Cybertron Flower

So uhm, I have a backlog of a few "starry" restaurants? Two Michelin-star-rated ones and one recommended, to be exact. But if I wait until I work my way through them, I will never post anything. So you get my latest adventure instead of the chronologically next one :) My restaurants-buddy and I decided that given how I am leaving soon, we need to try to get to a few places we absolutely wanted to visit - she stays in Amsterdam but suffers from the same problem I usually do, namely a lack of (local) people who would be interested in investing a lot into food.

The Teppanyaki Restaurant Sazanka is in hotel Okura. And honestly, a few years ago I would be impressed by the entrance but by now my approach is that they are there to make me feel well and welcome, no matter me wearing a jacket that costs less than the surcharge for Wagyu beef (but we'll come to that).

In Sazanka, your food is made just in front of you on a hot plate - not quiet by your personal chef, but close to. Our table seated a total of 7 people - some other tables were larger, but not by much and I am rather sure that those were groups that belonged together. I was kind of sad that conversation did not happen^[*], but it was also not the same set up as Boston's Stir (which does master classes where everyone gets the same and the very idea is to discuss the food and the wine and the pairings).

Here is our amazing chef (I asked permission to take the photos):




( two more )

Not every dish involved fire, but hey, those were the most spectacular photos! Some of the most spectacular things done was however the perfect flipping of the fish and the whole choreography of the cooking. I did not get to thank her in the end (by the time we finished with the desert we were, once again, among the last people in the restaurant), but I do hope that I adequately expressed how amazing the food was during the meal.



(click for a larger version)

We knew what we would be getting in terms of the menu (namely the above, the seasonal menu, the most extensive of the three menus on offer - they also had a lot of a la carte dishes), but still let them explain it to us. One cool thing about J. is that she and I are on the same wavelength when it comes to these restaurant visits: if we are already here and spending the money, we can as well go full way. We did some time discussing whether wine or sake and decided for sake in the end, on the reasons it being a more unique experience. I'm not sure what the wine pairing would have been like (certainly good, I don't doubt that), but the sake one definitely changed my outlook on what sake can be. I still don't think I'll order some just for myself (except perhaps asking for a recommendation in a really good Japanese place, something that would go well with the food there?), but I know that it can be as interesting as wine and is definitely not the awful cloudy-white stuff I imagined before!


( on to the food pics! )

Overall: very much recommended. Though perhaps not as one of the first of your high end dining places - of the (admittedly few - but hey, I'm young! - I tried) that still would be either Essigbrätlein in Nuremberg (lunch/dinner) or the Vermeer in Amsterdam, both do the "regional & seasonal incredible stuff out of ingredient you would not usually consider high end" approach. A word of warning about Sazanka, though - I've read online that they actually charge for water which would be a major wtf?, but I honestly haven't checked the bill and given the fact that we only had half-pours of the alcohol and the aperitif and the coffee I can't say whether we paid for it or not. In any case it was more than worth it.

^[*] We did exchange some words with the somewhat older guy who did sit next to me: he literally just popped in for a quick meal, though. He seems to be a regular - I would have liked to hear more about the restaurant from him, but at least he commented how we had the luck to have the best chef on our table (and did indeed talk to the chef, so it seemed he indeed knew her). And then there were the two guys - they asked whether this was our first time to a Michelin restaurant (well, uhm ...) but this seemed an OK conversation started. So I said "no, we actually do this as a hobby" - "oh, we too" (they seemed to want to visit all the ones in the Netherlands within the next four years) - "so which one did you like best?" - I mean, this seemed like the best question to start a conversation? I mean here I am, giving you an opening to exchange about the amazing experience we have. So they gestured to their plate but then proceeded lecturing us about how Sazanka was only one of the three Michelin-rated restaurants in the hotel. And they haven't even been to the other two. I mean - I just told you we do this as a hobby? Do you really think I don't know what the other two restaurants are? Why not tell me about that other place you loved that you would like to recommend? Why instead try lecturing us? Anyway, byyyyyeeee stupid Dutch guys. Here goes your chance to hear stories about Chicago's Alinea.

Talking to das_elysium about Boston reminded me that I haven't come around to post about the two nights I spend in the Stir test kitchen. I know, I know - posting about restaurant visits from last summer is kind of ... late? Lame? But then again, does it really matter to the readers here when I was in a given restaurant? And I myself love to be reminded of the great food I ate. Mo worries, I do not plan to make detailed posts about every of my restaurant visits, only the fanciest ones, i.e., the "starry" ones or special ones like Stir: one theme for the any given evening, 10 people, wine (or non-alcoholic, but warn them in advance about that) pairings, one table around a cooking station where some of the cooking happens live, accompanied by the cook's explanations about the food and cooking techniques and the sommelier's commentary on the wine and wine pairings.


Visit 1: Cookbook Series: The Basque Book



So this is what the place looks like before the cooking starts.

( the rest of the night )

Visit 2: Rosé, Corn and Tomato


( second visit )

I should have taken notes of which dishes were voted best - not necessarily always the ones *I* liked best. But we've been also told that it's by far not always the same dish that wins on nights with the same theme. And even given that there may be differences in the cook's performance from one night to the next (which I do not think to be great, the guys are extreme professionals), in the end it is about the taste of individual people and a group of 10 means small number statistics on any individual night (I know, I out myself as a scientist talking this way, but well ... so I am. And statistics and understanding what small numbers statistics or biases mean is important, even if it comes to food). The voting itself was a lot of fun - while we talked about food all the time at the table, it gave us a chance to stop for a second and consider the meal as a whole, to revisit first impressions and think how they stood up to everything that followed.

Anyway, if you are in Boston and have a chance to plan ahead some 5-6 weeks (the individual evenings/master classes are sold out quickly and far in advance, one usually needs to book within a short time after they are announced), totally go there. And if you have the spare money, of course. But then we are back to the discussion of food as art and the money we are willing to spend for, say, a music festival.