last lovely dinner

We enjoyed a dinner for two at a beautiful restaurant, whose specialty is fugu, sashimi and otherwise....a beautiful, small, quiet place where the chef prepared all the foods in front of our eyes. He hardly spoke, the food did all the talking. He did tell us that he had been cutting fugu for 17 years. It is amazing to watch and soak up this kind of culture, it is nowhere other than this place.
His knives are on the left, one for each task, a beautiful clean and organised workspace with minimal tools....here is our dinner by course, there is no menu, you just get the days special range....carefully planned and prepared for balance of flavour, beauty of colours and foods in season....
Just to tempt us, small tasting of various pickles, fish guts, tofu, sweet beans and spinach....
Followed by a dashi flavoured jelly with the skin of fugu in the bottom...OK I did try it at least....fish skin is not my favourite texture....
Followed by beautiful, beautiful fugu sashimi, sliced in front of us by expert hands....amazing....
Followed by daikon radish boiled in broth with some small veges (carrot and greens and skin of yuzu) and no, not a brain but balls! The testicle of a cod fish!!...so f.u.n.n.y translating that with gestures, the usual Aussie hand gesture - is as if you are holding two melons, the chef simply held his thumbs and fore fingers in a ring, about as small as two marbles and put them in the place so there was no mistaking what they were....I couldn't stop giggling....yep, I tried it, yep it wasn't that good, people eat it for texture which is like thick cream......not so much flavour, my loved one ate mine, so he ate two testicles, which has been very good fun to tease him about.....he said it was rude to leave it....
Followed by kara age, fried fugu...it is such a tasty fish....
Followed by horse mackrel simmered in soy and sweet stuff with a little bit of mushrooms and sesame seeds...
Followed by nabe, or a hot pot, which first had the tofu boiled in it, the most silky and beautiful tofu I have eaten, served in a ponzu, or yuzu and soy (and other things) sauce...amazing!
I had 2 glasses of wine and since I almost never drink I was forgetting to take pictures.....I missed the photos of the nabe which was fugu and a lot of beautiful veges and mushrooms and a piece of mochi...all dipped into the ponzu before you eat it. Usually the nabe/hot pot sits in the centre of the table and you just take what you want but we were served bits and bobs last night...lovely!
The dish above is a rice and egg dish which is poured into the remainder of the hot pot liquid to soak up all the yumness from all the previously cooked foods.....it was just so nice...but gosh, FULL...I couldn't breathe very well by this stage.....oh, the pickles on the right were also very special....in fact one of my favourite dishes, so delicious
LASTLY, chef pulled out a huge and beautiful kaki or persimmon. Since they have just about finished the season here, I have had my share of skinning and eating them, and they are a hard fruit, so takes some time to get the skin off without cutting your fingers....watching him skin it was like he was cutting butter. I'm sure his knife was very sharp but gee, it was so amazing to watch his skill. I could only eat one piece......The night sums up the best of Japan for me, quiet beauty, holding onto old and beautiful traditions, transient moments and respect. The rush and gush of the city is the flip side to what I love but taking time for the quiet things was so wonderful! And to have a last moment with my darling, just us two, and soak up the last few moments in this place. Leaving on a high is just so a good thing to do!