JeffKCW Food & Travel

Inomata – Heavy Hitting Deliciousness

Inomata is pretty well known in the community as an under the radar (sort of) place where you can find excellent sushi on the outskirts of Tokyo. It takes approximately 50-60 minutes to get to the area from Shinjuku Station.

My friend secured this booking for us on a Friday evening about one month prior via Omakase-Japan. There are plenty of different websites you can use for bookings like TableAll, PocketConcierge, and Jpneazy as well. But I believe currently, Inomata can only be booked by foreigners via Omakase-Japan. For any avid sushi eater from abroad with no local hookups in Japan, it’s going to be important for you to utilize these online concierge services. Alternatively, stay at a nicer hotel and make sure they have a concierge service and you’ll be able to secure some bookings.

I’ve seen Inomata-san described as a pretty quiet guy who mostly just focuses on making his sushi. But he definitely went out of his way to try to speak with me and my friend even though he basically spoke no English. We both made liberal use of our respective translation devices to try and keep a conversation. It was really nice of him to try and talk with us, made us feel more like we belonged.

Some fancy omakase places offer multiple tsumami (appetizer) courses prior to sushi. In this sitting, Inomata-san started off the meal with crunchy and sweet ark shell sashimi. This goes great with sake (don’t forget to order sake here!)

The squid had this crunchy yet slick quality to the meat, and as you bit into it more and more a pleasant sweetness gently encompasses your mouth.

There’s a very gentle umami that ends with a note of mushroom in this flounder, along with fattiness that I generally don’t experience in hirame.

Kind of like the next dimension of the fattiness I noted in the previous piece, since Kue (a type of grouper) is still a white fish, despite the fattiness of the meat it still retains a lighter mouthfeel.

The kobujime on the uni intensified the flavour of it several fold. There was zero bitterness or otherwise unpleasant aftertaste, instead just echoes of that wonderful umami from the kelp-marinated sea urchin.

This is the muscle on surf clams. The sweet flavour is reminiscent of scallop but with a far more accentuated and complex texture.

I like bonito more than normal tuna, usually and this is no exception

Green onion is laid beneath the fish, helping to balance out the oiliness of the piece. This robust oiliness is what differentiates it from the fatty texture you’d normally get with o-toro or jabara-toro.

Sujiko is ikura still in its sac. Normally, this is served marinated but generally quite fresh and you get the boba-esque quality of the popping bubbles of salmon roe. Instead, Inomata ages this so that it has a creamy, cheese-like flavour and texture. It had those wonderful layers of funk and it’s the first time I’ve experienced something quite like it — definitely one of the highlight pieces of the evening.

The burst of salt from the strong flavoured roe compliments the natural sweetness of the shrimp, and the juiciness of the meat contrasts with the popping roe to create a uniquely wonderful mouthfeel.

The chef asked us if we were willing to eat this. Hell yeah!!

There’s a bit of onion paste on the bottom of the fish kind of like with the previous katsuo piece. It helps cut the minerality and gameyness. There’s a lot of steak-like qualities here in appearance, texture, and flavour. The hint of wildness is balanced really well. I’ve had really bad whale before where all you taste is that wild game note and it’s just very offputting. None of that here!

I don’t say no to fatty tuna and neither should you

The softness of the flesh releases a nice meaty tuna flavour. Even after it disappears in the mouth, the aftertaste lingers, like a… tasty blanket of tuna? Not sure, but it’s definitely a taste I enjoy.

This chutoro is buttery. Usually this is my favourite of the akami-chu-otoro progression as it has just enough of that fatty quality while still having good notes of meaty flavour.

There’s a bit of oboro (shrimp paste) hidden beneath that creates a sudden burst of tamago-esque sweetness that gives way to this clean-tasting fish.

Sawara is often served smoked and that’s also how it’s done here. Unlike the usual though, where the smoke and char are the dominant flavours, at Inomata it’s just an accent to the buttery flesh.

It’s always interesting to see how the shari adds an extra dimension to neta. The acidity of the rice punctuates the pleasant sweetness for a more complete flavour profile. It’s also quite refreshing, since by this point we’ve had a lot of hard hitting fatty pieces. It was a good ‘reset’ button so to speak.

