Originally Posted by
LapLap
Some time ago I went to Japan on a 10 day business trip. I was wined and dined and fêted pretty much every one of those days and sushi, almost invariably, featured as a part of every menu. The quality was good, better than what you can get in London, but I soon started to feel a bit... "Meh" about sushi and wondered if I had actually gone off it.
I had one day to myself before I needed to return to the UK and my father in law invited me out for a meal. My heart sank when I learned it would be a sushi restaurant. Thank goodness he took me there.
The fish doesn't melt in your mouth, it's something else. In your life you've been kissed and then you've REALLY been kissed, and it's the same with sushi, when it is good it is like the most fragrant, delectable person you can imagine sliding their tongue into your mouth. Why it is that one piece of sushi is a piece of fish on top of seasoned rice and and another is an utterly sensual experience that feels like oral intimacy way too pure to be obscene (although it feels as if it should be) is not something I can explain. And the sushi restaurant my father-in-law took me to wasn't even close to being best in class (more a great business class when you are used to economy).
Personally I am happy to keep exploring (whenever I can) high end sushi at this lower tier and if I ever start to feel jaded it will be then that I might consider visiting a place like Sukiyabashi Jiro (first class cabin). And it isn't just the expensive fish that can provoke this minor extasy, I still remember the sardine sushi I ate in Shiogama two years ago, it was exquisite, am lucky that my husbands families are fish experts as choices I wouldn't make for myself are often the most memorable.
I see it with other cuisines, those who have never tried a good Jamón Serrano in their lives just leapfrog immediately to the most expensive Jamón Iberico they can find without giving themselves the opportunity to learn and savour what makes this kind of meat special and how geography and diet and curing, etc influences the texture and flavour. Cutting out the learning/appreciation curve and going directly to the "good stuff" also (IMHO) means you are less likely to fully appreciate the experience.
A bit of food porn - eh
?
The first part of your message seems to contradict the last part. But perhaps I can reconcile the 2 - at least in terms of my own experience. I think when you're learning a new cuisine - there's a minimum base point where one should start the learning process. For example - when it comes to French cuisine - the starting point might be the excellent brasserie level - and then one would work his/her way up through the various layers of Michelin stars.
OTOH - although I agree with you that this is a good way to approach things - it's often impractical from a personal POV unless one lives in or travels extensively to a place where good to excellent versions of a cuisine can be found. There is simply no good Japanese restaurant food available at home where I live. And - because my trips to Japan have been (and probably will remain) very limited - there's not much time to go through the learning process properly. Also - although I've been to supposedly good ---> excellent Japanese restaurants in places like Vancouver - I don't think they're really on the same page with Japanese restaurants in Japan.
With all that said - I think a visitor to Japan owes it to him/herself to try excellent sushi at least once. Perhaps not from the most famous chef(s) - who may or may not be the best - but from an excellent chef. A person like me may not be able to understand what makes the sushi better than sushi of lesser - but very good - quality - but the experience will bear absolutely no resemblance to what one will have in one's local "sushi bar" in the US.
Along these lines - I can recommend Mizutani on the basis of our last trip:
http://www.tinyurbankitchen.com/2011...-mizutani.html
Note that I realize that Chef Mizutani *is* famous. His restaurant however is not as widely discussed as others for the most part in the US (and probably elsewhere outside Japan) because he is not super-famous like Jiro. And his price point isn't relatively low like those of some other well known sushi chefs in Japan. So his restaurant falls between the cracks for a lot of people.
I also recommend that people try cuisines/types of meals other than sushi when in Japan. There are lots of them. Too many to explore even on the surface on a single relatively short trip. Enough to keep a frequent traveler to Japan busy for a lifetime.
FWIW - some of these cuisines may be non-Japanese. My favorite meal on our last trip (only our second) was our lunch at Robuchon. It was French with some pronounced Asian/Japanese influences. I had resisted going to most Robuchon restaurants for a long time because I was afraid that more recent experiences would spoil our excellent memories of our meal at Jamin decades ago. But I'm glad I didn't resist this time around. There is a seriously talented chef in that kitchen IMO.
BTW to Pickles - I've only been to 2 Nobu places. Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills (in the 80's?) - and the first Nobu in New York in the 90's. Both were excellent in their day. But I pretty much agree with you that when a chef becomes a "brand" - it's time to move on and explore newer pastures (Robuchon in Tokyo being an exception to that general rule IMO). Robyn