LTH,

 

Had the pleasure of Trixie-Pea and m'th'su's company at Matsumoto last evening. We opted for the upper level Kaiseki and, for those who do not wish to read the entirety of my rather lengthy report, each component of our meal was wonderful.

 

Trixie-Pea brought Roederer Estates Anderson Valley Brut champagne, I brought Hawk in the Heavens sake and Mike, Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13 years old. We drank in that sequence and it was the perfect order, with the rye, and it's slightly sweet and light vanilla note, complimenting the later courses surprisingly well. Glassware was perfect, drink specific for each type and the whiskey glasses, which were slightly convex on the bottom, rocked slightly for a pleasing effect.

 

We were given a choice of rooms and opted for the understated, and comfortable, smaller of the two private rooms. Service, in every aspect, was perfect. Easily equaling, and in many cases besting, top tier restaurants. We were served 11 courses, with a bonus 12th. My descriptions don't do justice.

 

1) Bonito w/Satoimo: 4-golf ball sized slightly dense, fairly neutral flavored potato balls covered in lightly smoky bonito shavings. Serving portion was, seemingly, disproportionately large. I was worried when right out of the box we were served large, mildly bland food,  and thought ugh-oh, here comes the 'American' version, but this was not the case. Also, given the complete spectrum of the meal a neutral start with a hint of sea, from bonito, was spot-on.

 

2) 5-small courses

 a) Sea Urchin w/wasabi and smelt roe. Smooth urchin w/wasabi accented perfectly by the 'bite' from vinegar and pop from smelt roe.

 b) Mountain Potato w/sea cucumber stomach. Vicious strong sea flavor. Aggressive flavor, but perfectly complimented. Fujiko said the sea cucumber stomach was one of the more expensive ingredients used in our meal.

 c) Seaweed w/sweet and sour sauce and salmon roe. Razor thin slice of daikon between layers.

 d) Roe of River Fish (Ayu) in a decorated cucumber cup. Strong fish flavor, quite salty. Very good in the small portion offered.

 e) Squid entrails marinated with salt and sake. Very brown sauce/liquid tasted almost chocolaty to me, was squid 'guts' pureed with uni and soy.

 

3) Sashimi course. Sanma, Blue Mackerel sashimi, on a composed sashimi plate, was possibly the best bite of the evening. The Sanma was topped by a ring of octopus. Ika (squid) was quite wonderful, with a very pleasing texture. Hirame (halibut) delicate flavor. Ama-ebi (sweet shrimp), sweet of-the-sea flavor, served along with the head, which we indelicately mined. Maguro (tuna) was more on the order of Chutoro (medium fatty tuna) with a rich, luxurious mouth-feel. Hiragai (Japanese scallop) had a markedly different texture, slightly dense, than what I've had in the past. The scallops light flavor complimented the denser texture.

 

4)  Clear broth w/ yuba (tofu skin) sea urchin/shrimp dumplings and Shimeji mushrooms. Light, clear broth perfectly served as a refreshing, palate cleansing course.

 

5) Fried Kinkin Snapper from Hokkaido in sauce w/Nameko mushroom, bonito and shredded white of spring onion. Crisp crunchy fin/tail contrasting perfectly with soft flesh and Nameko mushrooms.

 

6) Crab maki style with sea urchin and shrimp flavor egg served along side mildly spicy roasted pepper and eggplant. Served with two dredging salts, dried umeboshi/shiso and seaweed/salt/sesame.

 

7) Hot Pot on individual live fire burners. Both fresh and fried tofu, intensely flavored sardine ball, Shiitaki mushroom, spring onion, Fu (bean cake) in a fragrant fish broth.

 

8  Mizu Tako (water octopus) from Hokkaido with asparagus, beet and fresh crab in an umiboshi/vinegar/beet/miso sauce. One of the highlights of the evening, the sauce, with it's lightly sweet notes, being so delicious I found myself wishing I had a spoon.

 

9) Ika (squid) filled with rice, black caviar and salmon roe. Squid, once again, was of a slightly different texture/flavor, and was complimented nicely by the two types of roe.

 

10) Unagi (fresh water eel) with Shiitaki mushroom, shrimp, egg, soybean skin and Mountain Potato. Evocative of Chawan Mushi, but slightly brothy. Wonderful, full flavor, slightly oily from the Unagi. Very nice mouth-feel.

 

11) Yokan, red bean cake w/egg white and a sweetened chestnut. Bean cake was quite dense with a neutral 'interesting' flavor. This course served as dessert along with green tea.

 

As we sipped our tea, in the afterglow that comes from a great meal, coupled with interesting conversation, Isao introduced Matsumoto. Without forethought the three of us stood up and clapped in appreciation. At this point we had switched from sake to the Van Winkle Family Rye and offered both Isao and Matsumoto a drink, which they accepted. Fujiko accepted a drink as well and in short order the 6 of us were sitting around the table in lively conversation.

 

As wonderful as our meal was, and, believe me, it was tremendous, the 45-minutes to an hour we spent in conversation with Isao, Matsumoto and Fujiko equaled. Just a short note about Fujiko, her patient, informed, straight forward approach, coupled with her willingness to explain in detail to three inquisitive customers, contributed greatly to our experience.

 

Conversation turned to Matsumoto's friendship with [url=http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=33661#33661] [b]Katsu[/b][/url] and I mentioned Katsu's wife's, Haruko, love of natto. Matsumoto said he did not have natto in-house, but decided to make us a dish using red miso.

 

12) Dote Yaki, Fresh oyster with red miso, white scallion, shimeji mushroom. The thick miso cooking paste, a mix of red miso, yellow egg, sugar and sake, was rich, intense and nicely complimented by the Van Winkle Rye.

 

The three of us spent 4-1/2 hours at Matsumoto, which seemed to go by, retrospectively, in an instant. We then chatted outside Matsumoto for 20-30 minutes not wanting our evening to end.

 

Pictures to follow.

 

Enjoy,

Gary

 

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[quote="trixie-pea"]The wasabi that we were served (and correct me if I’m wrong) was not fresh, but not powdered either.  Rather it was pre-grated, and delicious. [/quote]

Trixie-Pea,

 

You are, as usual, absolutely correct, I should have written *real, not fresh. I believe they said it was grown in [url=http://agsyst.wsu.edu/wasabiphotos.htm] [b]Washington state[/b][/url], as opposed to [url=http://www.freshwasabi.com/index.htm] [b]Oregon [/b][/url], [url=http://www.wasabi.co.nz/] [b]New Zealand [/b][/url] or Japan.

 

Enjoy,

Gary

 

* 99.9999% of 'wasabi' consumed is actually horseradish with a dollop of mustard oil and green food coloring. I like 'wasabi' fine, but actual wasabi root, freshly grated if possible, is subtle, delicate, ethereal, some heat, but secondary to flavor. Real wasabi also has a different mouth feel than ersatz wasabi, with ersatz being a smooth paste and real having a slight texture from the small amount of root strands remaining from grating.