Ever had takeout from a three Michelin starred restaurant? Me neither. Some of the experience is lost without the attentive service, explanation of the dishes, ingredients, techniques, sourcing and inspirations as well as the ambience of being physically present when dining at high end restaurants.
It must’ve been a COVID thing, but many fine dining restaurants started offering takeout to try to survive in that troubling time. Some kept doing it long after the COVID restrictions were lifted.
When I found out Shikon still does takeout, I figured I’d find an excuse to try. One order of the chirashi (raw seafood on vinegared rice) and an order of the futomaki (fat sushi roll).
Both chirashi and futomaki are a bit like the Japanese version of Chinese chop suey - just throw a bit of everything into it. In this case, there was steamed egg (tamago), various pickled vegetables, fresh cucumber, tiger shrimp, dried gourd and grilled eel, all surrounded by a thin layer of seasoned vinegar rice and nori in the futomaki. In the chirashi, there added octopus, red snapper, and generous portion of uni on top of everything that was in the chirashi!
Take out caviar, on the other hand, significantly less impressive.
It’s otherwise been a pretty carb-y month, although I did have a great plate of steamed mussels, a dish that always reminds me a bit of French bistros.