Stomachs on legs are proud to present

On the Sukhumvit Soi, next to Emporium, Sukhumvit Soi 24 I think it is, there is a izakaya which is not particularly tasty but exceedingly cheap. It's on the right hand side of the Soi, near the beginning of the street and on the 3rd floor of an extremely eccentric building...If you climb the odd staircase and pass by the Hong Kong-style hotpot joint you'll know you're on the right track.....follow the potato heads



Inside you'll find a large booze selection and laminated menu with usual izakaya suspects....



great wall adornments and decor....


and games where you can gamble on the size of your portion...play the "beef game", roll the dice and let fate decide if you get above or below the standard portion...fun times


The food photos below attest more to the skill of Hock and his N95 than the actual quality of the food





For example this sushi roll is far nastier than it looks


Of course the main indulgence here is not the cripsy rice cakes, but the lashings of cheap sake and beer to be had alongside. Food is really rather incidental here.






(makeshift food lighting enhancements)

Which was confirmed when I woke up on Sunday morning after a night at the Potato and remember that I had gotten drunk enough and so enamoured with the sake enough to have purchased their signature potato sake set. I recall making statements along the lines of "this sake set speaks to something deep inside my soul"

I just got back from my annual sister gathering.

There are four girls in my family and we try to get together whenever possible.

Being four half Chinese girls there is usually lots of shopping, great food, too much alcohol and often some fights and tears

The last get together was on my birthday and wedding in New Zealand - it didn't run that smoothly

The year before was skipped on account of 2004's gathering that included far too much wine, bickering at Neil Perry's now failed XO restaurant and me standing up in the middle of dinner to announce "fuck you both, I'm leaving" (the youngest one was not present at that gathering). At which point my older sister snatched my bag and scowled "no you're not". My announcement reduced my other little sister to tears who, in between mouthfuls of Neil's excellent braised pork hock, quivered "I hate it when everyone argues". We then all argued over the bill. Such is the nature of family.

This year's annual feast however, went exceedingly well. I chose Yoshii's figuring that wine is not ideal for those prone to fighting and tears.

Being all a bit older Japanese also seemed ideal given that we are now all on continual diets

Plus the Sydney Morning Herald had just released their good food guide and gave Yoshii's the thumbs up.

We went on the night of the election....I rudely enquired as to who the Maitre D voted for, he said Howard.....we changed the subject and left a miserly tip

The food........well.....the sake was excellent, definitely a highlight and we all drank so much of it and we talked so much that the food seemed rather secondary

Although we were interrupted and explained what each dish was by excceedingly polite Japanese waitresses, I can hardly remember what we ate. I did take photos though.


At dinner there are two set menus to choose from: The Yoshii Course ($130 AUD) and the Sakura Course ($120 AUD)

Below are some photos of both

I had the Yoshii Course


Sea Urchin Egg Cup. I was still very much sober at this point. The egg is half cooked by hot dashi inside. The sea urchin was Australian sea urchin, thus not that lovely golden colour and not exactly bursting with flavour. Plus it was used so sparingly I could hardly taste it.


? This was on the Sakura course that my sister had. I can't remember what it was


Quadruplet of Appetisers: Ocean trout wrapped with nashi pear and served with kimizu; blue swimmer crab and goats curd avocado roll; grilled pacific oyster; deep fried kanpyou; cumquat and frois gras mousse.



Despite the whimsical descriptions it was all a bit bland

Salt Baked Abalone. I've never been a big fan of abalone. I don't see what the fuss is about. Nice texture, no flavour.


Miso Blue Cheese Black Cod. This was very very good. Memorable and delicious indeed.



Duck (on the Sakura course, I wasn't even tempted to try this)


Veal Capriccio...from what I recall at this point it was tasty and meaty and full of lovely unami mushroom flavours


Fish Baked in Paper, unspectacular (on the Sakura Course)


Rose gum smoked wagyu with horseraddish and turnip puree in Tamari reduction. I wish I could say I tasted the rose gum, but then I would be lying.


All I know is that the green stuff is green tea soba noodles in the middle (Sakura course)


Something rather bland in an edamame broth that was an odd slightly grainy texture (just checked the menu and it said spanner crab mousse wrapped in long net mushroom and edamame bonito)



Sushi Course (nothing amazing here, no premium toro or uni here)


Best Miso I Have Ever Had - No Photo

Dessert

Sweet potato crepe with orange reduction and goji berries (the fresh orange flavour definitely balanced the potential heaviness of the sweet potato filling


Pannacotta with black sesame crust and bits


Apple Spring Roll with Apple and Wasabi Sorbet (sounds unappetizing but was probably the best dessert)


Yoshiis is billed as kaiseki styled dining which is supposed to be a type of Japanese banquet whereby the diner is delighted by a series of small seasonal dishes and left to admire not only the artful food presentation but also ponder the beautiful bounties of the season and lastly appreciate the handcrafted ceramics on which the food is presented.

