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| - Fusion better than your Ford hybrid.
I am not usually one to appreciate Japanese-related fusion food, but after a stellar meal at Uchi in Austin, I know I can be open-minded when it comes to creative cuisine and good quality ingredients. Service was really amazing. My server Ashlee was very attentive, gave me great food suggestions, and made it easy for me to be a solo diner.
The chefs in front of me were also great - I did not get any names but we had a cross-section of Asia with a Japanese female chef, a Thai male and a Filipino male. I also met the executive chef, who is Filipino.
I received a hot towel to prepare for the meal, and ordered a pot of hot green tea.
The amuse bouche: king oyster mushroom "scallop" with yamaimo (mountain yam), raw okra slices, yuzu tobiko - a bit hard to pick up with chopsticks so I had to ask for a fork - the raw okra was awesome, and everyone knows I love a good yuzu...anything!
Special dish from the chef: fresh (large) cubes of watermelon topped with cilantro, in a lime-fish sauce-coconut cold broth. When I first tasted this, it exploded with Thai flavors and was more delicious that I expected it to be. It was a nice gesture to receive this dish gratis.
Appetizer: crispy brussel sprouts with lemon chili, mint and puffed rice. I love brussel sprouts with crispy leaves (I make this at home with basalmic and olive oil) - these were different because they were halved, with some of the stem on, in a powerful citrus-y sauce that was deeeelicious. I could probably make a meal off of this dish. A MUST order.
Nigiri: I ordered 3 pieces next, the shime saba (Norweigan mackerel) with ginger, scallion and lemon zest; hamachi (yellowtail) with jalepeno miso and cilantro leaf; and the gyutan (beef tongue with pesto). The hamachi was good but not too fatty...sauce was tasty. The saba was a star - perfectly cured and the flavor highlighted by the lemon zest. The beef tongue was SO tender, it was glazed and in the shape on a rectangle, wrapped with a seaweed wrapper around the nigiri, topped with basil and pine nut puree. It was really unique and I would get it again.
Sakana dore: fish of the day (tonight was choice between salmon and albacore and I chose salmon), apple slices, zucchini chips, bell pepper (yellow and red in long shreds), tosaka seaweed, micro greens, and yuzu honey. The apples really tasted great with the yuzu honey, which was spiked with aji amarillo (yellow Peruvian chile pepper) and had quite a nice back heat to it.
Next for my pre-dessert, I ordered uni, with candied quinoa and tamari. The tamari is not necessary here because the uni is really some of the freshest I have ever seen or tasted. I also hate quinoa but the candied nature added an interesting crunch. I did not like the candied quinoa on my nigiri at Uchi either, but this was still a delicious bite of food. Normally I end at uni, but I decided to go for dessert since I was doing a lot of tasting. First, I asked the chef in front of me if I could try the mentaiko aioli served with the toro. He happily obliged. It was really delicious.
For dessert, I ordered the avo hanimu. The menu only says "avocado, lime, peanut, honey" and Ashlee gave me a brief description, but when I received it, it was HUGE and not at all what I expected. It has these disks of lime curd? with a peanut-sugar crumble, lime "chips" that were like sugar glass, and then 2 textures of avocado - a frozen mousse and a sorbet. The avocado was really tasty (I love a good avocado smoothie so bring it on as a dessert!) but the dish was a bit disjointed and I wish I had other people there to share it with me!
When I was preparing to leave, Clint B. and his wife arrived and I told them to order the brussel sprouts. Great ambiance, wonderful service, creative eats, and a lot more to try!
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