KOYA - Japanese Udon in London

I love noodles, and lately, have been eating a lot of them. Any chance I can get, I order Soba, Udon or Ramen...or even just plain old pancit. During my last trip to London, my cousin told me we had to try this new place of her friend..called Koya. I asked her what they specialized in and she said Udon! How can I say no?

Koya is located in Soho area of London (the trendy restaurants, Pubs and shops are all located there). We were lucky to get a table quick, as they do not accept reservations and are packed most of the time the whole day. For starters, I had a small bowl of Onsen Tamago (Poached Egg), a cold Dashi soup, served with a small poached egg (Quail Egg I presume). This dish was great, very refreshing.

We then ordered 2 small dishes before hitting the noodles: Fish and Chips (Cod Tempura with Lotus root Chips) and Kakuni (Braised Pork Belly in Cider). The Fish and Chips were excellent small cuts of cod, perfectly cooked tempura style with Lotus Chips. The Lotus chips were very addicting!. The Porke Belly, very ultra soft, stringy pork, with a slightly sweetish sauce. It was served with a little English Mustard, which gave it a little extra heat.

After these excellent dishes, we had the specialty of the house: UDON. Basically they are thicky sticky noodles. All of the noodles are made fresh that day in their underground facilities, with most if not all raw ingredients flown in from Japan.

We ordered 2 dishes: Atsu-Atsu (hot udon on hot broth) and Hiya-Hiya (Zaru Udon - cold noodles on cold broth to dip). Both excellent, although at that time I was in the mood for cold Udon, this was excellent fresh noodles, a very clear broth full of flavor. The broth for the Zaru was cold, with chopped onion leaks, sesame seeds and Ginger

Hot Udon

Cold Udon

I had the chance to meet the owner, who was not Japanese (as I would have expected) but Irish. He traveled to japan to learn how this was made and decided on this restaurant, that really specializes in just noodles. One of my new favorite places to go when I'm in London. I will be back soon... (actually, the same day I had lunch there, I returned for dinner and ordered exactly the same food...go figure)

Sushi Kappo Kobikicho

Lunch this week was at Sushi Kappo, considered by many as the best Japanese restaurant in Manila. Be prepared though to pay Tokyo prices if you have dinner. They do have set lunches which is what we had.

I arrived the first so while waiting for the others, I had a chance to observe how the Chef (Shintaro Hino) meticulously prepared all the food, with such precision that it seemed like he was working for one of those Swiss watch companies. Not a single detail left out, from the millimetrical cuts of tuna, to the exact amounts of soy sauce, etc.. Incidentally all ingredients in this restaurant are flown in from Japan twice a week, from the Soy sauce, to the fresh wasabi and obviously the fresh fish, from the Tsukiji Market in Tokyo.

The set of 'swords' they use to cut the fish...impressive

Preparing the fresh Wasabi, by rubbing in on dried Shark skin

Fresh Wasabi

Precision cutting by the chef of Squid, the first of our sushi dishes

Before I continue with the other types of Sushi we had, I would just like to say that as I said earlier, this is the best I have ever tried in Manila (Hopefully when I go to Tokyo in May I will try even better thank this) period.

We had the sushi menu, which consisted of an appetizer of Daiso (some sort of nut with a sweet sauce) and different kinds of Sushi prepare din front of you and served one by one. As we were in a traditional Japanese Restaurant, I decided to eat the way the Japanese eat their Sushi. The Sushi is held by hand, turned upside down and slowly dipped in soy sauce. The rice is never dipped in the soy sauce. I know this is hard to do since I love doing this, but I wanted to taste the freshness of the fish and not the taste of Soy sauce with Wasabi. Note that they do not give you any extra Wasabi for the sushi, since they already put some between the rice and the fish..



Cuttlefish

Red Snapper

O-Toro and Hamachi

Uni (note how bright orange this is) compared to other Uni I have tried in other restaurants

Toro Maki being rolled with onions...

Toro Maki and Tamago

Tempura

Maezawa Beef, a Wagyu steak from a champion breed line of Japan

Just a short note on the Tempura - again one of the best I've tried. Not oily at all, from the freshest Prawn and very light batter. This was lovely! The Wagyu was served slightly seared (medium rare) with a light sauce and with Mustard and Wasabi. Obviously I ate mine with Wasabi. Very tender, melt in your mouth good.

For wines, we had 2 different kinds of Sake, a bottle of Champagne, 3 reds and 2 whites.

Kubota Manju (Daigin-jo)

Kokuryu Tokusen Ginjo
Jojo's Champagne Comte Audoin de Dampierre Family Reserve Cuvée 2000, quite refreshing and still very vibrant, despite being a 2000. This Champagne was excellent, and a good paring with the sushi.

