rice ball sesame, smoked fish and umeboshi plum
chinmi - karasumi, uni
sashimi - kasugo, baby sea bream, milt
I didn’t like the vertical slicing and how shallow the cuts were, which gave it very little mouth feel.
abalone shabu shabu, wasabi and lettuce leaf
cut really thinly
warm chawan mushi custard with mushroom and fresh bamboo
excellent. so savory, with more flavor than the previous two dishes combined.
tempura - wakasagi, mini sweetfish, mugwort vinegar
only thing I didn’t like was the dipping sauce, a bit too vinegary, the wakasagi was delicious.
flounder steamed, crusted with shrimp
was hoping for more shrimp flavor from the shrimp crust
grilled unagi yuwata maki stuffed with gobo burdock
nice texture contrast between the soft unagi and crunchy gobo.
goose! breast in spelt miso
leg minced meatball
foie gras liver
dashi broth
really liked the crispy, fatty bits on the breast meat and bring it to a whole nother level by topping it with the pudding-like foie gras.
iron pot rice ginga no shizuku, iwate, japan
house made tsukemono pickles
the bestest 
finished off the iron pot.
koji (r)ice cream, fruit of the moment
kuzu sakura mochi, white bean, salted cherry blossoms
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That Sakura Mochi does look dang moist and delicious
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The chawanmushi and the tempura course are definitely the highlights for me in the lowest tier option ($95 right now). I enjoyed the sauce but I must admit I am rather partial to vinegars. Also really like the ice cream here.
I think shibumi particularly shines if you are a fan of sake. Added the $60 sake pairing with an eye to seasonals and it was great!
Shout out to the second one: denshin fuyu shiboritate. It was warmed and made for an amazing pairing with the chawanmushi. 
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Typo for sawara?
A traditional prep of sawara that the locals just didn’t know or respect the making of. He’s bringing it back as it should be appreciated.
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Piping Hot off the press: Shibumi just got the Seeker of Chow Seal of Approval
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Didn’t the switch to tasting-menu only predate the pandemic?
hi @CiaoBob, thanks.
yah, an amazing rave 21 x 
9 x 
6 x 
2 x 
2 x 
2 x 
1 x 
1 x 
review.
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Melon menu is great, recommend!
Other highlights were all the chinmi, unagi, and I got some lobster mushroom cooked in wagyu fat that was delicious, although not on the menu and it was a tiny sample. Drinks as always were a highlight
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How much is the omakase now? It was $95 in 2919.
Melon menu?
They have different tiers, I believe set “A” is still $95
Can you just go and get the melon menu, or do you need to have the full tasting as well?
You can do just the melon menu if you want.
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Melon menu ends Oct 20
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sakura mochi back on the menu, come and get it at a real japanese restaurant that understands, appreciates and cares about japanese cuisine.
also aka gai.
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Later-gram of the end of the winter season, they had run out of the wild boar dish so sake grilled quail was the new main course in the Shogun’s meal I ordered. My wife got Taisho’s meal and we added on 2 types of chinmi and the wagyu corned beef. The chinmi always comes with a small pour of sake, for the rest of the meal I went with their beverage pairing and you could choose between all sake or mixed wine + sake. I went with all sake this time. It’s nice that they charge you one price for the pairing even if you get the longer menu. The Ikkyu’s meal is pretty high QPR and if you add on one of the oden or wagyu stew you’ve got a pretty substantial meal if you’re a bigger eater.
Highlights were the hassun’s shrimp tofu dumpling, I was expecting something like inari and this was a pleasant very light surprise. Snow crab was delicious and buttery. Tempura mochi with red bean (and aged soy) was well balanced sweet, salty, chewy, and slight crisp exterior. Monkfish had a great tender texture and the amazake + subtle ginger worked well. Wagyu corned beef supplement was so worth it, and not too much if shared. An excellent blend of Japanese and Jewish sensibilities, the texture of the corned beef was a standout.
Some misses from the buckwheat gnocchi. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but the gnocchi was quite large and quite soft in texture without a lot of flavor on its own. It really depended on the wasabi and soy, but I would have preferred sashimi as the foil! The nori got instantly soggy once you put the gnocchi on it so it was a bit hard to bite through cleanly in the same way as pre-made rolls. The sake grilled quail + sticky rice needed some more seasoning, even with the liver sauce on the side. I am probably biased by my preference for Cantonese lotus leaf sticky rice though. The legs were really good though!
Spicy aged roe (not karasumi, but similar). Fermented tofu in red miso.
Yellowtail main course from Taisho’s meal
Sake grilled quail from Shogun’s meal
Wagyu corned beef oden
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7 posts were merged into an existing topic: Shibumi’s David Schlosser: threat or menace?