Morimoto (Philadelphia)

[Derek Lee]

We went to Morimoto in February of this year.

I agree with the others that it is very trendy - not exactly what I would call romantic dining by any definition. My wife said it was like eating at MAC - the cosmetics store, because there's this thumping bass beat in the air all around you, and everything is shaped and lit so...um, trendily.

That being said, the food was excellent. We both ordered the $120 Omakase. I actually made a little presentation for my brother's benefit (part of the meal was a gift from him from Christmas), so let me dig that out to refresh my memory...

I'll spare you my inane commentary and just list the courses. If you want my inane commentary, I can email you the word file (complete with pictures that I ripped from someone's Morimoto fanboy website).

In short - didn't know what to expect. Course 1-2 were great, but nothing outstanding. Course 3, Morimoto begins to shine. Main courses 6-7, the lobster and kobe beef, he just goes all culinary supernova. Strangely, I agree with others that the sushi just wasn't all that impressive.

Course 1

Toro Tuna Tartare w/ caviar, shallot, wasabi and mountain peach

Course 2

Four oysters four styles with edible orchid

Course 3

Sima Aji (striped jack) in hot oil and spices topped w/ micro cilantro

Course 4

Yellowtail Salad w/ shrimp and yuzu sauce

Course 5 (intermezzo)

Wasabi Yuzu Sorbet w/ Wasabi Beignet

Course 6

Pan fried lobster w/ 8 spices and Citrus creme fraiche

Course 7

Kobe beef with foie gras

Course 8

Sushi: tuna mackerel eel shrimp kamachi hamachi

Course 9

Dessert (don't remember, something yuzu-y)

Derek

http://www.threateningletters.com

(When a kind word just isn't enough)

[mb7o]

was there in april... quick review basically in agreement with everything above this post, including the noise rating.

a friend and i split i believe the 80 & 120 omakase, one for each. why? because he's lactose intolerant, and the waiter suggested doing it this way to get a wider variety than two x 100, one with no milk based things. yes, milk-based dishes in a 'japanese' restaurant. many but not all of the cooked dishes were amazing, it was much the same as the post right before this though i can't remember it all in detail. the sushi, which ended the meal, was just not particularly good at all, and left a bad last impression. others ordered off the menu, they were accomidating of that request and the service was quite good.

edit: one of the dishes was kobe beef, probably with foie gras (there certainly was foie at one point). i have no idea if it was really kobe beef, or american wagyu, or some random cattle. the sauce completely overpowered it and the texture was unremarkable.

Edited May 27, 2004 by mb7o (log)

[davebr]

Some friends and I are planning to visit in October. Does anyone have any opinions on the regular menu. We want to go for 2 nights. One for the omakase and one for the "signature" dishes.

[Kim WB]

here's a review from March of 2004: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...=0entry541962

[Alan7147]

My girlfriend and I are coming up from DC for the weekend and have reservations for Morimoto on Sat night. Is there anything that is a can't miss? Has anyone had the Omakase and is it worth it? Thanks for your help.

Also can anyone recommend a great Italian market?

[jmbrightman]

get the Omakase. you get the $80 tasting, your girlfriend gets the $120 tasting, that way you get to try the entire tasting menu. sit at the sushi bar if possible. the rock shrimp, toro tuna tartare, and black cod are a slam dunk.

[cinghiale]

that way you get to try the entire tasting menu

Well, sorta. I was there last week. My DC and I each had the $120 omakase. Since it was her first time, she had the "standard" dishes. Since I've been there before, I got (unsolicited) a completely different menu. There seems to be myriad possibilities within the omakase. An article in the Weekly awhile back reported about a woman who had the omakase something like every night for a year, and they never repeated a dish.

[Daniel]

i would tell you to get the oyster with frois gras and uni.. I would also tell you to get the appetizer omakase

[Alan7147]

i would tell you to get the oyster with frois gras and uni.. I would also tell you to get the appetizer omakase

←

Is there an omakase solely devoted to appetizers?

[jmbrightman]

not that I am aware of

[wkl]

Also can anyone recommend a great Italian market?

You should go to THE Italian Market.Located on 9th Street between Christian and Washington (generally speaking).

[Kim WB]

Here's my review of my most recent visit: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...=0entry541962

Go for the sake martinii's! ( and be careful of the slippery floor)

edit to clarify that I did not drink the sake martinis BEFORE I fell on the floor!

Edited March 21, 2005 by Kim WB (log)

[philadining]

i would tell you to get the oyster with frois gras and uni.. I would also tell you to get the appetizer omakase

←

Is there an omakase solely devoted to appetizers?

←

There's something they call "Zensai Sakizuke" which is a multi-piece "Japanese antipasto". Is that what you were referring to Daniel? Or did you just get the $80-120 omakase as a starter?!?!

[cinghiale]

Go for the sake martinii's!

←

I second, third, and fourth that reco (as in my usual number of them). I reproduce them at home, when I can find the Japanese cucumbers.

Edited March 21, 2005 by cinghiale (log)

[Daniel]

i would tell you to get the oyster with frois gras and uni.. I would also tell you to get the appetizer omakase

←

Is there an omakase solely devoted to appetizers?

←

There's something they call "Zensai Sakizuke" which is a multi-piece "Japanese antipasto". Is that what you were referring to Daniel? Or did you just get the $80-120 omakase as a starter?!?!

←

Yes thats what i am talking about.. I got the japanese antipasto.. This was where they served me six different appetizers on little plates carried in what looked like a tool box.. It was great and very interesting..