Layered magical fat explosion is how my friend described it.

This hits you like a wave with its bold flavour! Sometimes jabara-toro that’s not aged properly tends to be chewy, but here everything disintegrates in my mouth. It’s a wonderful expression of what jabara-toro can be given the proper time to develop.

This is one of the biggest, fattiest kohada I’ve ever seen. The oiliness is balanced by the sweetness and acidity, somehow no one element is overpowering yet everything is incredibly strong. This tightrope act of balance and intensity seems to be present in many of Inomata’s pieces, and for me this was definitely the best representation of it in this meal.

This is what I imagined a cloud would feel like in my mouth as a child. The fluffiness was so intense that I started speaking Japanese to the chef, randomly remembering how to say ‘fluffy’ in Japanese as it bit into the anago. It’s that powerful, folks.

This contains four different cuts of tuna

Pardon how weird my hand looks, I got way too excited. There’s lots of impact in this piece and you sort of get the best of all worlds here with the flavours and textures. However, it’s a lot of tuna and I wish I had some onion or something to balance it out a bit.

Kampyo is a very classic kind of sushi. It’s sweet and dessert-like with an almost caramel note to it. The acidity of the sushi rice thankfully cuts it to manageable levels.

Fluffy cake in egg omelet form. That’s the best way to put it. Egg in Japan is just on a different level, nothing like the premade stuff you find at lots of lower end places in North America.

Price: $360 CAD, but the price went up after I went to around $420 CAD
Rating: 90/100
Website: https://omakase.in/en/r/in410639
Location: Japan, 〒332-0016 Saitama, Kawaguchi, Saiwaicho, 1 Chome−12−23 川口幸町コートハウス

Wineries of Niagara Region: Colaneri and Icellars

First stop, Colaneri Estate Winery ( 348 Concession 6 Rd, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON L0S 1J0 )

I’ll be going to Niagara a couple times this year at least, and I figured it would be a good chance for me to learn more about VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) wines in the Niagara-on-the-Lake region of Ontario.

There’s no way you can miss Colaneri as you’re driving by it. It’s a majestic estate (thus the name) that resembles some nobleperson’s massive mansion.

The rows upon rows of grapes seem to span as far as the eye can see.

A beautiful gate of black iron stands majestically in the center of the estate, and to the right is the entrance. In the summertime, there’s a patio area where they make pizzas!

Right as you open the door to the winery, you’re hit by the distinctive smell of wine. You can see the different processes that wine goes through to get to its final state.

There are a few different wine bars in this relatively large winery

Colaneri specializes in Italian-style wine, and they charge only $10 for a tasting of four different types. There are a couple that incur an extra $5 charge, and icewines tasting also costs an extra $5. While I’m normally not into sweet wines, the three Recioto wines I had (somewhere in between an overly sweet ice wine and an enjoyable Gewurztraminer or Riesling) had a more unique and complex sweetness to it that didn’t just overwhelm your mouth with sugar. Our bartender was very helpful and tried to help guide us through our tasting, giving us ideas on the different pairings and tastes of each wine we tried.

One shelf of their well-stocked store area

The people I came with ended up buying ten of the Recioto wines since they were blown away by how unique the flavours were. If you go, I recommend trying the 2014 Profondo Mistera Recioto Gewurztraminer and the 2017 Corposo Ripasso Style. By the way, if you end up buying a bottle after you do your sampling, the $10 sampling fee is waived!

Website: https://www.colaneriwines.com/winery/
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/tGYsb78pekDVei7EA

They’re actually pretty close to Colaneri ( 615 Concession 5 Rd, Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON L0S 1J0 )

Icellars is a smaller winery that specializes in French-style Red wines.

You can see that the vineyard is definitely smaller than Colaneri (though still not small)

Unlike Colaneri, where you stand and converse with the person pouring for you, Icellars is more of a sit down event that feels like it would be a great stop for a Bachelor/Bachelorette party instead.

