Category Archives: goodfoodhunt

Omakase (ATC)

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After having had tasted authentic Japanese food, one would find it hard to find an authentic Japanese restaurant in the Philippines wherein the food is not “Filipinized” to suit the Filipino palate.

Thankfully though, authentic Japanese food can be found in Omakase ATC, conveniently situated only a few minutes walk away from the (ex) office.

They offer a number of selection on their menu. But a personal favorite is their Tuna Tataki.

Lightly-seared tuna. Spices dust the lightly-seared sides.

Brace yourself though, this one is addictive. One order is just not enough.

Michelin 3 starred Esaki

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Tucked on an unassuming sidestreet in Aoyama, Esaki’s basement location makes the restaurant a hard-yet-good-find. And with Esaki being on its second year on the Michelin 3 stars list, it sure is one good, if not great, find!

The chef and his apprentice.  Oh how I envy the apprentice! I wonder what it takes to be one.

We had our reservation for lunch. Esaki has only one 6-course menu for lunch and it was at 5250yen – which I think makes Esaki the most affordable among the Michelin Tokyo 3 stars list, at least for lunch (dinner menu is around ~20k or more). Their ume shu is certainly not cheap though, at 1000yen a glass. In other restaurants, normal price of ume shu is at 200~500yen.

the brown-sugar one (darker) that Hubby ordered tasted better albeit it was stronger

As a support to the nationwide, if not worldwide, campaign to help Tohoku recover  fast, Esaki used ingredients taken from the quake-hit regions.

First off, Sazae and Asparagus in sazae liver sauce. Sazae, a turban shellfish (that looked more like a snail) harvested in Chiba, tasted mushroom-like and a bit tough for a shellfish. The asparagus, which was from Hokkaido, was so tender yet crisp. The sazae liver sauce has a really curious alternating taste – bitter, salty, sweet. It was so delectable though that you’d find yourself spooning the sauce when you’ve already eaten the meat and veggies. 

Mushroom and veggies. The mushroom came from Fukushima. I love the yam sauce with the mushroom. It was slimy yes, with just a very slight hint of saltiness. The one in the apex of the triangle has a sesame and peanut sauce. It actually reminds me of the peanut sauce in the Filipino Kare-kare. The beans on the other hand means to off-set the taste of the two, I think, with it being almost bland – no flavor whatsoever.

Sashimi. Thin, almost translucent slices of hirame. Very fresh, very nice.

Now this one’s my favorite among the entrée. Salmon with black rice. This kind of salmon matures during autumn. So when this kind is harvested at this season when they’re still adolescents, it makes for a creamier meat that’s almost boneless (I certainly didn’t see nor felt any bone on the one served me). The salmon was fried perfectly, no fishy taste and smell at all in that I even ate the skin when normally I always keep the skin at the side of my plate, uneaten. The black rice was curiously crunchy and sticky. Fatsia sprout (taranome) tempura was also added in. The whole lot is sprinkled with salt that was extracted from the bottom of a hot spring. Very very nice.

True to the Japanese custom, rice was served last. We had Takikomi Gohan (boiled, flavored rice) with Miso soup. The boiled rice was seasoned and cooked with the cabbage from Miura Peninsula. Even though meatless, the rice was so flavorful in itself. The miso soup served was one of the most unique miso soup I had ever tasted. The button mushroom was made more slimy and flavorful by the natto added to the soup. Yep it has got that distinctly natto taste – similar to soybean yet more stronger.

The rice and miso were great combi with the houji-cha or roasted wheat tea.

Now, for dessert! We were served a bowl with a lid that would make you think that whatever is inside is something hot. Hence I had some difficulty connecting it with the fact that it was now time for dessert.

When we opened it, we got this. Suggestive of a tomato sauce.

But once we took a spoonful of the rich redness – ahhhh, it was heaven. It-was-just-so-good that each sip was almost orgasmic. So goood. Ahhh, so good. Yep, it’s so good you just can’t stop exclaiming so with every spoonful. As Hubby said, it was the best dessert he has ever had in his entire life so far (glad to have had made the breakthrough on his birthday 😀 ). Puree of Amaou Strawberry from Fukuoka with a teeny weeny scoop of sherbet.

My dessert went great with the herb tea.

Ahhhh…good food!!!!

By the way, Esaki’s toilet is so pretty and clean I can stay in it and while the day away. 🙂

An interesting fact: With 14 restaurants having Michelin 3-stars rate, Tokyo still tops Paris this year, making Tokyo still the center of the gastronomical world. Very interesting. And exciting, especially if you’re living in the area.

Address: Hills aoyama B1, 3-39-9 Jingu-mae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Telephone: 03.3408.5056
Home Page: http://www.aoyamaesaki.net (In Japanese)

stir-fry it in!

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When it’s already past 3pm and we don’t have food stocked up on the fridge and I am yet to go out to the groceries, I almost panic sometimes. It’s cause I can’t think of what to cook for dinner. I email my hubby and ask him if he has any specific request. Sometimes he’d say “anything is ok”. But mostly he says “something healthy would be good”. I usually cook one main dish and a side dish (which sometimes, depending on the menu I’ve thought of, is almost like a main dish as well but more on the veggie side). So still at home, and with very vague requests from Hubby, I panic what to cook for the night.

But then whenever I go to the groceries store, I smile as I thought of different menus to experiment as I walk down the (groceries) aisle. I’m basically teeming with ideas! Weird thing is that the ideas ebb out of me whenever I walk out of the store haha. Suffice it to say that I usually end up buying much more than what I initially intended.

I was just initially thinking of bacon with mushroom as side dish. But I picked up a small pack of shrimp, baby corn, asparagus, green bell pepper as well. In the end, what was originally a side dish became a full main dish. I tossed it in Japanese soy sauce. Hubby kept on exclaiming it was so good the whole time he was eating. haha!

If you want to try this, you may opt to shell the shrimp. I preferred it with the shell kasi. 😀

 

So hmm, what’s for dinner tonight?

bacon with hourenso (spinach)

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Now this combo is reaaally good. I got addicted with this on my previous assignment here in Japan; ordering a serving or two in some popular family restaurants here. But it was only now that I finally worked on making this combo at home.

It’s quite easy to prepare though.

  1. Boil water and sprinkle some salt and pepper. You can also put the Japanese soup flavoring “hondashi” for that slightly Japanese taste.
  2. Once boiling, put the spinach and wait for about 2 minutes to let it cook.
  3. Drain.
  4. Sauté the bacon with olive oil until lightly brown or until natural juice comes out.
  5. Add in the hourenso.
  6. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.

Tada!

 



Fulfilling Yasai (vegetable)

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It isn’t just good food (or more like good drink/tasteful drink in this case). It’s packed with healthy goodness as well. You can taste the richness in nutrients and minerals with every flavorful sip. Why so? Cause it’s a pure juice made out of 20 vegetables and 5 fruits.

Max’s Sizzling Tofu and Goldilocks’ Multi-Grain Bread

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I’ve eaten Max’s Restaurant’s Sizzling Tofu and Goldilocks’ Multi-grain bread separately and both is just so tasty. But eaten together? Oh, it’s just an explosion of flavor! Max’s Sizzling Tofu comes lightly fried and in coconot milk with bell pepers and onions. Goldilocks’ milti-grain seemed to heighten up the richness of the coconut-cream-infused tofu and at the same time levels out its richness, creating fireworks of flavor in your palate. The combination is-just-so-freakin’-good. Try it!