| rev:text
| - Okay, I am a huge Japanophile. I've pored over manga, watched Japanese movies, did the love stone walk and fed the crazy deer in Nara.
Naturally, I'm a huge fan of the cuisine as well. I've tried all sorts of regional cuisine - from sasamushi from the Masumoto region, the chestnut dishes in Obuse, and the awamori of Okinawa, I've loved every lusicous bite (with the exception of natto - sorry Hokkaido... there are things that even I cannot stomach).
Needless to say, since going on a 6 week tour of Japan, I've been picky about sushi joints. So when my bf wanted to go to Okada, I was a little skeptical about how good it would be.
First of all, we'd called ahead for reservations and let them know it was for a birthday celebration so they did seat us close to the beautiful waterfall with it's large koi swimming in the pond.
We asked for the omakase - a chef's tasting menu - which we later realised was just highlights of the current menu which is why our server was unable to tell us how much it would cost. It is not set (meaning you will not see a list of things on the tasting menu) - so you're kind of at the chef's mercy. If you are picky about what you will or will not eat, I would highly recommend you let your server know exactly what shouldn't ever touch your lips.
The drinks - yeah, a little over the top at $14 for a cocktail. Unfortunatelly I was spoiled by my Japan trip, enough so that the only alcoholic drink I've ever enjoyed has been a grapefruit sour - freshly squeezed Japanese grapefruit with shochu. Unfortunately they were out the night I was there, but my bf's litchi cocktail was very delicious.
The selection of various sashimi/sushi/robata/cooked dishes were excellent. The tasting menu did not include o-toro (the finest fattiest tuna - the fat content is so high, it almost looks like uncooked pork) which was a bit of a disappointment. The slices of sashimi were a little on the skimpy side as well. Other than that the fish was very fresh and cut very well. The sushi was made well - perfectly artistic mounds - squeezed just right (not too tight, not too loose). The Okada roll is quite delectable as well as the sauce.
The cooked dishes were the most impressive and reminded me exactly like the izakaya back in Tokyo. The black cod with miso - a classic preparation - but delicious nonetheless.
Dessert - because it was my bf's birthday - they gave us a gift of a a millefeuille with three squares of ice cream on top - the most impressive was the banana ice cream - absolutely delectable. The other two, vanilla and chocolate were a bit ho-hum. The freshly fried donuts served with blueberry sauce and ice cream is totally American. I was hoping for something like yuzu panna cotta which has a little more Japanese flavor but hey! we were at the chef's hands.
Overall, for two people with one cocktail and two green teas to accompany dessert - the pricetag was $260. Not too unreasonable given the quality.
Okay so here's why Okada loses one star. One - the omakase, the guests should have some inkling of what's coming as well as the pricetag. Two - our food arrived at the table and we were told what the dish was - then our waiter came and reiterated the same thing. It was a little over kill. Three - there wasn't enough signature dishes (at least from the omakase) representing this place to say that this is haute Japanese cuisine.
Overall, a good solid Japanese restaurant however, I would say not the best.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)