Since my family friends are all really into Bourdeaux, I figured that this place would be a good idea. The Arinna and Wiyana Wanda are both done in the Bourdeaux style, and the Wanda in particular has a very unique meatiness to it that is definitely more rare compared to the usual fruity notes. Tastings start at $5 for 2 wines, but it’s separated into regular and special wines which cost more. I think each of us ended up paying around $15 as we ordered a couple of the special ones (ie. the Wanda) to try.

After serving us the wine, they kind of left us to ourselves to talk about our opinions on the wine. I feel like some people would prefer this over the Colaneri guided experience, but as I still have a lot to learn it’s always nice for people to tell me more about what they’re serving!

A cute little shop for their different wine

Buying a bottle means you get a $5 credit towards your tasting fee, but for some reason since we had a group of 7 we weren’t eligible for it (just so you know if you try to go with a bigger group).

Website: https://www.icellars.ca/about
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/YRSs6fTs5RBg3v1N8

Per Se June 2019 – Technical Perfection

Tl;DR for the people who don’t want to read and just want to look at pretty pictures: In terms of execution, Per Se is flawless. Every ingredient used in every dish at the bare minimum achieved an ideal texture and flavour, hitting all the right notes. Service was splendid and calculated like they were watching your every move. Was it worth the price tag and is it worthy of 3 Michelin Stars? In my humble opinion, yes.

I lucked out with seats overlooking some great scenery

Per Se originally opened in 2004 and is the esteemed Thomas Keller’s interpretation of the iconic restaurant “French Laundry”. You can find it located on the highest floor of the Time Warner Center.

If you’re coming you might as well splurge and get the full menu. Here’s what I had when I went, but the menu changes pretty much every day. There are staples that tend to remain on the list like the classic “Oysters and Pearls”. The entire meal lasted about two hours, I stuck to the normal menu but substituted the foie gras ‘pastrami’ to replace the Farm Beets salad.

The meal starts with an amuse-bouche of salmon tartar wrapped in a cone of sesame tuile. It’s a simple, refreshing bite that gets the appetite going. The tuile is exactly as crisp as it should be, and the salmon is fresh.

The pea soup is served with lemon and fresh cream sorbet. Minor notes of sweetness from the sorbet and the perfectly crisp snap pea lift the light savoury notes of the soup. In the summer, this is extremely refreshing!

A classic — the butter poached oysters have a wonderfully just-strong-enough note of seafoody brine that shines with the addition of the generous knob of caviar. The slight springiness of the tapioca pearls adds textural contrast. As a whole, the dish is rich and silky, filled with the sense of luxury.

Another classic, the Black Truffle ‘Chawanmushi’

Incredible creaminess from the egg custard melded with the earthy notes of truffle.

This pate of Hudson Valley Foie gras is wrapped with pastrami spice and served with a selection of salts. Of course, there’s not even a hint of that usual gamey funk you might get in a lower quality/badly processed foie gras product. I will say that this was definitely still good, but if I had to pick a least favourite dish for the meal this would be it. It was just good foie gras.

The doneness on this piece of fish was surreal, fork tender. AS you eat it, it leaves you with a pleasant feeling in your mouth like a gentle caress.

This was their take on sausage made with lobster and tarragon, served with a tantalizing lobster cream with the lightest notes of something reminiscent of a cinnamon spice.

The tomato English muffin was good, but it’s the butter that stole the show here. It’s infused with the beef lardo from a cow aged for a hundred days. It’s like a more elegant version of bone marrow, and the fatty beef notes are cut by the acidity and perfect warmth of the bread. It’s simple, but often times seeing how restaurants like this jazz up the basics is what’s most entertaining. We’ve all had bread and butter several times, so how do they take it to the next level?

The saddle was wrapped in bacon… along with the foie gras dish, I will say this one was the closest to missing the mark for me since the tapenade on the left was a bit too salty for me.

Perfect doneness on the meat, nice notes of added umami from the black garlic sauce.

Another example of beauty in simplicity, this crispy outer shell gives way to a bomg of creamy truffle flavour. It looks very basic, but it’s so decadent in the best way possible.

The amount of courses is pretty deceptive! For dessert lovers, this is probably a dream come true.

