Review #2: Nasime

14 July 2021

As the heat of summer grows, so does my stress level. So many uncertainties in life act as catalysts in an already volatile reaction, this Wednesday required a release valve. And for me, nothing is better than having an excellent dining experience.

To guarantee such a needed evening, I decided to try to get a slot at Nasime. One of the hottest restaurants (and hardest to get a booking) in town before the pandemic, it’s never a certainty — especialy for a lone diner — to get a seat at the now-distanced counter. But I called and luck was with me for a slot in the late seating.

As dinner wasn’t until 8.30pm, I had the chance to leisurely make my way into Old Town Alexandria. I eventually got there by bus, but was a bit early so dropped into La Fromagerie Cheese and Wine Bistro — a fine wine bar across the street — for a refreshing glass of furmint. I really need to check the food out here one day…

With the nice large pour consumed, I slowly headed across the street to Nasime. It seems the early seating is running a bit overtime, so those arriving for the late seating scattered around the block — distanced — enjoying the antics of the locals. Not long after, we were led in, and I took the same counter space as last time. Now that was a wonderful dining experience…

Glad to see some friendly familiar faces, I relaxed and opted again for the sake pairing for tonight’s dinner. A little bit of a wait as the friendly solo server got everyone else’s drinks order going as well, we start the dinner with a nice seasonal dish — a rather interesting chilled tomato miso soup.

Delicious, like a refreshing gazpacho that took a detour from the Iberian peninsula to Japan, especially with the delicious Hokkaido shrimp cured in kombu (the preparation is called kobujime). Additions of okra and cucumber added an additional summery feel to this refreshing start. It paired well with the Ginban 50 junmai daiginjo from Toyama, very complementary.

A good start. While I was enjoying the soup, I was watching Chef Yuh Shimomura work his magic on the next dish. And of course right in front of me was the paperwork for it…

Last time the wagyu was absolutely stunning, and I am already anticipating this A5 specimen. When it arrived I was not disappointed by any means…

Just lovely, melt-in-your-mouth stuff. One of those times you make these little sound even if you don’t chew — as the beef did not really need much chewing. Tho it is hard not to, because of the desire to hasten the release of this amazing natural flavour. And of course, all that freshly-grated wasabi — the real stuff, not the awful insult-in-a-tube — for me to snack on (yes, I snack on wasabi)!

It’s really like a drug, you keep wanting a bigger hit of it… Stunning quality beef, accented by the sauce made from Oregon truffles, with a solid (same as last time) pairing of the Izumibashi Black Dragonfly aged junmai from Kanagawa. What an awesome dish…

Hard to top that really, and again, watching Chef work during the last dish (when my eyes weren’t closed in ecstasy), I knew next up was the sashimi set for the night…

The tuna was absolute fantastic, one of the times the lean stuff was so gorgeous (and hidden). Aside from the wonderful Hokkaido treat — the urchin-topped scallop — the tuna really ruled today’s selection. Perhaps a little less variety than usual, but a solid selection. Went well with the Kubota junmai daiginjo from Niigata.

A little bit of a gap here as Chef was frying up the next dish. A slight change, and we have some spring roll…

Not your typical spring roll, but with eel okowa (a glutinous rice combination). Maybe it’s the texture of the other items, but I really did not get the okowa part of this dish. The eel came through, as did the collapsing shell, but all overwhelmed by the tough and fibrous texture of what I thought was gobo in the roll’s core. Tasted okay, but could have been so much better. A rare miss.

Sadly the pairing with the Oze no Yukidoke junmai from Gunma also clashed a little with this dish. Anyway, next up was a pairing that was off the menu — the Narutotai ginjo nama genshu from Tokushima — that went with the duck.

You don’t see duck that often on Japanese menus (despite what Chef said when I mentioned it to him), but this worked quite nicely. The char-broiled duck was cooked perfectly, lovely aroma from the process. One of those dishes that worked great without the other stuff, including the “chimichurri” made of shiso and mitsuba (Japanese wild parsley). One of those moments I think I started to miss Japan, missing the purity of the flavours of prime ingredients. Sometimes you really don’t need all the garnishment…

Anyway, it’s been a good night. Perhaps not as good as the last visit, but a very good night. Beats pretty much anything in the DC area by far, even on a less-than-perfect night. And with a pouring of the Ryujin Dragon God ginjo nama genshu from Gunma, we have the final savoury dish of the night — cold udon with Chilean seabass.