[ellencho]

My brother and I have reservations for this Thursday at lunch. Seeing that he and I have never been, but also seeing that it's lunch, can we get away with dressing more casually than a dinner guest? I mean, from what I heard, it sounds like a younger, trendier place. Suggestions? Would jeans be kosher (nice jeans, nothing holey)?

[mrbigjas]

one of the things about philadelphia that some people like (like me) and some people don't (like my in-laws) is that the vast majority of restaurants don't have a dress code. so while many people may be a little more dressed up than you are, there's barely a restaurant in town that will turn you away for wearing jeans, especially nice jeans--and in general, if you're fashionably dressed, you're good to go. don't worry about it for a second.

[ellencho]

Sweet!

[cinghiale]

I got talked into a spur-of-the-moment dinner there on Labor Day night. We'd been sitting outside the Society Hill Hotel having drinks, and I was in shorts (no t-shirt, though). Wandered up Chestnut into Morimoto. I usually don't feel comfortable dressed like that in more upscale venues, so the first thing I did was ask the hostess about my attire. They had no problem w/it. Noticed a fair number of people in jeans, too.

[shacke]

I got talked into a spur-of-the-moment dinner there on Labor Day night.  We'd been sitting outside the Society Hill Hotel having drinks, and I was in shorts (no t-shirt, though).  Wandered up Chestnut into Morimoto.  I usually don't feel comfortable dressed like that in more upscale venues, so the first thing I did was ask the hostess about my attire.  They had no problem w/it.  Noticed a fair number of people in jeans, too.

←

I was there for lunch earlier this year and while I don't remember exactly what I wore I am CERTAIN it was casual!

Evan

[philadining]

I have the bad habit of choosing restaurants at the last minute, and just seeing if I can stroll in without a reservation. Given that I'm usually dressed fairly casually, often in jeans, I sometimes end up in fairly nice places a bit underdressed.

Between my own experience, and observing other diners, the Starr restaurants seem pretty flexi about that. I've been to Morimoto in specific twice, and while I wasn't overtly scruffy, I probably was wearing jeans and a nice shirt, and didn't feel too out of place.

As mrbigjas said, I think there are very few restaurants in Philly that actually enforce a dress code. And I've never noticed raised eyebrows even when I decided on the spur of the moment to eat somewhere nice, and realized I was probably a bit underdressed.

That being said, even if they'd seat me without comment, I'd feel a little uncomfortable in some places dressed too casually. When I've gone to Lacroix, or Striped Bass, I've put on a coat, maybe even a tie. I don't recall if either of them suggest, or require, that. I've decided not to go into Buddakan or Tangerine, because I felt I was dressed TOO casually. But that was due to my own comfort level, not someone turning me away at the door.

When I actually plan ahead enough to know I am going to some of the nicer BYOBs or Starr places, I've tried to at least wear decent shoes and something nicer than jeans. But that's more a matter of my trying to communicate some respect for the place, than feeling that it's a rule.

But I do like that about Philly, that if I am just doing errands around town, dressed however, it's not a major scandal if I decide to get something fancy to eat without formal attire. So getting back to the original question, you can totally get away with jeans in Morimoto.

[mrbigjas]

That being said, even if they'd seat me without comment, I'd feel a little uncomfortable in some places dressed too casually. When I've gone to Lacroix, or Striped Bass, I've put on a coat, maybe even a tie. I don't recall if either of them suggest, or require, that. 

oh, good memory--i think lacroix does suggest a jacket.

[-sheila mooney]

That being said, even if they'd seat me without comment, I'd feel a little uncomfortable in some places dressed too casually. When I've gone to Lacroix, or Striped Bass, I've put on a coat, maybe even a tie. I don't recall if either of them suggest, or require, that. 

oh, good memory--i think lacroix does suggest a jacket.

←

rule of thumb: be at least as well dressed as your waiter....

[cinghiale]

That's why I avoid Hooter's and LBF.

[ellencho]

So the two of us are back. We both wore jeans and didn't look out of place. In fact, there were two other twenty somethings seated at the sushi bar with us looking MUCH more casual than us two.

The food was delicious and the sushi chef Terry was fricking cool. We both had the Omakase for lunch and everything was prepared very well.

Sorry about the lighting in the photos. I used the flash once and felt bad about it. I didn't want to disturb other diners so I just used regular lighting for the rest of the pictures.

The first course we had was some sort of tartare. I think it was toro, I'm not 100% sure, but there were nice crispy shallots minced into it. Very fresh and light tasting.

The next course was a salad of micro greens atop a couple slices of some sashimi. I have no idea what it was, but it was a very mild tasting fish. Perhaps snapper? I'm not sure. And the pink things on top were shaved bonito. Sort of like a dry fish ham. The dressing had a sort of shalloty base.

Third course was a rock shrimp tempura that was coated in some sort of ggochujang type sauce, but interestingly enough it was also sort of cheddary cheesy tasting. Very interesting and the texture was great. The shrimp were perfectly cooked.

Fourth course was a seared cod served with a pepper type salad on the side. The pepper salad was really light tasting, I was worried it would be overpowering, but they added a bit of ginger to it, and it really made a difference. The fish itself was good, but I wish the skin could have been a bit more crisp. It was sort of rubbery, but luckily it was a thin enough skin that it wasn't a big issue.

The fifth course was a sushi sampler. The fish was tasty, especially the toro and the fluke (my two personal favorites).

The final course was a chocolate financier with a coconut ice cream on the side. The green smear is some sort of sake apple sauce or something like that. It went surprisingly well with the cake. My brother wasn't too keen on the financier, but I think he's used to the types of molten lava cakes that I make with sort of a melty chocolatey inside. The three brown things on the side are little candied almonds.