4
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What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
Various issues stopped the friend group and I from going out to a small Japanese restaurant I've been eyeing for a long time and we finally made the trip on Saturday, which was our last chance as circumstances will stop all of us going out for such for several months at least. It was worth the effort/wait. Everything was good, but some things were just magnificent:
Takoyaki - I've had this (and pretty much everything on this list) before and wasn't impressed as the octopus within it was overcooked and chewy, this however had no such shortcoming. It's a ball of fried dough with octopus and various other ingredients within, theirs also comes out hot in these small pans with a sauce that caramelizes underneath. Seriously heavenly.
Japanese curry - Japanese curry is flavorful, but not spicy. It's like a someone from Japan visited India, found delicious curry but wanted it with a zero heat level and then replicated it back in Japan with ingredients there. It's like a thick brown gravy you'd put on mashed potatoes, plus Indian curry spices, and some ground pork added over rice. Best I've ever had.
Agedashi tofu - This was a surprise as I'm not typically a fan of tofu. It's either too soft and tasteless or overcooked/chewy and tasteless. However this was nothing of the sort and if all tofu tasted like this the world would be a better place. Right texture, very flavorful without anything overpowering anything else, just amazing.
Tempura shrimp - Technically we ordered the tempura variety with shrimp and various vegetables, all the veggies were well cooked and the sauce was delicious, but the star here is the shrimp. You've likely had tempura shrimp before, and looking at what arrived appeared no different, but once you actually taste one of the shrimp here you realize that everyone else has been doing it wrong. All other tempura shrimp you've had were overcooked and mistreated.
Grilled shishito peppers - Shisito peppers aren't hot, even the hottest ones are less than half of an unripe/mild jalapeno, most are in the bell pepper heat range. These were just wonderful little tender blistered peppers, with some bonito on top. Grab it by the stem, one bite for the whole thing, and enjoy.
Crispy rice tuna sushi - I can't remember the exact name of this, but that wasn't far off. It was on the specials board for the week and suggested when I asked our waitress if there's anything else we should try. Hit it out of the park with this one. Medium fatty tuna that completely melts in your mouth, a block of sushi rice below it that's fried crispy on the outside, but perfect soft and fluffy sushi rice in the middle, perfectly complimented drop of sauce on top. Also came with real freshly grated wasabi and it is delightful.