Mmmmm, back on track, absolutely delicious. The cold udon worked well for a hot summer evening, and the fried chunks of Chilean seabass was just scrumptious. It actually almost ate like a salad too, lovely dish. And the volume was far more restrained than during my last visit, when the broth was so large I couldn’t finish it. I’m generally not used to noodle dishes to end a kaiseki course, but this is the norm here — and done fabulously tonight. Good stuff!

Ah, sad this is drawing to a close, but all good things must end. My dessert soon arrived with a nice local whiskey, a tasy yet simple kinako (roasted soy flour) ice cream. Delicious, a great way to close the food account here. I spent a bit of time chatting with Chef and his service assistant as they finished up, enjoying another tipple before I took my leave.

I thanked them as I headed out into the now-tolerable night air, enjoying a wee stroll. I needed to burn off some stress, and this was the perfect way to do so. Perhaps not as great as my previous visit, but an excellent evening nevertheless. You’ve not really had Japanese food until you do a proper kaiseki course — and this comes as close as you’ll get in this country. Lovely use of ingredients, excellent technique, efficient service. All the way you experience wonderful dining experiences in Japan. Highly recommended.

Nasime
1209 King Street
Alexandria, Virginia

* Another sign things are returning to “normal” is to find a cocktail bar nearby that is still open at 11pm. Dropped into The People’s Drug for a few cocktails to finish the night. This has been a good one…

Who Needs Good Food When You Got Good PR? (Review: Anju)

1 July 2021

Even with things opening up more, going out is something I’m still not doing much — mostly due to the chaos in my personal life at this point. But I made a rare exception when a good friend who I have not seen for a year and a half invited me to check out hotspot Anju in town.

We had agreed on an early dinner, so I headed out the door immediately after the severe thunderstorm warning — which was very much warranted — passed. I rushed to the nearby Metro station, and jumped on the empty train…the first time I’ve been on Metro since I came home from the airport after my Toronto trip last March. Surreal…

I arrived at Dupont Circle nearly an hour later, as Metro has still not sorted out its bad connection waits. Unlike most people, I enjoy arriving at the deepest station in the system, as I like to walk up the escalator — often to the amusement of other riders. This reminds me of the look I got walking up Arsenalna Metro Station in Kyiv — the deepest operational subway station in the world — one of total incredulity.

I was a little early, so spent a few minutes fighting off mosquitos in front of the restaurant and scanning the posted menu. Soon my friend arrived, and the clock hit 5pm, so we headed in. The space was surprisingly large over 2 floors, and we were led to a table upstairs. The spacing between tables were quite good; I wonder what this place looked like before the pandemic…

Once we were told that the “chef tasting” — which was more of a prix fixe deal since all the items were regular menu items — contained banchan, we went with it. I still find it horrifying that a Korean-centric place would charge for banchan, so against the entire ethos of Korean cuisine and culture…

Nevertheless, it was good to catch up in person now we’re all fully vaccinated (and beyond the fortnight uptake threshold). Not long after, the starter arrived. I had opted for yukhoe — beef tartar.

Quite good, the sauce added a surprisingly good sweet and spicy kick to the beef. I enjoyed it, though little did I realise at the time this was the highlight of the culinary treatment of the night. After a little while, they presented the banchan, and my heart sank…

They brought out three flimsy dishes for the two of us… The kimchee was so absolutely boring they may as well brought out plain cabbage. And the lotus root was so sticky sweet it really would have complemented poorly for pretty much any dish they can bring out. Sigh…

People always say that you can judge a Korean kitchen by the banchan, and shit, if that’s the case, this is quite a fail. They don’t complement the food, they look like they received even less treatment than a side dish at a bad BBQ joint. And three tiny dishes for 2 people doing their “tasting” menu? This really shows both a lack of understanding of Korean cuisine and respect for their customers taking up their misnamed “tasting” menu. Sorry to sound so tough here, but it’s really deflating after this presentation.

