Duvel

I stayed overnight at Karuizawa, in a faux-European style hotel, at the recommendation of a work colleague. At first I was more than sceptical, especially when I learned that the set dinner menu was also supposedly European “inspired” and centered around vegetables ... I was more than pleasantly surprise. The dinner room offered a great view into a bamboo forest and since the was a Taifun approaching, the rain and the bamboo movements provided a quite dramatic background to the dinner. First course was salad, wrapped in a rice paper parcel, with beetroot yuzu dressing. The salad itself contained another soy milk based dressing, tangy like ranch dressing. All veggies were organic from contracted farms around the area. It was a nice composition and certainly a good start. Homemade bread (spinach and rice flour) was served with dipping oil with ground local walnuts (c.f. the lunch thread). I also got the recipe for the soy ranch dressing from the kitchen ... Second course was a variety of slow baked mini potatoes on top of anchovy garlic purée with thinly sliced and deep fried gyoza wrappers on top. The combination of the sweet and earthy potatoes and the sharp umami of the anchovy garlic paste was outstanding. Main course was slow braised heritage pork, from a local farm. Very soft, very porky, with a spinach based sauce. Satisfying, and accompanied by the house sangria ... Dessert was pumpkin creme brûlée with ice creme. The pumpkin taste was subtle, but noticeable. A nice finish. Overall I was more than happy with both the choice of restaurant as well as the great meal. The atmosphere in the restaurant surely contributed as well. After dinner I had booked a 45 min time slot in the private open air hotspring belonging to the hotel. While soaking in the hot water sheltered by a roof I could see and feel the Taifun shaking up the large forest trees in view of the onsen while is was pouring down. An ice cold whisky highball moved my already relaxed mood towards perfect bliss ...

Sorry, maybe wrongly put. It's Tsuyu plus walnuts, so the ground nuts get loosened/diluted with Tsuyu (comprised of dashi, soy sauce, mirin, sake) ...

That looks sooooo good, @Shelby!

I love that one as well. And I know already - having 45 min on Monday in the Mekka of Japanese kitchenware, Kappabashi - what will go home with me to Hong Kong ...

Trying (unsuccessfully) to escape the heavy rain brought by Taifun #12, I took a train to Karuizawa, Nagano prefecture. The local speciality is Soba, specifically Kurumi soba, where the dipping sauce Tsuyu is enriched with a paste of freshly ground walnuts. And conveniently enough for the kitchen staff, the guest have to do the grinding. Served with the beer brewed in this mountain town, Tempura and finished with Sobayu, the starchy boiling water of the buckwheat noodles that one dilutes with the remaining Tsuyu. All was delicious ...

Normally I'd say you are overestimating both my English capabilities and my capacity for alcohol ... But of course you are spot on 😋

I knew something was up when I boarded the local train from Anegasaki station after a really long day at the production site. It was crowded beyond anything I had ever experienced. Getting out at Makuhari with literally thousands of people confirmed that suspicion. I took a taxi for the normally 10 min walk to the hotel only to learn upon check in that today was the annual fireworks in Makuhari (one of the bigger ones in Japan) and since all fireworks for tomorrow had been cancelled to to an incoming typhoon, everyone wanted to join tonight. After explaining that the very nice girl at the check-in told me that Because fireworks would start in 5 min and so.e guests for the "perfect view" rooms didn't show up I'd be up for a treat ... I had a great view on the fireworks and headed out shortly after only to find that again literally thousand of people gad the very same idea ... Spend some time in the hot spring of the hotel, then dozed off and woke up famished at 23.30h. Only reasonable option was pizza napoletana at the hitel-owned cafe, which wasn't half as bad, followed by curry-flavored rice crackers. Waiting time for the pizza and the pizza itself was accompanied by Whisky highball ... A pleasant start into the weekend !

Sorry, sweeeeeeet. Will correct it. Its pretty much like the Unagi basting sauce. Lovely combination, especially with the soft potatoes soaking up the sauce ...

