The Morimoto experience

[bnewman]

I took fiddledragon to Morimoto last night as a graduation present. I had been to Morimoto before, for a snack, but I had been waiting for a special occasion that would justify the full Morimoto experience. We ordered the omakase (tasting menu), a parade of mouth-watering small dishes, each perfect.

As per our request for "no land animals", each of our courses (with the exception of dessert) featured fish, which, apparently, is an aphrodesiac. At least, fish like that is an aphrodesiac — every morsel meltingly tender and delicately flavored.

After a few sips of green tea, we began with toro tartare — toro, the fatty underbelly of tuna, minced and combined with scallions and crispy shallots, served in a column surrounded by a soy/dashi/mirin sauce, topped with a dab of caviar and accompanied by wasabi and a palate-cleansing yamamomo (Japanese mountain peach — the top Google hits for "Japanese mountain peach" are all reviews of Morimoto or Nobu, so I suspect that this is a non-generally-cultivated fruit whose use in cuisine was pioneered by the Iron Chef).

This was followed by tai (red snapper) sashimi, drizzled with warm oil and soy sauce infused with yuzu, an exotic Japanese citrus, and topped with herbs incuding miniature cilantro.

Next came a "tataki (seared) salad" — sashimi, seared so lightly that it was blackened and crispy along one surface but perfectly raw through its entire volume, accompanied by a salad of miniature greens topped with a ribbon of shaved bonito and a yuzu vinaigrette.

At this point, we were treated to an intermezzo of saffron/basil/orange sorbet topped with shredded white asparagus and white pepper. Does that sound strange? It was amazing, very smooth and just at the edge of melting.

After this came a main course, steamed halibut in a soy/sake broth, topped with black bean sauce, wild mushrooms, and shredded ginger and scallions. This, alone of all the dishes we were served, I feel I could make at home, but I doubt I would get the texture, or the balance of flavors, just so.

Next, there was Chilean sea bass (the market name of Patagonian toothfish, well-known to be dangerously overfished — I wouldn't have ordered it off the regular menu, but, like everything, it was a surprise, and, since it had already been prepared, we weren't going to turn it away), a very smooth, delicately flavored fish topped with a yamamomo crust in a warm oil drizzle with slivers of surimi (imitation crab — meltingly smooth imitation crab, not at all like real crab but rather a delicacy in its own right) and flower petals.

Then came a plate of five pieces of sushi, accompanied by the highest quality of gari (pickled ginger) and wasabi (real, naturally green Japanese horseradish, freshly ground, not the reconstituted, powdered western horseradish with green food coloring that you get most places). The sushi included chu-toro (medium-fatty tuna), hamachi (yellow-tail), something-I-can't-remember with a strange texture almost like chicken skin, garnished with shiso (an almost mustard-like leafy herb sometimes called Japanese mint), and katsuo (bonito or skipjack tuna), with a dark, almost smoky flavor.

Finally came dessert, a soy-milk panacotta (custard) topped with shiso syrup, vanilla foam, and pinenut glass (which was to peanut brittle as a window is to a door). The custard was almost evanescent, and very mild.

In summary, everything was subtle, tender, and delicious. And no, I am not kidding about the aphrodesiac part. :-)

Comments

[wayman.livejournal.com]

"you make a better peanut brittle than you do a pinenut glass"

Just don't say that to a chef like Morimoto!

(I suppose the same goes for not saying "you make a better door than you do a window" to a glazier...)