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2011-01-15
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Despite being small, this place has got the right idea - everyone sitting around a square table, dipping into their own pot, whilst the waiters serve you from the middle of the square so that service can be attentive. Except the service wasn't that great. We asked for the tea to be refilled, twice, before he refilled one of the 3 cups in front of him. I'm like, dude, do we have to tell you six times to refill 3 cups of tea? But at least they were polite (but not apologetic) when reminded again a
But the food made up for it. We went for 1 Kagoshima beef set and 1 chicken set with fish maw soup in a paper pot. Paper holding water? Yup, you get the regular pot resting on an electric stove, and another one fired by coal with a piece of paper held into a bowl shape by a metal sieve. I think the difference between the regular and the paper pot broth was that one had less fat in it, and was meant to be for cooking the chicken.
We were allowed 3 choices of soup despite only ordering 2 sets, so I went for the sukiyaki (mildly sweet broth) to avoid ordering another fish soup, as my friend got the 目魚 broth. In my opinion, I think the sukiyaki broth still goes best with shabu shabu especially with the beef as it gives it that slightly honeyed flavour. There were 6 pieces of chicken with the paper pot set which was plenty for 3 persons to share. I actually preferred the packet of Inaniwa udon to the fresh handmade which came in a pen stand like box because it had more texture and was chewier, whereas the fresh one was a bit floppy after cooking. The mixed plate of vegetable was bountiful and fresh, and the beef was thinly sliced, blood red and fresh (as in, properly thawed but still cooler than room temperature).
We also ordered more food to go into the broth - scallops, oyster, konnyaku noodles, and extra shiitake, enoki and golden mushrooms (which really filled us up to the brim). The oyster was ginormous, fat, and glistening, properly cleaned and void of grit and sand.
In addition, we ordered the ox tongue and eel kushiyaki, and my friend's set came with a choice of 2 chicken kushiyaki's (except the foie gras), so we ordered the leek and chicken and the chicken rice ball. Everything was grilled to perfection, and my favourite was the onigiri which was 1) massive, 2) had katsuobushi dancing atop, 3) was evenly crispy but not burnt on the outside, 4) held itself perfectly without falling to broken pieces when bitten into.
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