It's whisky with club soda. Depending on your friendly server alcohol content ranges from maybe 3% to something close to 10%. Color is a good indicator. And based on my experience a German guy who orders offal and knows a few funky Japanese words gets usually the stronger stuff 😋 It is very refreshing and has a lot less calories than beer ...

I am very fond of Izakaya-style restaurants and am always happy if my colleagues propose to go to "just a simple restaurant", which usually means it is very good (as otherwise they wouldn't suggest a "cheap" place). So, tonight we went to the Roppongi branch of Tengu ... Haram (diaphragm), Mentaiko, Tofu motsunabe (intestine stew with miso & tofu - excellent), Gyutan (tongue), Tsukune (minced chicken & cartilage), chicken livers and potatoes in thick sweet soy sauce (my favorite of the night), Hatsu (heart) and mixed pickles. Whisky highballs ad libitum, as we booked the "nomihodai" package - all you can drink for 120 min (which is surprisingly a lot 😁) ...

Why do you think I drink the whisky highball in the first place ?

As pretty much every time,I arrived very late at Haneda airport, Tokyo and even later in my hotel. Luckily, I know exactly the motsuyaki place to get a late night snack as well as a much needed refreshment: Shiodare cabbage (all you can eat). Ham-katsu, horse "yukhe", deep-fried small intestines, all accompanied by one (or was it two ?) whiskey highballs. Don't get fooled by the glass, I ordered Suntory, of course 😁

Lunch at Roppongi Hills in Tokyo; lunchset with 13 pieces plus Miso soup for about 18 USD. Picture taken after the first pieces disappeared ... 🙄

I see what you did there ...

Soooo ... as my wife and son are trying to escape the hot and sweltering Hong Kong summer (in currently equally hot and sweltering Catalunya) I am leading the life of a bachelor... This allows me of course to give in to spontaneous cravings, induced by participating in the happy hour in a local watering hole and then having 30 min with my food-depraved brain alone with me on the ferry back from work. Thus, I stopped by the supermarket, got a pound of boneless chicken thighs and made ChiMek - Korean fried chicken and beer. Chicken marinated in ginger, garlic, mirin and salt, then coated with starch/flour sprinkled with little water droplets for that KFC effect. Fried and served with Gochujang honey sauce and mustard / sesame oil / honey sauce. Oh yeah, and SoMek - soju and beer - just because of Bachelorhood 😋 (I count the days they come back)

Ahh ... that's so 1990's. You'd be surprised what Google tells you on Camel sous vide 😋

Yesterday's porchetta, thinly sliced, on fresh spelt-rye-wheat bread ...

Freshly made Brezel with chive butter and some equally delicious homemade Leberkäse ... Oh ... and one (or maybe two) Old Fashioned(s).

Suckling pig porchetta: deboned suckling pig belly, rubbed skin side with salt, garlic, rosemary, chilli and fennel. Rolled up, tied and SV for 24h @ 70oC. Then chilled, cleaned and dried in the refrigerator overnight. Deep fried for the crispiest skin you could imagine. Served thickly cut with rosemary flatbread and some of the incredible bag liquid, basted onto the flatbread ...

Yesterday was doyo-no-ushi-no-hi, or the midsummer day of the ox in Japan, on which tradionally Unagi is consumed. Last year I enjoyed a fantastic Unagi meal in Chiba, this year I had to make it myself ... Unagi don, umeboshi, edamame, tsukemono, mushroom-based miso soup. And a bottle of junmai sake. Not pictured: a tasty, yes surface-impaired chawan mushy with mentaiko, chicken and edamame & carrot. This day could be more often ...

Not if you buy the right pig ...

Single correlations are easy - you need to add complexity to be credible: More than 99.5% of all men, who regularly eat broccoli at restaurants and occasionally (1-3 / week) watch CNN news eventually die.

Did you ever fill Nutella in an ice cube mold, freeze it, drop the frozen Nutella cube into batter and deep fry it ? It's super delicious, complements any buzz from alcohol or other intoxicating substances nicely and can cause third degree burns, if you pop it in your mouth whole (don't ask ...) 😋

Please add step 1a: throw the egg ...

Comfort food from left-overs: Burger with onion marmalade, served with Bratkartoffeln ("home fries").