I wasn’t planning on writing this place up - a last minute reservation for what was supposed to be a casual restaurant nearby. It wasn’t supposed to be anything special. It was the very beginning of hairy crab season, so I decided to pick a place that specialized in crabs and this one had a hairy crab shabu shabu on the menu.
The first problem was just finding the place - the signage was only in Japanese. We were dropped off nearby and finally managed to find it by looking for “LL<5”. Arriving right when the restaurant opened, we were a bit shocked to see that it looked like none of the prep work was done and the staff just showed up - maybe mise en place meant something different here. We later found out that we were the only patrons that night, they opened especially for us, and we had the entire restaurant to ourselves.
The restaurant is relatively small - all counter seating surrounding an open kitchen. That raised the next problem - the staff didn’t speak any English, and we didn’t speak passable Japanese. Through the miracle of google translate, we were able to figure out what was going on and communicate with each other. We learned that the restaurant had been opened for three years, and the master had spent the last 18 years specializing in preparing crab!
Of course, dinner began with sake. A companion chose a Juyondai Honmaru, supposed to be the top sake brand in Japan from one of the oldest breweries in Japan. With over 400 years of history, the name Honmaru means “original one”. Sweet, floral, fruity, crisp. I was a pretty big fan.
After missing the picture of the amuse bouche, a sesame-infused block of tofu, I got a picture of the appetizer - spinach and seasonal mushrooms in a sesame dressing, a poached Hokkaido oyster, a starchy arrow-root like Japanese vegetable, and two of the largest boiled peanuts I’ve ever seen.
Unfortunately, I also missed a picture of a conger pike and mushroom broth served in a teapot. Pour the soup out into a shot glass, shoot it, then eat the lightly poached fish inside.
Next came a sashimi appetizer, with three dipping sauces - salt and yuzu, soy sauce and ponzu. We were told to dip the heavier fish - into soy sauce then salt and yuzu, while wrapping the lighter white fish around some of the condiments and dip into the ponzu. The highlight was the Botan sweet shrimp that was poached for a few seconds and served largely rare.
Leaving nothing to waste, the head of the Botan shrimp was deep fried and presented to use on a plate.
The chef had received a shipment of uni, and let us try two different types: a smaller, more orange, creamier Murasaki uni and a paler, larger Bafun uni with slight bitter notes. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of uni - I understand it’s a delicacy, I just find the bitter creaminess a bit offputting.
To open up our appetite, two thing slices of black Hiroshima A5 wagyu, richly fat-marbled, thinly-sliced, barely poached and served with a sesame dip and ponzu sauce, as well as a generous topping of chives.
Finally, the star of the show appeared, two male hairy crabs, presented to us live. We didn’t know what to expect, as it was a shabu shabu, but we didn’t know the treat that we were in for. The master expertly deconstructed the crab and prepared each part into a different dish.
First, a leg cluster, grilled over charcoal until 80% cooked, we could snap apart each cluster the pull out the meat easily. Smoky.
Next, a hairy crab leg poached with the crab juices in the crab shell directly on top of a burner, topped with a generous helping of crab roe.
Another leg, poached a bit longer in boiling water this time, and served on its own.
A giant poached clam for intermission while the chef hurriedly picked the rest of the crabs.
The star of the show and the absolute highlight of the meal. A mountain of picked crab meat, topped with crab roe, and a dollop of caviar. There was no pawning off the picking to a stage here, it was only the master in the kitchen, and one server at the front of house. Huge pile of crab, but unfortunately quite a bit of shell, which was a little disappointing. That said, delicious nonetheless.
Finally, a mushroom and crab-juice flavoured rice. Perfectly prepared, rich in umami, and a warm conclusion to the crab dishes. The rice was served with a miso soup as is traditional at the end of a omakase.
Finally, the unpictured dessert was a half a well-ripened persimmon. Oddly enough, old wives tales in Korea and China believe that eating persimmon and crab together is toxic. The Japanese clearly have no such belief.
Overall, a wonderful night, and a lot better than I expected. Very delicate cooking style - nearly everything was lightly poached, cooked until 80-90% done, and served with a minimum of seasoning or sauces. Everything was done to highlight the natural flavour of the crab, instead of adding more sauces and seasoning. The chef invited us back for snow crab season in December, and frankly, I can’t wait.
Total damage: 111k JPY/3 people