Tokyo eats: 龍吟 [Ryugin]

Super back-log post that should be posted 3 months ago!  Yikes!

I must have passed the exteriors of the restaurant on a weekly basis when we lived in Tokyo for it was near my yoga school.  When I found out what lies beneath, I wanted to go try out Ryugin before we left.  But we never did quite got a chance.  That was in 2007.  5 years on, I still wanted to make a trip down to Ryugin.  The Man never quite understood my fascination with wanting to try the place until one of his friends raved about his dining experience there.

Thereafter, it was a scurry trying to secure the reservations at Ryugin which we eventually got.  Woo hoo!  Happiness! 

It is rather impressive that Ryugin only opened its doors in 2003 and in just 10 years, owner and chef, Seiji Yamamoto has managed to secure 3 Michelin stars for his restaurant.  Specialising in modern Japanese cuisine, chef Yamamoto use of fine Japanese ingredients in his cooking is beautifully plated and presented in each of his dishes.

That evening, we had the Early Spring Menu where the dishes signified the ending of Winter and the coming of Spring.  Not quite knowing what to expect (I didn’t want to spoil the surprise by doing massive online research of the restaurant), all of us were definitely in for both a visual treat and feast.

Changing from Winter to Spring:

Seasonal vegetables with “Pine Nuts” dressing and sip of “Burdock Root” Soup

2 kinds of Calf Sweetbread – Sweetbread egg custard and deep-fried sweetbread

An interesting twist of the use of sweetbread.  I especially enjoyed the deep-fried version which was crispy and somewhat crunchy.

We noticed that when the dishes are set in front of us, the serving-ware would somehow be a little moist.  Puzzled as to why this was the case, I asked our server what the significance was.  Turned out that in ancient times before serving the food to the royalty, the kitchen staff would need to spritz the serving-ware before serving it.  If the serving-ware had been touched after the water has been spritzed, it would mean that the food had been tampered with.  Interesting tit-bit learned that evening.

Ichiban Dashi Soup: Spring “Wakatake” with “Kuruma Shirimp” Ball

Beautiful bowl with intricate dragon artwork imprinted on it and when revealed, it housed this really fragrant soup with the shrimp ball.

Assortment of Sashimi Ryugin Style

Don’t expect to find the usual sashimi here at Rygugin.  Sashimi is anything but usual and we all loved the twist that he did with the sashimi platter.  The presentation, the seasonings, the textures were all beautifully done to show off his mastery.

“Kinki fish” from Hokkaido Grilled on Charcoal

Interesting side dishes that were served along with the kinki fish – grilled eggplant with stuffing, boiled daikon soup served like a drink and my fave of the trio was this pickled green apple with ginger flavour that was tangy and crunchy to the palette.

“Chicken wing tip” stuffed with sharksfin in rich chicken essence and chopped vegetables

Wagyu Beef fillet grilled on charcoal with assorted vegetables

My shot of the wagyu beef fillet sure didn’t do this dish any justice but this was sinfully good.  Feeling stuffed by now, I could only manage 2 pieces and palmed the rest off to the guys on the table who happily ate the seconds without any form of protest.

Signature dish “Sanshoo pepper rice” with season vegetables in Spring presentation

Rice that looks almost too healthy and too good to be true.  Managed just 2 bites and left the rest untouched simply because I was too full.

At this point, the server asked if we were all full and if we were like to have another special dish.  I declined the offer but the rest of the table wanted to see what the chef would whip up for us so they nodded their head in joy.  This special sakura ebi with rice was given to some of us and it turned out to be far more enjoyable that their signature rice dish (IMO).

Now, on to desserts.

Tangerine Candy

When cracked open, our served dished out the candied tangerine to be place on the nitrogen ice-cream.  A huge fan of all things citrus, this was clearly a winner for me. Baked Ginjou Sake “Oyaki Souffle” with feathery “salted” soft served ice-cream

And what do I make of this sake souffle?  Honestly, it was one of THE best desserts I’ve had in a loooong time.  Love that the souffle had a hearty dose of alcohol in it (yes, one could get sufficiently intoxicated if you are allergic to alcohol) that was well-balanced with the right amount of salt in that feathery soft-serve ice-cream.  I wish we had seconds of this dessert instead.

Overall, a wonderful time spent at Ryugin and I’m giving it a two thumbs up for this three Michelin star dining experience.

龍吟, Ryugin

Address: Side Roppongi Bldg, 1st Floor, 7-17-24 Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo　106-0032

Reservation available time : 11:30am-6:00pm
Tel:+81-3-3423-8006

Michelin: ***

Tokyo eats: 楽亭 [Rakutei]

Given the limited number of days we had in Tokyo, almost every meal was somewhat carefully planned.  The Man is not a big fan of sushi or rather, he is not a big fan of repeating the same type of cuisine twice.  Another one of his friends happened to be in the city around the same time so we decided to catch up over lunch.  The only problem we sorta had was that the lunch venue had to be close to the hotel as we needed to catch the Shinkasen over at Tokyo Train Station to Hakuba to join our friends.

The concierge recommended Rakutei which the Man readily agreed.  Having eaten there before, he recalled fondly of his dining experience and wanted me to give it a try as well.

The place seats only about 8 people at any one time.  It felt small but yet not overwhelmingly tight.  The chef is assisted by one other assistant and he meticulously prepares the tempura one at a time for all his diners.