Clockwise: Pistachio Financier, Cappuccino Semifreddo, Rocky Road Ice Cream, Donut, Lady Finger

Of the many desserts, I would say my favourites were the semifreddo (I like coffee based desserts since they tend to be less sweet, and had this relaxing fluffy texture) and the tea consomme lady finger. Crystallized rose petals are scattered on top, imparting a lot of layered complexity in a single bite.

As if that wasn’t enough, they come by again and let you choose from a treasure chest of unique house-made truffles. Flavours like miso and raspberry matcha are just scratching the surface. They pack up a few for you after as a souvenir along with some cookies.

This was a good once in a life time experience for me, but I don’t feel like I’d go back again. It’s not that I didn’t like it, there’s just so many places to try and so little time.

Price: $420 USD (with foie gras change and tax included)
Rating: 89/100
Website: https://www.thomaskeller.com/perseny

Singapore’s S.E.A. Aquarium

Address: 8 Sentosa Gateway, Sentosa Island, Singapore 098269, it’s really close to the big Universal Studios globe
https://www.rwsentosa.com/en/attractions/sea-aquarium

S.E.A. Aquarium is located at the Sentosa Island Resort area of Singapore, and it was probably my highlight (one of the few) on my recent trip. If you’re into aquatic life, it’s a stunning aquarium with massive displays, and a plethora of different denizens of the waters. Tickets are $40SGD for general admission, and $29 for people aged from 4-12 and 60+.

ugly shark — I’m pretty sure this shark was asleep too

that eel from little mermaid — I wonder what this tastes like?

This was a really great place to relax for a couple hours. It’s relaxing and as someone who’s into learning more about life in the oceans and rivers and other things, it was an educational experience for me. I would skip the restaurant though, the prices seem absolutely crazy (as do most non-hawker stand restaurants in Singapore, but that’s another article altogether).

Enjoy a little panorama of one of the largest single wall aquarium displays

A Visit to Kavalan Distillery in Taiwan

The distillery is open from 9am-6pm every day

Japan’s not the only place with award-winning whiskey! Kavalan is one of the two major whiskey distilleries in Taiwan. Many of their whiskies have snagged awards from groups like World Whiskies and the San Francisco World Spirits Competition. One of the best things about Kavalan is that since not as many people know about Taiwanese whiskey compared to Japanese whiskey, you can actually get it for semi-affordable prices without a crazy amount of hassle.

It’s located to the east in Yilan, and it’s around 70 minutes by train from Taipei Main Station and then another 20 minutes to taxi.

There are both guided and unguided tours, but I believe the English tours have to be booked. You’re free to just walk around to see the history of Kavalan, the product that they use to create their whiskies (seeing and smelling the different barrels that are used, which I’ll get more into a little later). Thankfully all the reading is translated into different languages so it’s easy to follow along. As you walk along, you get to see how the product is made from start to finish and even get a glimpse into the warehouse where it’s all stored.

There’s a stand for different flavoured gelato if you’re feeling hot and want something sweet.

The Kavalan Vinho Barrique has won a plethora of awards

As you walk around the grounds, you’ll eventually find yourself in a two-storey area. The first floor is where you can buy their different products, as well as get a free sample of their basic product. Here is also where you can buy either a DIY whiskey blending experience or sample any four of their available for purchase whiskies. It costs 400NT$, which is the equivalent of around $17.50 Canadian.

400NT$ is a real steal considering some of these bottles retail for 10000NT$!

Left to right: Rum cask, Vinho Barrique, Moscatel cask, PX cask

I’m personally into cask-strength whiskey. I like the pleasant heat and the tingle on my tastebuds. Where Kavalan takes it one step further is that the majority of their products are aged in different types of casks — port wine, bourbon, different types of sherry casks, etc.

This helps to impart unique characteristics of those different types of alcohol into the final taste profile of the whiskey itself. Many of them end up with a wonderful note of floral fruit, or in one case something that reminded me of preserved plums and Peking duck sauce (the Port cask).

If you’re into whiskey and have some time, I highly recommend day-tripping to Yilan so you can try some whiskey!

A Taste of ANA Business class in Economy

I love seeing how far airlines can take airplane food

ANA (All Nippon Airways) recently rolled out a new meal service for economy and premium economy class flights leaving from Japan. For $30 CAD you get a truncated Business class-esque meal. This might sound pretty intense, but if you think about it you’d probably spend more at Milestones or Moxies or something… for worse food.