My Bottle of 2008 Laxas Albarino and Keiichi's 1999 Jean Noel Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet Maltroie 1er Cru. My Albarino was a good pairing with the fish but Keiichi's Montrachet was not really for me a good paring with Sushi. I liked the wine though, and mentioned to Noel i could smell burnt Pop Corn. He said it was the smell of Toasted Oak.

Greg's 2000 Chateau Larcis Ducasse, a Saint Emillion Grand Cru. a medium bodied wine which went very well paired with our steak.

and last, Jojo's 2008 Red Car Pinot Noir. This was a sample he had which did not have a label yet. I liked this Pinot, very correct and also good with the Steak. Rene had also brought a 2000 Chateau Le Bon Pasteur, which unfortunately was corked, so we did not drink it. This bottle he purchased in Vinfolio and after emailing them, it seems that they may replace the bottle. Let's see what happens...

Our usual suspects group shot, after all the great food and wine. We did not stay too long because we had no more wines to drink. A great lunch and great company. Food was excellent and service spot on. KAMPAI!!

A Kaiseki Dinner at Manila's best private table

We were again lucky enough to have the chance to have dinner in Tita B's house, which we consider Manila's best private table. I feel bad for people who love food and will never have the chance to try Tita B's cooking. She has no formal training, just imagination and skill to produce great dishes.

Sine I was the first to arrive, I got a chance to peak in the kitchen and watch how meticulously the food was being prepared, not leaving out any detail...



Our dinner was 7 months in the making, since we had tried many times to put together a group for this but for reasons beyond our control, it never happened. We were 9 in total, including Tita B who joined us for dinner. While waiting for the others to arrive, we opened a bottle of 2008 Bouldevines, a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand. Very refreshing crisp wine which I always enjoy even without any food.

At around 8 PM, the first of the many dishes started coming out from the kitchen. Our first dish was the Amuse: Caviar Tempura, Mayo Ponzu Sauce. The wrapper used for this is a special one only found in certain specialty shops in Tokyo. These were deep fried for a few seconds, just enough to give it a little crunch. A great combination with the Mayo Ponzu Sauce.

With this, we had Noels bottle of Sake (sorry I don't have the name), but Keiichi who is very well versed with Sake, mentioned that it was a "Junmai Daigin-jo which is the highest possible rank in sake categories. It 's a pure rice sake (Junmai), i.e. no alchoholic additives and daiginjo - polished to less than 50% of the original form. The bottle was made by Shikoku maker called Kinryo and this Kirameki is the top of their line. It's polished down to 35%". It was a very good sake which paired very well with the Amuse and the 2 other dishes that came after. Noel had mentioned that the Sake had a Chocolate/Cream taste in the middle of the palate. A very good choice of wine pairing specially for a meal like this.

Next, we had the appetizers and Sashimi: Gyoza Medley: Mushroom and Fiji Apple Gyoza, Soya Dipper, Nasu Gyoza, Sesame Dip and the Tuna and Salmon Tartare, Spicy Lemon-Ginger Vinaigrette, Sesame Tuilles, Black Caviar.

Both dishes excellent in execution. The Gyoza, made with a slight variation from the original ways, one crunchy and one steamed. Perfect combination and each with their own dipping sauce. The Tartare, what can I say? A combination of Tuna and Salmon, over a base of spicy vinaigrette, which reminded Keiichi and myself of a Korean sauce. A crispy Won Ton gave this dish the crunch it needed. Jay's Champagne, a 1995 Nicolas Feuillatte, was a nice pairing for these 2 dishes.

After a short break, we proceeded with more food: Chawan Mushi, Foie Gras and Miso Gindara, Snow Pea Salad, Udon Noodles, Truffle Oil. I am not a lover of Chawan Mushi, but I enjoyed this one. Why? It had some shrimp on the bottom of it and of course, Foie Gras. We enjoyed this with Noel's bottle of: 2007 Keller Westhofener Kirchspiel Riesling Spatlese, another good pairing. The Gindara, which we were told was marinated for 3 days (a technique used by Chef Nobu Matsuhisa and Iron Chef Morimoto) was so full of flavor. The dish had various different textures that married perfectly, from the crunch of the thinly sliced cucumber to the noodles with Truffle sauce.






