Tempura

Recently we headed to Shinjuku to run a few errands to run at Isetan, one of Tokyo's largest department stores. There are a number of restaurants located within the huge shopping complex, but Sarah's mom took us to one specializing in tempura - classic Japanese deep fried batter-dipped seafood and vegetables.




We all ordered lunch sets, which included deep fried items like shrimp, squash, and okra along with rice, miso soup, salad, and pickled vegetables. I found everything quite delicious, and the tempura was some of the best I've had. The tempura batter was light but crunchy, and the dipping sauce consisting of mirin, dashi, and shoyu was a nice accompaniment. The only lowlight was the salad, which was just so-so but refreshing nonetheless.

While I'm in the States, I don't eat a whole lot of tempura so this was a nice treat. I think the main reason why I don't is that the tempura is pretty mediocre at the places I go to. They're usually cooked in huge bashes and left sitting under a heat lamp until some poor fool orders a batch. With any kind of fried food I suppose, the key is eating it fresh.

Kaiten Sushi

Currently I'm in Japan visiting my lovely girlfriend who calls Tokyo home, and her family has been oh so gracious to host me for three weeks. I've been really excited to make this trip as it's my first time travelling to Asia. I'm eager to learn about Japanese culture, history, and of course food. Despite Japan's many diverse offerings in terms of food, I couldn't think of a better way to start my culinary adventures in Japan with what else but sushi.


While in Harajuku, Sarah and I made a stop in Kaiten Sushi, a local place serving up all kinds of fresh seafood. "Kaiten" actually refers to a style of serving sushi. The chefs stand behind the counter, prepare various plates, and then place them on a conveyor belt. The plates move past customers, and you grab whatever interests you. It's nice because you eat and pay for only what you want.

There's no question about the freshness of the seafood in Japan. Sushi in Japan is serious business. By law, any raw fish is prohibited from being left out in the open for more than 30 minutes. After that, it must not be served for consumption in raw form and must only be used in cooked dishes.


We started off the meal with natto and quail egg. To be honest, it wasn't the best start to the meal! It was my first time trying natto, which is this kind of sticky, brown goo. It's fermented soy bean, and most native Japanese like it. I guess it's one of those things that you really have to grow up eating in order to like, just like vegemite in Australia. In any case, I didn't like this dish very much. The actual eating part wasn't too bad - it tasted like funky soy sauce. However, the after-taste was what was nasty. Sarah, on the other hand, loved it.


We followed the natto dish with unagi, one of my favorites. It was nicely cooked and delicious. Overall, a nice way to rebound from a minor miscue to start the meal.


This tuna was flawless. Expertly cut, nice and smooth, and so damn fresh. Not much else to say here but oshii!


I had never eaten quality sea urchin roe up until this point. It was quite tasty and a little salty with a hint of the sea.


I was kind of iffy when Sarah wanted to order raw scallops but after trying it, this was probably one of my favorites of the entire meal. The scallops actually tasted sweet, and the meat was incredibly delicate.


This salmon was served with some kind of mayo sauce with pickled raddish on top.


We tried a second salmon dish except this one came served slightly charred on the surface. I preferred this one over the first.


Not much to say about this mackeral plate except that it was exceptionally fresh and tasty. A nice clean tasting white fish.

So being in the original birthplace of sushi, I wanted to try sushi and see how good it really is in Japan. Could it really be that much better than in the States? Well, actually it is. The difference isn't massive but I think what really differentiates the sushi in Japan is the quality of the fish and the expertise in preparation. Everything is remarkably fresh, and even at a local, low-key joint, the fish was cut and prepared with great care and precision. What's crazy is that these kinds of places are so common in Japan everywhere you go. We spent about $15 for the both of us for quite a nice lunch. The same lunch in the States could easily run up a tab of double that amount.

Delfino

While I’m at school, I don’t have access to a car, so I’m limited to T-accessible restaurants for dining options. That’s why whenever I eat with my parents, I try to take advantage of the opportunity and dine at less accessible places. One such place is Delfino, a quaint Italian restaurant located on South Street in Roslindale.

I had heard good things about Delfino from quite a few sources. Delfino was featured as one of Phantom Gourmet’s “Great Ate” Italian restaurants. Plus, one of my mother’s friends lives in Roslindale, and Delfino is one of her favorite restaurants in the neighborhood. Given the positive reviews I had heard, I was quite eager to try it.

Fried Calamari

For our appetizer, we order this calamari dish, which was quite interesting and something that I had never really seen before. The calamari came fried as it does at most places but the unusual aspect was that the calamari was mixed together with some field greens and a light vinaigrette dressing, forming a salad of sorts. Everything came together to form a wonderfully balanced dish with great contrasts of texture, temperature, and taste.

Linguine with mussels, clams, and calamari in pesto sauce

My party both ordered similar dishes. Both dishes essentially came with spaghetti and different kinds of seafood cooked in pesto sauce. The scallops and clams I tried were cooked just right, and the pesto was garlicky green goodness.

Linguine with Mussels in Fra Diablo Sauce

For my dish, I ordered the spaghetti with mussels in fra diablo sauce. I usually order this when I eat at Vinny T’s – it’s one of my favorites. I wanted to try Delfino’s version to see how it compared. Although the quality of the pasta is much higher, I must admit that Delfino’s version wasn’t as good in terms of taste. The sauce lacked the sharp punch of spice and garlic that I particularly enjoy about Vinny T’s version. I think Delfino may have also used jalapeno peppers, which may have altered the taste slightly from what I am used to. The mussels, however, were quite fresh and delicious.

By the end of the meal, we were all stuffed, so we didn’t order dessert. The portions were huge – not one of us finished our entrees. We packed our leftovers to go, and I was the lucky one chosen to finish everything off in the following days.

Overall, I was really pleased with our experience at Delfino, and I would definitely go back. The portions were awesome, and everything was quite reasonably priced. I hardly ever go into the North End because it’s too much a pain. For someone like me who lives in the suburbs, Delfino is really nice – I can get high quality Italian food without the hassle of trekking into the city.