musha

musha
Originally uploaded by bluepupae.

izakaya is japanese comfort food for me, and though the food here is not traditional but has western influences with regards to certain ingredients and preparations, the subtle and refined flavors and heavy use of cream and cheese will not only send you into a food coma, but leave you feeling quite satisfied. here is what we had:

baguette gratin: imagine a crispy, french baguette stuffed with bay scallop, onion & creamy white sauce and covered in melted cheese oven-baked. can't complain about the richness, but they could have had more scallops in the filling.

aski: an assortment of shitake & oyster mushrooms are sauteed with asparagus and garlic in a butter soy sauce. ok, they had me at butter soy sauce, but i love mushrooms, so that was a bonus. i could probably make this at home, but it beats doing dishes.

eringi mushroom: since they don't really have yakitori, the shichirin grill is a fun way to eat grilled food. the bf doesn't eat meat, so we ordered these exotic mushrooms, which were chewy and had a subtle, earthy flavor. don't forget to smear them with the butter before grilling. i'll have to come back to try the beef tongue. served with ponzu sauce.

negitoro menchi katsu: a disc of minced tuna with chopped tokyo leek, garlic, ginger, pepper & heavy cream is breaded and deep fried. ours looked to be slightly overfried, so extra crunchy on the outside. the flavorings were a little on the bland side, and i prefer my tuna a little raw so not one of my favorites of the night, but if you like katsu or anything fried, it doesn't seem to disappoint other diners. served with grated daikon mayo sauce.

maple syrup creme brulee: de-licious! creamy and just the right consistency, richness and sweetness with hints of maple. interestingly, it is accompanied by cornflakes and one of those cylindrical cookies with chocolate inside that i used to pretend was a cigarette when i was a kid.

the food was tasty and had some interesting combinations of eastern and western ingredients, but the thing that really impressed me was the service. considering how small the place is, and how packed it was, and how few servers/cooks there were, we never waited very long for anything. we didn't have reservations, and though they told us it would be 30 min, it only took 15. the food all came out in a timely manner. they seem very efficient and friendly in their work ethic. we sat at the bar, and i was amazed watching the one cook (there were two that i could see) preparing most of the food. i'll be back to try some of the other creative sounding dishes they have.