Back in Fukuoka, and this evening we visited the well-respected Yamanaka Honten restaurant in the city centre, a few minutes' walk from the Watanabe-dori subway station, amidst a network of narrow streets lined with izakayas (casual restaurants/pubs) frequented by salarymen after work. Not the easiest to locate, but probably well worth the effort, as it is supposedly one of the best places in the city for sushi and sashimi, according to numerous online reviews. Its sleek and brightly-lit concrete-and-metal façade certainly stood out in the dark.
Going past the doors, we were shown promptly and politely to our table by a waitress. The restaurant was quite large by Japanese fine-dining standards, and it was almost full when we were there. The atmosphere was surprisingly casual and convivial, particularly at the sushi counter. Pity my Japanese wasn't good enough yet to interact with the chefs meaningfully (which is probably part of the reason why we were allocated to a table instead of a counter seat - next time perhaps!). The staff (both chefs and waitresses) all seemed rather young or at most in their early middle ages, and because they were busy tonight, their service generally felt rather fast-paced, but fortunately not at the expense of the high standards of hospitality that we had come to expect in Japan - more on that later.
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| Impressive ikebana (flower arrangement) by our table. |
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| Table setting with soy sauce and vinaigrette dressing, presumably for the sushi and sashimi later. |
We had reserved the basic 8-course evening tasting menu with a substitution for the vinegared dish. Dinner starts at 8,000 yen per person, but this substitution alone would bump up the price quite significantly to 10,000 yen; you shall soon see why!
Starters (小鉢 2 種): 菜の花の辛子和え, young shoots of the rapeseed plant boiled then tossed in mustard dressing with shiitake mushrooms and topped with baby radish.
Young rapeseed shoots (known as nanohana in Japan - lit. 'flower of vegetable') are bright yellow-green when in season between the plum blossoms of late winter and the cherry blossoms of spring. A harbinger of the new season, it is very similar to broccoli in appearance and taste, and the florets, stems and leaves are all edible. Here, we had a delightfully creamy yet clean-tasting and mildly piquant side dish typically enjoyed during springtime in Japan.
The other starter was 山独活の金平, udo or 'mountain asparagus' cooked kinpira style.
The young soft stems of this spring vegetable were thinly sliced and boiled to eliminate a naturally occuring resin-like coating, before being cooked kinpira style - a unique Japanese method combining sautéeing and simmering with soy sauce, mirin and chilli pepper, which gave it a lovely sweet-savoury balance, and juicy crunch similar to that of fresh bamboo shoots. A twig of my favourite kinome (pricklyash) herb contributed further spicy aromas to freshen the palate, amidst the heavier flavours of this starter.
Sashimi 1: 河豚 fugu (puffer fish), served with a slice of orange, chives and a ponzu dip (citrus vinegared sauce).
This was our substitution for the later vinegared dish. Fugu, a delicacy during the winter, is notorious for its neurotoxins which can kill if handled by an unlicensed chef. Precisely why we decided to pay a bit more at a good restaurant for this, instead of trying to find the cheapest available. Fugu is quite pricey to begin with, and in particular, tasting menus centred on the fish start at 20,000 yen (!) here. We had merely asked for a taster, and even so this small plate to share (not an individual portion, mind you) had increased the price by 2,000 yen per person!
This was our first time with fugu sashimi, which according to the aficionados is the best way to enjoy it. (I've only ever had deep-fried fugu ribs, which is a cheaper and more popular way of eating it.) The sashimi had been sliced very thinly (as is customary) such that the dish's design could be seen and appreciated, and the translucent pieces had an unusually firm texture that was somewhat between fish and chicken. Both of us found the raw flesh to be somewhat bland, rubbery and chewy, and unfortunately not quite as enjoyable as we were expecting it to be, given our prior experiences with deep-fried fugu. However, the garnishes and sauce did impart some essential flavours and aromas. Actually, we found the slithers of fugu skin more memorable, due to their uniquely crunchy bite - what the Japanese describe as 'shiko-shiko'.
[N.B. The slices are usually arranged in concentric circles to resemble a chrysanthemum. The chrysanthemum is the official seal of the Japanese emperor, the only person forbidden by law to this day from eating fugu.]
Sashimi 2: a platter on ice to share, with 鯛 tai (sea bream) 2 ways (raw and lightly seared), 赤貝 akagai (ark shell - front bamboo basket), まぐろ maguro (tuna), 鯖寿司 saba-zushi (Osaka-style vinegared mackerel sushi wrapped in kelp), 烏賊 ika (squid - side wooden buckets), 鰆 sawara (Spanish mackerel). Served with shredded radish, seaweed, shiso buds, and hasu-imo 蓮芋.
