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| - Came to Imanishi with a party of four for dinner one night, after hearing the hype and with the insane waits for walk-ins, we made sure we had reservations.
We started by ordering the Calpico-Hi and Umeboshi-Hi, two chu-hi cocktails on their drinks menu. The Calpico-Hi was tasty and refreshing, offering a sweet flavour that blends well with the taste of shochu. The Umeboshi-Hi, however, is an acquired taste, which I would only recommend if you're looking for a sweet and salty sort of cocktail.
For food, we ordered quite a few items off of the menu.
The first three dishes that came out were the Tai Carpaccio, Beef Tataki, and Cold Served Agadashi Eggplant. These small bites were a decent way to start the meal, though it was surprising that the carpaccio and tataki lacked much flavour, and I tended to favour the eggplant. The Grilled Sting Ray Fin followed, and was of an unexpectedly good texture, and the dipping sauce complemented it well.
The highlight of my entire meal goes to the Monkfish Liver Pate. It came in a little terrine with four thick cuts of garlic bread stacked, and it's very rich and intense. Very delicious overall, and I certainly wished there was more of it. And more of the bread. That's a recurring theme with this meal.
The second best dish of the night was the Corn Kakiage. It appeared on the table as a big mass of battered and fried corn, but it broke apart with some gentle chopstick action. Crunchy, sweet, and quite savoury, it was a surprisingly delicious dish.
What followed were three so-so dishes. Tebasaki, or Nagoya style chicken wings, were decent, and at least had a nice crunch to them. The Nagoya Ramen had a decent broth and noodles, in addition to the disappointingly small portion. Lastly, the Salt & Sansho Pepper Grilled Pork Cheek, which came about 20 minutes after everything else did and some gentle reminders that we had ordered it, was not worth the wait.
We finished with taro ice cream. I was not disappointed in the ice cream, thankfully.
Honestly, I was kind of really hungry at the end of the meal, which is a pretty good summation of my meal at Imanishi: it was an alright, but quite unsatisfying. And given what we were paying for the meal, is quite the price to leave unsatisfied. Some interesting takes on izakaya food, but I don't think I'd come back.
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