Happy birthday Youssef and Natalie!
October 14th, 2021: a dinner in a michelin-star sushi restaurant.
Entrance sign.
The Michelin star.
The restaurant is very small and only seats 14 people. All the seats are at the bar, where you can see the chefs prepare and cook the food.
The dishes change seasonally and daily. So if you come tomorrow you won’t necessarily have the same thing.
The food comes in two parts: small dishes first, then nigiri (fish slices on rice) second. There is an optional saké package with 4 sakes, which Youssef took.
Part 1 - Small dishes
Yellowtail sashimi (fish slice)
Scallop cooked in Dashi, with Daikon, miso and mustard. Very hot. They forgot to tell us 😅.
Monkfish liver. Spread the wasabi and eat it. Not very fishy. Soft and buttery. Delicate.
Shabu-shabu: named for the sound it makes when you dip it in the cooking broth. It gets dipped in the broth just before serving.
Youssef is saying his sake tastes like water- very smooth!
Tamago Kake Gohan (TKG): the risotto of Japan: eggs, rice, seaweed and roe.
Their signature dish: soy cured egg yolk, trout, okra, spring onion. Blend everything and eat.
A sake which gets a second fermentation in the bottle. Fizzy. Small rice particles give it a white color and creamy texture.
Part 2: Nigiri
The sushi starts coming! The chefs put it on a little plate and you eat it directly with your fingers as soon as they arrive.
Wipe your fingers on this so the rice doesn’t stick. Good for cleaning fingers too.
Sea bass.
Arctic char. A Swedish fish.
Belly of yellowtail.
Clam.
Mackerel. Gingery taste 👅
The muscle of a turbot’s fin. It was blowtorched on front of us.
Miso soup with clams. Mmmmm
Toro: fatty piece of tuna belly which melts just below body temperature. Very expensive piece.
“Taco” with rice, toro and sea urchin.
Photos and text: Natalie Bell. Layout and edits: Youssef Boulkaid.