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| - My boyfriend brought me here for a birthday dinner and wowsers! Afterwards his exact words were 'Holy crap. What a dinner.' I echo his sentiment. I was in Phoenix for a few days and made it to Nobuo two more times - one time for a solo impromtu happy hour and another time for lunch. I just wish I went everyday!!
Nobuo bills itself as a Japanese tea house, but I feel like the food is true fusion - various Asian with some European influence. This is mind-blowing to me. It is really hard to truly fuze Asian flavors from different countries and regions together. In fact normally I steer way clear of fusion Asian places. I prefer real Asian food - Japanese, Chinese or Korean and am normally a purist, keep my Chinese food chinese please. But Nobuo!!! Whoa, he is able to mix different ingredients from different regions in one dish and have everything perfect! The flavor, look, presentation, texture.
The food alone here blows this place away. Add a bottle of a European white varital at a decent price and good company for an unforgettable evening.
The ambiance is beautiful... maybe this is where the 'tea house' theme fits in. The Teeter House is cute and the small rooms give it a very intimate setting. There is also a small bar which was perfect for me to come back solo for a glass of wine and snack.
If I described all the food I ate, this review would be WAY too long, but here is the list: watermelon salad, kim-chi, nasu, grapefruit hamachi, shiromi carpaccio, warm duck salad, an oyster/uni, Karei Karaage, tako and tomato, yellowtail ceviche, house-cured salmon, fritters w/red bean. From the lunch menu: soft-shell crab sandwich, pork buns (w/pickled mustard greens - yum!), Thai-style shrimp salad. Everything was great... If I was pressed and I could only order a couple of items - I would get the hamachi, yellowtail and shiromi carpaccio.
I have a feeling this place may appear in my dreams. I'm also tempted to find any excuse for a weekend trip to Phoenix just to come back.
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