Then, they served us: Deep Fried Shrimp with Cornflake Batter, Carrot Miso Dressing. The batter, which was made of cornflake, was so crunchy yet very light, not oily at all. The Carrot Miso dressing, the perfect dipping sauce for the Shrimp. I had this with Rene's bottle of: 2007 Le Mont Damne by Didier Dagueneau, who is known to be one of the best producers in the Loire Valley. The wine was very fresh with just a slight hint of acidity, and some citrus notes.




Another break, and we opened our red wines: 1982 Chateau Palmer from keichi, my bottle of 2003 Artadi Pagos Viejos, and rene's mystery wine, which turned out to be a 2001 Chateau bahans Haut-Brion.

All these wines, to be paired with: Boneless Beef Ribs, Japanese Glaze, Gohan with Moromigake. Thinly sliced and perfectly medium rare slices of Beef, with a light sweetish Japanese glaze sauce, served with Steaming hot Japanese Rice. This was excellent, although the sweetness of the sauce was clashing with our wines, so I decided to just eat this without any wine.

I was a bit disappointed with my wine, since I was expecting much more from it, although Noel said that the bottle show potential and needs more time. It was very tannic, although in the nose the seemed sweet. After some time decanting and in the glass, it satrted to open up but I

I think it was just too young to drink. Keiichi's 1982 Chateau Palmer was a mature Bordeaux that I really enjoyed. It was my first time to try this, although I have tasted the Alter Ego which is Palmer's second label.

Dessert was a light Watermelon Soup, Vanilla Ice Cream, which I appreciate, because by that time, I was quite full after double servings of most of the dishes..


Thank you Tita for another first outstanding flawless meal...we enjoyed every single bit of it and hope to come back soon. We will already plan the Chinese Lauriat dinner soon..I hope it does not take 7 months to happen.

Mori Mori, Alabang

We had an impromptu get together last night with our group of friends and decided to have dinner in our favorite Japanese restaurant in Alabang - MORI MORI. As far as I remember this place has always been there. Owned by a Japanese who has been living in the Philippines for years, this restaurant is a very simple place and specializes in serving Yakiniku. Beef is always top quality fresh. I think that's why this place has been in business for such a long time.



They also have other specialties/favorites that we normally always order like Kimchi, Bean Sprouts and Tempura. The food - so simple but so well made and fresh. even the rice is fantastic (moist white Japanese rice).

For Dinner, we ordered the mixed beef sampler and the Super fine Kalbi platter. Thin slices of Beef with marbled fat. So fresh it looks like Sashimi. We cook them in a piping hot grill in the middle of the table, with a foil of fresh garlic in oil. Its served with a special sweetish sauce, mixed with finely chopped garlic paste and chili.

The tempura is not like the typical oily/tiny ones that I've tried around. Huge shrimp coated in a thin coating of batter perfectly fried and not oily...the way it should be. One of my favorite restaurants in the Alabang area. The only problem: You really smell like food when you walk out - so make sure you have no where else to go after you eat here. Its definitely worth it. Its not cheap, but you are always assured of great service and Top quality food.

NOBU Restaurant, Hong Kong

Nobu was the second restaurant we tried in Hongkong, after Robuchon. I had high expectations because of all the hype I heard about this place (and the fact I love Japanese food). We were running quite late, so we decided to take a taxi to Kowloon side. In my excitement I told the taxi to take me to the Peninsula Hotel (that's where I thought the restaurant was) so we get to the Hotel and I walk in (we were also running late) and I asked where Nobu was and the girl said it was Intercon....so we had to rush and walk to Intercon (thank God it was near). Finally we got there and they gave us a table with a nice view.We were welcomed by the manager who was Chinese and the waiter assigned to our table (who was Filipino and very friendly). R ordered the bento box and I ordered the Omakaze meal which they said had a little bit of everything.

My first plate was a sashimi "Lotus Chips" Tuna & scallops with spicy miso. Then I had the Lobster salad with spicy lemon dressing and the roasted eggplant with scallop and special dressing.

After the Cold and hot appetizers, we moved to the main dishes, which was mini lamb chops in some sort of sweet sauce and a platter of really fresh sashimi...

After the meals were served, I still wanted to try more food so I decided to order 2 of their best selling dishes, Tuna and salmon sashimi. The tuna was served with a light soy sauce and topped with one thin slice of Jalapeno pepper (which added a good kick to the tuna) and the salmon sashimi was also served with light soy sauce and warm sesame oil with lemon and sesame seeds. This last dishes, although much simpler, were my favorites.

For dessert, we had chocolate cake with chocolate liquid filling and green tea ice cream. Over all it was a good experience although I would not have ordered the Omakase meal and should have ordered a la carte instead. There were so many other dishes that I would have wanted to try. Oh well that means I have to go back there again soon....