The presentation was most impressive and the sashimi was all incredibly fresh and flavourful, but what I remembered most vividly was the hasu-imo 蓮芋, which I was encountering for the first time. As the suffix suggests, this is a close relation of taro, though unusually in this case it is the stalk, and not the tuber that is eaten. Hasu is also another word for renkon 蓮根 (lotus root), and the stalk of this plant is so called because its cross-section filled with holes resembles that of lotus root. Hasu-imo must be peeled and is often soaked in cold water to leach out any bitterness before eating, and it is the only taro stalk that can be eaten raw. These finely-sliced pieces here had a very fresh and crisp taste, with a slight creaminess in texture akin to okra.
Grilled dish (焼物): キンキの味噌漬け, kinki (deep sea perch) grilled with miso.
Everything about this was perfect: crisp skin, lightly caramelised and melt-in-the-mouth oily flesh, beautifully glazed by miso and enhanced by its remarkably deep and sweet umami. The gill from which this piece was taken did contain some large bones, but it is also particularly prized for its rich fatty texture, typically reaching its peak in winter, like many other premium Japanese fishes. Served with pickled ginger, shiitake mushroom, umeboshi (salted plum) and a slice of lemon for balance. This was my favourite dish of the evening.
Deep-fried dish (揚物):lightly battered and fried 白子 shirako (cod milt, i.e. the male's sperm bag), with grilled shishito peppers in a light savoury broth.
This was a very close second for me to the preceding course. Shirako is also a late winter delicacy, harvested just before the fish's spawning season in early spring. Don't be put off by the idea of ingesting fish sperm or by its squishy human brain-like appearance; this was really rich and buttery on the inside, with a delicate crispy outer layer from frying. The sweet and mildly piquant peppers cut through the richness of the shirako perfectly, while the tasty broth matched its lush flavour very effectively.
Sushi with pickles: 雲丹 uni (sea urchin), 小鯛 kodai (small bream), まぐろ seared maguro (tuna), 卵 tamago (egg custard), 穴子 anago (conger eel). Accompanying tsukemono (pickles): cucumber, 大根 daikon (radish) skin, and a 広島菜 hiroshimana (Chinese cabbage) maki wrap with 山芋 yama-imo (mountain yam) and umeboshi-infused rice.
The supposed star of the show, uni, was not as sweet and creamy as I would have liked it to be, and the execution and presentation of the gunkan sushi could have done with a little more refinement and precision. The same could be said of the anago nigiri, which were somewhat uneven in size and not quite as melt-in-the-mouth as in our previous experiences in Hiroshima, though they were still tasty. The tamago was pleasant but not any more extraordinary than what I've had outside of Japan. The other two fishes were clean-tasting, and aptly aged and seasoned. On the whole, this was all quite pleasant though definitely not earth-shattering.
Surprisingly, I found the elaborate pickles somewhat more memorable. The vegetables were all very fresh, crisp and well-balanced in taste, with only a slight hint of astringency. I particularly loved the maki with its multitude of textures and the delicate sour-and-salty taste of umeboshi, which both refreshed and stimulated the palate very effectively.
Soup (汁): 蜆 shijimi (freshwater clam) miso soup, with a small cup for disposing the shells.
This was very tasty, with the numerous clams within the soup contributing an even deeper and more complex flavour to the already intense umami of miso. The only problem was the clams' tiny size, and the constant disposal of the shells in the cup provided was a bit of a hassle.
Dessert: a single strawberry, halved and dressed lightly with condensed milk.
This was probably the Japanese version of strawberries and cream. Not sure what variety the strawberry was, but it was very good indeed - juicy, with a lovely balance in taste between sweet and tangy, and made slightly more decadent with a drizzle of condensed milk. However, even though it is not uncommon to finish a traditional Japanese meal with a plate of fruit, I still felt that this ending was somewhat of an anticlimax, given its extremely meagre portion. Just one strawberry each - really? I have nothing against simplicity and austerity, but the apparent lack of effort in execution is another matter altogether, especially when one is paying fine-dining prices.
In summary: an above-average meal with some hits and misses. I wanted to be able to say that the food had been amazing, but unfortunately having been spoiled by my two fine-dining experiences in Hiroshima (commanding roughly the same prices at dinner, I should add), I felt that Yamanaka Honten still had some way to go. For whatever its reputation was worth, it was somewhat ironic that the most memorable dishes for me tonight were neither the sushi nor sashimi, but rather the cooked dishes.
Service remained stellar throughout. The same middle-aged lady who had taken my reservation a few days ago, when we were in the area and dropped in personally, was also working tonight. Being somewhat of a manageress figure (at least that's how she came across to us) she made sure we were generally well taken care of, and she was very patient in answering my questions about what we were eating. She even enthusiastically volunteered to take a picture of both of us outside the restaurant, as she saw us out. The other service staff were equally efficient and polite. Very little English was spoken here and no written menu was provided, but fortunately I managed just fine using my smartphone's kanji input app for the names of various fishes and vegetables. On the whole, this had been an agreeable experience, but I wouldn't be in a hurry to return, given the plethora of excellent restaurants in Fukuoka.
Address in kanji: 福岡市中央区渡辺通 2-8-8
Tel.: (81) 92-731-7771 (reservations required in Japanese)
Open every day for lunch and dinner except Sundays and over the New Year period.
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