It is supposed to be an exercise in aesthetic appreciation and although it was definitely an exercise in sake appreciation, I felt that the food did not really reach quite the same pinnacles as the sake enjoyment. The presentation and plateware didn't knock my socks off either.

We spent a whooping $720 AUD for four people (including lashings of sake). It's not the first time I've been disappointed by an acclaimed and expensive restaurant, and it probably won't be the last. I guess there is a lot to be said for over planning and expectations. Next time I'll leave more to chance.


We ended the night at Ding Dong Dang on Sussex St belting out kareoke hits and torturing each other with our worst high pitched renditions of Minnie Riperton's "Loving You Is Easy Cause Your Beautiful", I wish I could have sung the same fever pitched praise about the meal

So much to my horror I turned 30 the other day...so I decided I better celebrate it with lashings of alchohol and low fat food

A while ago a friend had recommended a new Japanese restaurant in Bangkok on Sukhimvit Soi 16 called Tensui.

So I tried to find some other food blogs reviewing the place. First I found this one but google wouldn't translate it so I threw the first words into mac translator.

汗っかきがタタリ足がすごいかぶれてしまったサーヤです。
超足が痒い…痒い痒い痒い痒い痒い痒い
我慢の日々です。。。。｡

Which translated to.....

"The sweat っ scratching the タタリ foot is enormous, it is
サーヤ which breaks out. The super foot is itchy.. It is everyday
life of itchy itchy itchy itchy itchy itchy patience"

Further translation of other sections proved fruitless

This blog was slightly more intelligible through mac translation widget, so we figured we'd give it a go.

"Again also 2 times going to the heaven 翠 in Bangkok, the stripe
stripe it is to do. It is tasty because and the liquor and type of
low-class distilled spirits are many, by any means to go being to stop"

Green Dean from NZ was in town as was Siem Reap's only gay in the village, so we all got together and went

The restaurant itself is beautiful, surrounded by a stunning Japanese traditional garden replete with mist machines....this being Bangkok however we decided to sit inside due to mosquitos remembering the comment "scratching enormous foot itchy itchy itchy"

Upstairs there are private tatami rooms that were completely booked. We sat downstairs adjacent to a euro trash family obviously out to celebrate.....the mother was one of those super thin 45+ european women that had baked her skin so much she looked a haggled 60. She wore a bright red dress reminicent of that 80's classic Lady in Red, yet nowhere near as classy. She had peroxide hair and red talons. The daughter was a fat little dumpling whom the mother was obviously trying to model after herself despite the fact that the daughter was a good 20 kilos heavier than herself. The poor girl was unappealingly sqaushed into a silk beige dress that looked more like a nightie. Unfortunate for them the bright downstairs lighting in the restaurant (my only one complaint along with the dead flower arrangement) did not do the family any favours....but it certainly helped with the food photography.

We had around 11 courses and 6 bottles of sake from their extensive sake menu.

First was sea cucumber liver with raw egg (sounds strange but it was great). Sorry we forgot to take a photo

Then came clams in sake


We ordered the generic mixed sashimi selection and out came very generous portions of top grade bluefin tuna including they served top grade toro (so much for eating low in the food chain)





sushi




salmon skin salad with lashings of kewpie mayonnaise


eel (no photo)

tempura (no photo)

scallops



agedashi dofu (no photo)

beef tongue




pickles, miso and rice (no photo)

The service was excellent, helpful and prompt, and never overbearing.

For the lashings of food and alcohol it wasn't cheap, the total bill came to around 11,000 baht or around $75.00 USD per person. However, given the quality of the food I was expecting the bill to be far more. So while it was pricy it was reasonable in terms of what we ate.

Tensui
Skuhumvit Soi 16
Klongtoey Wattana
Bangkok


****

Because I don't want you to think of me as all death and bottom jokes here is a slightly serious recipe

I'm teetering on the verge of a cold. Having a cold in the tropics feels all wrong. When I lived in Siem Reap, Cambodia my friendly local Japanese restaurant owner made me this. It's yummy, alcholic and just the thing for a cold.

Tamago-zake common cold remedy for adults

INGREDIENTS:
• One egg
• 3/4 cup sake
• 1 tbsp sugar or honey

PREPARATION:
Pour sake in a cup and heat in a microwave. Mix an egg and sugar well. Add the egg mixture in the hot sake.

*Makes 1 serving.