The batter is light and fluffy.  Only the top grade of oil is used to deep-fry the tempura and you can almost taste the fragrant sesame oil which was perfectly balanced with the seafood and vegetables.  It was a truly enjoyable meal and the ladies came out feeling stuffed with the men feeling just about right with their portions.

 

Reservations are absolutely necessary at Rakutei which I later found out is a 2 Michelin-starred restaurant.

楽亭 [Rakutei]

Address: 6-8-1 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo [in Japanese: 東京都港区赤坂6-8-1]

Tel: 03-3585-3743

Website: None

English menu: None

Mode of payment: Cash only

Open: Mondays – Saturdays, 12 – 2pm and 5 – 10pm (last orders at 8.30pm) [Closed on Sundays]

Michelin: **

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• 東京: Tokyo round-up (j0annesim.wordpress.com)

Pollen

When news of the opening of POLLEN broke, it caused quite a stir in the food blogosphere.

Helmed by the very man who led the culinary direction for Esquina, POLLEN is Michelin star Chef Jason Atherton’s second venture in Singapore. Aside from serving mainly Mediterranean-inspired modern European cuisine, POLLEN will also be serving great classics from Atherton’s flagship restaurant in London, Pollen Street Social.

Well, I for one certainly couldn’t wait to go try out POLLEN for two reasons; for the food, of course and next to check out the distinctive setting that POLLEN is located inside the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay.

One week prior to the official opening of POLLEN, I tried calling but couldn’t get through to the main line.  Enlisted the concierge services from the good people over at Amex and they helped score us dinner reservations for Friday the 13. No pun intended on my part, it was a date that suited most of the gang anyway.

We arrived a little early so a round of cocktails were in order.

Inspired by the lush flora and fauna at the Gardens, the cocktails had fancy floral names.  I went for a pineapple based cocktail which didn’t quite tickle my buds.  The friend’s cocktail looked like a far better choice, loved the passion-fruit topping that went with the iced concoction.

Once the entire gang arrived, we were shown to our table.  The restaurant seats approximately 140 pax but it doesn’t look that big on first sight.  We were excluded from the main action for our table was right next to the door which I didn’t quite like but doubt that they would change it for us seeing that we had a big group.

I had wanted to go for the Dinner Tasting Menu (S$150) but after our server explained the dishes under the menu, the group didn’t think it was that fantastic.  So we ended up ordering a variety of starters, mains and desserts to be shared.  Communal dining sure is fun for you get to try a little of everything without over-eating. 

For the starters, our table had:

Slow-cooked egg, chorizo, patatas bravas

Crispy baby squid, piperade puree, roasted lime

Deer tartare, pickled beetroot, seeds, grains, broken egg sauce

The above three starters that we had were all very good.  The crowd favourite was the crispy baby squid of which we had two servings.  Yes, it was that good.  Friend also ordered the salad of buttered lobster, pasta, seaweed and maple dressing but serving size was small for the entire table, so I gave trying that dish a miss.  Apparently, it was nothing too big a deal that I had miss.

On to the mains then, we had:

Cote de boeuf (1kg for sharing), duck fat chips, green salad

Can I just say that the duck fat chips were A-MAZING?  They reminded me fondly of the triple-cooked chips that we had at Dinner by Heston.  It was hard to stop at just a chip seeing that the serving portion of the chips weren’t that big either.

Rangers Valley 300-day rib-eye, oxtail, charred eggplant, smoked potatoes (pictured in the background)

Roasted pork belly, broad beans, slow-cooked squid, chorizo

We also had the Marinated lamb cutlets, artichokes, asparagus, prickly ash which I thought was pretty good.  The roasted pork belly was soft and tender which meant it was sinfully good and bad for the waistline.  The Cote de boeuf was passable and not significantly memorable for we felt that the Tomahawk steak over at Bedrock was way better.

And did I mention just how great it is to dine in a big group for there will always be room for dessert!  Not just one but three different kinds of dessert to cater to the different palates. 

Bitter chocolate banana, white sesame ice cream, caramel nitro

Crispy and burnt lemon meringue with cucumber sorbet

“PB&J” – Peanut butter and cherry yuzu sorbet

My favourite was the PB&J.  The thin wafer crisp actually tasted like peanut butter and it went extremely well with the cherry sorbet that had a light hint of yuzu notes.  The deconstructed crispy and burnt lemon meringue wasn’t all too bad either except for the cucumber sorbet which I didn’t really enjoy.

Now for the question as to whether we will come back?  Well, we ain’t too sure.  They are still experiencing some teething problems when it comes to service.  It just ain’t up to par with the dining experience that POLLEN promise to deliver to the customers yet.  While we were there, the server nearly broke our bottle of sparkling water.  Thank goodness, the Man was quick enough to grab the bottle before it went crashing down.

But the novelty of dining in the Flower Dome at the Gardens by the Bay sure is alluring.  So we probably will give it a couple of months for them to sort out their house-keeping and then make another visit to POLLEN.

Flower Dome, Gardens By The Bay
Address: 18 Marina Gardens Drive #01-09, Singapore 018953

Telephone: +65 6604 9988

Opening hours (Monday to Sunday): Lunch 12pm to 2.30pm / Dinner 6pm to 1opm

Note: There is a personalised buggy service from the arrival plaza to the restaurant exclusively for POLLEN’s guests.  This service runs every five minutes during lunch and dinner hours.