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2010-05-12
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Sushi Imamura 寿司処今村 used to be quite a reliable place for quality sushi and sashimi. I said “used to” because the quality had dropped substantially with its popularity and fame growing over time. It seems that people are fine to settling average sushi at a cheaper price at lunch, rather than going for higher standard yet more expensive experiences. If you are a owner of a sushi restaurant, which way will you choose? Pulling in more quick profits with sell-out convenient lunch sets or higher q
When I had a reunion dinner with 3 friends at Imamura one night, we were surprised by how deserted the place was. We were the only table in the restaurant for the whole night except for one foreigner at the sushi counter. We picked the table mainly because we were planning to talk to catch up and didn’t want to disturb others at the sushi counter. Regardless, our food was prepared by 今村猛之 樣 and his sous chef as he wasn’t really busy… Omakase (おまかせ) was our natural choice, in fact, almost always my defined choice when dining at sushi restaurant. What’s better than letting the chef to give you the best he can offer, much like the tasting menu in fine-dining restaurants?
The おまかせ started out with 3 cold appetizers (三昧前菜) which did not leave any strong impression despite all being homemade. The Hiroshima oysters with vinegar and oroshi (広島かきのマリネ) was fresh with the oceanic flavor and tantalizing vinegar (酢) and oroshi (おろし) nicely balanced, but the flavor was very standard. Accompanied was the Marinated Raw Sea Cucumber (珍味: なまこ酢 Namako Su) which, like last time I tasted it, was chewy and slimy and wasn’t particularly palate-simulating.
Next served was the more “safe” course of お造り刺身. The platter of sashimi was filled with seasonal fresh fish ranging from はまち (himachi, yellowtail), カンパチ (kanpachi), 帆立 (hotate, scallops), しま鯵 (shima aji, jackfish), さんま (sanma, pacific saury 秋刀魚), カツオ (katsuo, 鰹), to the more special and luxurious 金目鯛 (kinmeidai, golden eye snapper), サザエ (sazae, conch), あわび (awabi, abalone, 鮑), みるがい (mirugai海松貝, Geoduck clam), 牡丹海老 (Botan ebi), and 大とろ (Otoro). While the presentation was absolutely gorgeous, I must say the quality of each type of sashimi wasn’t as pristine as I would have expected. The better ones were the shell fish which still retained their crunchy texture and freshness. The 大とろ, while not the best I had, was richly marbled and filled the coated my lips and mouth with fatty goodness. On the other hand, my favorite さんま was not fatty enough to give a luscious mouthfeel(at least it wasn’t fishy), and the 牡丹海老 lacked the bouncy, juicy, “dancing-in-your-feel” feeling. (The shrimp heads were fried and served after). Both were surprisingly bland and in fact rather disappointing. However, points were given to the knife skills of Chef Imamura, as all sashimi was cut in the appropriate thickness and sizes. I am particularly impressed by the cuts of shell fish which were done poorly in a lot of other sushi restaurants, but not the case here.
After the sashimi, 松葉かに (matsubagani, 松葉蟹) was presented in the most simple, unadorned form. All the crab meat was extracted and placed both inside and outside the shell, with some female crab roes hidden underneath the meat. A pile of deep-reddish crab eggs right next to it certainly drew my attention. This presentation immediately reminded me of the 松葉かに dish that KC had at 幸村 (ゆきむら） in Tokyo.
http://gourmetkc.blogspot.com/2010/04/blog-post_27.html
Of course I did not expect the flavor to be anywhere close to what he had. In fact, the crab meat was totally deprived of sweetness or oceanic flavor, and the roes and eggs also failed to simulate my tastebuds. The course was supposed to be a highlight of the omakase, unfortunately it was mission impossible.
The sushi platter comprised of sushi made with しま鯵 (shima aji), 大とろ (Otoro), 金目鯛 (Kinmeidai),うに(Uni), 穴子 (Anago). They were better than average compared to most of the sushi restaurants in town, and with Chef Imamura in the house they were certainly up to my expectation. The neta to rice ratio, rice temperature and seasoning, and thickness of neta are all appropriately achieved under his skillful hands. The 葱とろ巻 (negitoro rolls) were also freshly done with the nori still crispy. The only caveat was again the freshness of the neta was just not of premium level, so even the highly experienced chef wouldn’t be able to save this natural weakness.
I must say the bowl of seaweed miso soup at the end of the meal was surprisingly delicious and completely excited me! The savory note of the seaweed was perfectly balanced by the umami of the miso (which I must say is of excellent quality). It was so soothing, I asked for a second bowl!
The super sweet melon and persimmon ended the meal. While our group was extremely happy during the dinner, the omakase overall had a lot to be desired. With the今村 brand name, I believe customers will have high expectation to both the quality of the ingredients and the chef skills in an omakase prepared by him. In this dinner I could see the latter – Chef Imamura’s years of experience as a sushi chef. However, the 2nd half of the equation didn’t quite deliver, leaving it an imperfect score.
張貼