Since it’s a Japanese airline, I opted for the Japanese menu.

I was really impressed with my economy class food when I flew ANA last year. Breakfast included a perfectly poached egg (which is better than what some restaurants in Toronto can do on the ground!) and surprisingly fluffy pancakes. Thus, when I saw this special meal available I jumped at the chance for a sneak peek (looking forward to the full Business class menu next year).

Soon after boarding, a flight attendant dropped by and confirmed that she knew about my special booking. My food arrived with everyone else, but it was definitely very different.

It was the small touches that set this apart along with the high quality of ingredients

The fluffy, just moist enough rice was wrapped in parchment paper so that it retained its moisture during the re-heating process. I really enjoyed the simmered kinmedai — usually, I have this in nigiri form. The meaty yet tender texture held up well to the savoury flavours of the soy marinade.

Along with the coppa ham, shrimp, and smoked trout there was also shredded crab meat.

The delicate sweetness of the crab was a nice surprise (considering it wasn’t mentioned in the menu) and the smoked trout had the right amount of saltiness while not being overbearingly fishy. If I had to complain, the shrimp was a tiny bit overdone but it’s to be expected for airplane food.

According to trusty Wikipedia:

” Pierre Hermé is a French pastry chef and chocolatier. Pierre Hermé began his career at the age of 14 as an apprentice to Gaston Lenôtre. He was awarded the title of World’s Best Pastry Chef in 2016 by the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and as the fourth most influential French person in the World by Vanity Fair in 2016. “

I had no idea who this person was while I was eating dessert, but I have to say even as someone who doesn’t normally like dessert much this was the best part of the meal by far. The balance of sourness and different types of sweetness (multiple fruits, vanilla) along with the lush creaminess of the yogurt created this impressive explosion of flavours in my mouth more akin to what I’d find at a really nice patisserie or something. Having it 35000 feet high in the air was inconceivable!

Nakajima in Shinjuku – Michelin-Starred Lunch for ¥880 ($10.70 CAD)!

The rain is pattering against the metal covering protecting a stairway down a shadowy passage. Walking into its depths, you can see the the passage giving way to a simple woodwork sliding door and the noren of Nakajima hanging.

My friend and I recently went to Nakajima in Shinjuku after reading that it served lunch starting at ¥880. At lunch, this Michelin-starred establishment accepts no reservations. So the two of us lined up around half an hour in advance for the opening at 11:30. We were the first ones there, but only barely — minutes after our arrival, two businessmen showed up and as we waited, a fellow tourist joined us.

I took this while we were leaving at about 12:15PM.

By the time it was opening, the line snaked all the way up the stairway and we were ushered inside by a matronly woman who quickly took us to our table. Unfortunately, since I was with a friend, we weren’t able to snag seats at the counter.

The menu centres around four preparations of iwashi (sardine): Sashimi, Deep Fried, Simmered in Soy Sauce, and Nabe (which can mean Japanese hot pot dishes or one pot dishes).

This is kind of reminiscent of a katsudon dish, where the fried bits soften because of the broth and egg mixture. The eggs are infused with some of the flavour of the iwashi, and they also add a textural component of creaminess to the dish. Despite being simmered in broth, some of the crispiness is retained so there’s a lot of things going on. Paired with the natural sweetness of onions, this is a warming dish that’s great for cooler weather.

I wanted to try something more simple, so I ordered the basic sashimi set. It’s a very fair portion for the price and there is surprising complexity to this — the nutty sesame and micro thin slivers of green onion work to balance out the fatty strands of iwashi. You can choose to add more zing to your bite with the grated ginger, or to enhance the onion flavours with the seaweed on the side, or you can squeeze a drop of lemon onto the fish for a more refreshing flavour. Or, you can mix and match! This creates a plethora of different flavour sensations in something that costs a little more than $10.

