i love mikimoto

Divine Soyu Ramen

2009-01-05T10:36:00.000-08:00

So how does one choose among famous ramen restaurants (with considerable heritage) placed side-by-side? Well, since all of their interiors had similar seating capacity, we chose the one with the most seats placed outside for the queue, and with the fewest types of ramen offered on the menu.

Located on the 10th storey of the Kyoto train station, orders were placed & paid for at vending machine-style setups at the entrance. We ordered miso and soyu ramen, and it was the latter that really shined.

The casual dining, bright interiors and youthful atmosphere creates an unlikely ambience for a gourmand's epiphany. Because that's what the soyu ramen meant to us. It totally threw out our past definitions of that dish, or any definitions that our imagination could ever conjure! The fragrance and deliciousness was addictive, complete with a tasty soft-centred egg done perfectly. The noodle itself had a distinctive character, evidently a reflection of the artisanal hands behind its creation. It was pure delight, pure umami!

Imaiya - the chicken specialists

2009-01-05T05:20:00.000-08:00

A surprise discovery upon our arrival in Osaka, Imaiya restaurant turned out to be a wonderful accident, and a great start to our adventures. Learning that none of the staff could converse in english, and that there was only a single english menu only reaffirmed that it wasn't a tourist trap. And the rest of the patrons, no doubt locals, must also be in love with the special liver (above) like us! Imagine the largest chicken livers, charcoal grilled lovingly into a rich foie gras-like texture & flavour...

Located in a side lane near Shinsaibashi shopping lane, perhaps it was the inviting frontage that caught us. Inside, some patrons were just smoking at their tables, which may not be noticeable considering the grilled menu in an air-con environment.

This dish, miso-flavoured ground chicken meat on rice, was served with a raw egg yolk on the side. Meant to be mixed into the rice, the size & voluptuousness of the egg was another clue that the particular type of chicken specially used in this restaurant was some super Japanese breed. The bottom half of the image was (if I remember correctly) a sake marinated chicken salad, done medium to medium rare. This meal really changed the way we viewed chicken in cuisines.

One would never guess that this dish was called meatball! & again with the super egg yolk! The yolk was almost 6cm wide, with a firmness of the freshest eggs.

Talk about saving the best for last, you can't see any pics of chicken wings here cos it seduced our palates before we could take any photos.. even though this image was our 2nd meal there! Poetic perhaps that we had our 1st & last dinners in Japan at the same restaurant.

The chicken wing had an amazing tightness/crunchiness, yet was in no way overcooked. Seemed like a whole new breed of poultry! From the first bite the sweetest juice bursts forth, escaping from the crisped, & really thin golden skin. Seriously savoured by 5pf, only expertly cleaned bones were left. On our 2nd visit, we tried their version of the Italian chicken risotto. What I can say is that it simply lives up to the finesse of Japanese cuisines.

Imaiya, highly recommended!

Daiki Restaurant

2008-10-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

Home to Japan's most sacred Shinto shrine - Ise Grand Shrine (also known for its deep historical links with the imperial family), Ise city (伊勢市) {formerly called Ujiyamada (宇治山田)}, in the Mie prefecture of Japan, is also where one can find Daiki - one of "the most famous restaurant in Japan."

Established at the end of WWII, Daiki is renowned for its cuisine & fresh seafood. It enjoys the patronage of the Emperor, and in fact it has been serving the royal family since 1974. Its president and 2nd generation owner, Mr. Takumi Sakata (pictured above, gentleman on the far right), is the son of the founder. The healthy-looking (no doubt partly a result of the best sashimi on-site) 60-year old is a law graduate from Keio University, and has been managing the restaurant since 1979. He's wife (pictured above, far left), a graduate from Tate Manabu Imperial College, is the only other person we met in the restaurant that was conversant in English.

Set in a simple, unpretentious ambience, the restaurant was quite cosy. One of the most enlightening cuisine that I'd experienced here was the kanpachi (カンパチ; also known as Japanese amberjack in Singapore) sashimi (pictured in top half of above image, pale pink items in the middle of each picture). The texture was amazingly crunchy for a fish, with unparelled freshness, a lovely sweetness & oily fullness. It's unlike any kanpachi that I'd tasted before, and I knew there & then that the palate benchmark has just been raised a notch.

Ebi (prawn) Tempura (above image) was my other culinary epiphany at Daiki. The tempura batter was really light, pairing perfectly with the 'clean' sweetness of the prawn. The meat was juicy and "relaxed", an intriguing texture as if it was raw (in contrast to the 'tightness' of cooked prawns).

While for 5pf the eye-opener was probably the Asari (a type of Japanese clams; あさり) Miso soup (above image). The broth was a deeper hue than other versions that we'd tasted previously, with a richness to match. And for the first time, the clam flavour played the leading role, and we understood how the miso flavour should balance the whole dish rather than dominate it.

Address: 2-1-48 Iwabuchi, Ise-city, Mie-pref, Japan 516-0037
Landmark: Uji-yamada station, Kintetsu Shima railway line.
Direction: upon exiting station, walk through open-air carpark on the front right.
Tel: +81 (0)596-28-0281
Hours: 11am to 9pm