On our last night in Kanazawa Lauren had arranged for us to have dinner at her favorite sushi place. The sushi chef has been recognized as one of the 100 best in Japan and people actually make pilgrimages to his place (location to remain secret!).
What follows is a blow-by-blow of the meal.
We started with seaweed in vinegar and squid in a squid liver sauce.
Next was grouper with sea salt and conch.
Then mackerel.
Then a seared salted tuna with Japanese mustard (my favorite of the night that was 100% amazing).
The next dish was designed to mimic the appearance of Japan’s Mt. Blanc — Hakusan. This dish is salmon roe with a dab of sushi rice in the middle.
Next was grilled squid “Takatani” style.
Next was the most interesting dish of cod sperm sacks called “shirako” in Japanese, translated as “little white babies”.
Next was sweet shrimp with shrimp roe mixed with sushi rice and topped with shrimp brain pureed with sea salt.
Next up was young sweet shrimp that has been boiled, dried, and ground then sprinkled over the sushi rice underneath a piece of young sea bass.
Next a beautiful piece of maguro with sushi rice.
Course number 11 was a piece of black-throat perch steamed in soy sauce.
Then we had some crab topped with pureed crab brain over sushi rice presented in a lovely cut glass bowl.
Next we had lightly grilled sea eel with soy sauce and grated yuzu (a citrus).
Last on the Chef’s menu was yellowtail with grated daikon radish, wasabi, and vinegar.
And then one additional special request by Lauren was a wasabi roll.
Overall an amazing meal over a course of three hours and Chef was just fantasic!