Price: ¥ 880 – ¥990
Score: 80/100
Website: http://www.shinjyuku-nakajima.com/
Tabelog: http://www.shinjyuku-nakajima.com/
Address: Japan, 〒160-0022 Tokyo, Shinjuku City, Shinjuku, 3 Chome−32−5 地下１階日原ビル

My Lounge Crawl: How I went to $1000+ worth of airport lounges without paying a cent*

*The immediate disclaimer: nothing is free in this world, but I didn’t have to pay anything to the lounges for the visits 🙂

With that out of the way, my recent vacation in October of 2019 was going to be a bit of a doozy. My parents and I were flying from Toronto into Taipei via Eva Air (great Airline! Review to be posted later), then into Hong Kong, then into Singapore via Singapore Air, back to Hong Kong, then to Tokyo via ANA…

Then my parents were splitting up and I would be flying back to Hong Kong, then to Taipei, and finally back home. In summary:

YYZ->TPE->HKG->SIN->HKG->HND->HKG->TPE

I wanted a way to make my parents lives (and by extension, mine) easier, and realized that one way to do that would be to take them to the plethora of airport lounges located around the world to help them unwind and relax before each flight.

Let’s do a quick breakdown. I visited the following lounges, and here is their price per individual:

Plaza Premium Lounge (Zone A) in Taoyuan Airport, the bigger and better one

Plaza Premium Lounge in YYZ ($51.96 USD for 3 hours), TPE ($43 USD for 2 hours), HKG ($112.98 USD for 3 hours)

SATS Premier Lounge in Changi (There are complimentary massage chairs!)

SATS Premier Lounge in SIN ($29.50 USD visit fee)

The interior of the Marhaba Lounge in Changi

Marhaba Lounge in SIN ($40.55 USD for three hours)

Amex Centurion Lounge in Hong Kong Airport: All you can drink. Cocktails, straight, beer… also unlimited ice cream.

The Centurion Lounge in HKG (You can only get in if you’re an AMEX member, but let’s assume it’s a low ballpark $50USD for 3 hours based on what you’re getting in comparison to the other lounges mentioned)

One of the perks of the Amex Personal Platinum credit card is that it comes with unlimited complimentary lounge visits for you and one guest. I took either my mom or dad into the lounges at will in Toronto, Taipei, and Singapore (went to both lounges mentioned in Singapore because one of them had complimentary massage chairs):

$51.96 x 2 + $43 x 2 + $29.50 x 2 + $40.55 x 2 = $330.02

At any Amex Centurion Lounge, you’re allowed to bring up to two guests so I could bring both my parents. I transited HKG with my parents twice:

$50 x 6 = $300

After I split up from my parents, I had to go to Hong Kong in transit and ended up visiting their Plaza Lounge and Centurion Lounge again. In Taipei, I hit up both the lounges again because hey, why not?

$112.98 + $50 + $43 x 2 = $248.98

$330.02 + $300 + $248.98 = $879 USD –> $1286.62 CAD as of Nov 1, 2019

Some of my friends have asked me in the past how I justify getting an AMEX Platinum card when the annual fee ($699 CAD) seems exorbitant at first glance. But even without delving into any of the other perks of the card (ie. a travel credit of $200 CAD that bumps down the annual fee to $500), just this trip (which I understand is unique because of the amount of layovers) alone has paid back almost double my annual fee!

Roast Beef and crispy onions, mashed potatoes, whisky soda (with 4 shots of whisky), etc. At the Plaza Lounge in YYZ.

It’s not just a monetary thing either: many of the lounges have unlimited booze, all of them have free food (can you imagine how food & drink normally costs at an airport?), and most importantly they were all a great way to unwind. My mother was a little under the weather at the tail end of our Singapore trip, and I was able to whip up something at the lounge so that she could take a nap on one of the recliners for an hour.

If you plan on flying around to a lot of places in a year to big international airports around the world (for things like around the world fares, or just multi-destination vacations, etc), the AMEX Platinum card is totally worth it in my opinion.

Shameless, zero obligation plug: if any of this intrigued you, here is my referral link to sign up for the card. By signing up through referral, you get bonus membership points after accomplishing a minimum spend of $5000CAD in 3 months (so time getting your card to when you expect to make a lot of big purchases, ie. hotels and flights for vacation) and I get bonus points for referring you.