Then the second course arrived, the mandoo. I prefer my mandoo steamed rather than fried, but that’s personal. These were quite ordinary, to be honest. But what saddened me was that the kimchee in these mandoo tasted better than the sad specimen from the banchan set. Mediocre, which is a hell of an indictment for a restaurant operated by the same people that opened the quite excellent Mandu nearby, where I enjoyed the food during several different occasions.

And of course, the server forgot my wine, and it was a good 10 minutes before it showed up…

Oh well, I had all but lost hope in the food, but the company was excellent — which was the point of this evening anyway. As we continued to chat, our main courses arrived — the battered branzino.

Sigh… Despite we both ordering the same dish and brought out at the same time, we seemed to have somewhat different reaction to our dishes. My friend said his fish was okay, mine was pretty poorly cooked. At points it tasted like sawdust, or worse, baccalà that was not hydrated correctly. The sauce was insurance I didn’t choke on the fish, thank goodness.

And of course the vegetables under the fish were a mess; supposed to be asparagus and broccolini. Mine was all asparagus…but at least mine did not have a gigantic broccolini stem that took my friend some considerable effort to cut with a dull spoon. I know there’s a shortage of experienced line cooks right now, but isn’t it common sense to not give us different vegetables when both are listed as ingredients?

Usually I bemoan when the savouries end on a night of dining, but this evening I’m glad it’s done. Soon the desserts showed up, and mine was called “rako coffee bingsoo” on the menu…

Again, meh. The ice cream was good on a warm day, but a combination of cookie and mochi made this like a “throw everything into the bowl” concept as it’s a texture nightmare. Mochi takes time to chew with the ice cream liquifying at an incongruent pace. Nothing surprises me anymore on how PR can spin a poor experience…

What added to an unpleasant night was that before we had a chance to ask for a coffee or anything, the server dropped the bill off. Now even if you need the table back by 7pm — and we finished our desserts at least 15 minutes before then — this was a rude way to do it. In my old place we would never do this to our valued customers. This “pay and get out” approach shows massive disrespect to customers, and I don’t care how popular you are it’s against what hospitality means. This is the hospitality industry, after all.

Sigh. Another great reminder why, despite eating out so much all over the world, I do NOT eat out back home in DC. The scene sucks. Overhyped, where PR rules the roost.

And it says plenty when the bio page of the restaurant lists the PR rep. Says plenty.

What saddens me is that genuinely good restaurants without the same PR resources suffer as these places are constantly packed and people who buy into rhetoric rather than reality. The service was questionable. The menu was questionable. The cooking was questionable. If it wasn’t for the good convo, this would have been a questionable night to leave the house.

We parted, speaking little about the food — a sign that it didn’t sit too well with either of us. We are both proponents of fresh ingredients and ingredient-driven cuisine (rather than chef-driven…or too often chef-contrived, or chef-manipulated), so tonight’s culinary experience fell face flat, especially for me.

With an impending storm, we parted and I rushed back to the Metro and took another hour to get home — thanks again to a long wait for a change, the bane of the DC Metro system. I don’t know how many years of my life I’ve lost in stations like Rosslyn or Metro Center just waiting to change trains… Lucky I got home then, as another even uglier severe thunderstorm warning just screamed over our phones… That scream could have been my internal one over this dining fail at Anju, to be honest…

Anju
1805 18th Street NW
Washington, DC

* I learned later a tornado touched down a few blocks from where I used to live in Arlington, yikes.

Review: Whiskey & Oyster

28 June 2021

A strange morning. I won’t go into it, but a rare Monday morning when things went better than expected. So as I was headed home on a Lyft, I decided to take a short detour and enjoy myself for lunch. I had always planned to try Whiskey & Oyster not far from my place, and I was somehow hungry for some bivalves, so why not…

I got there after the lunch crowd had already left, and happily sat at the bar. Relaxed and ordered a drink and some oysters. They had a few different options, so I decided on a trio of each of them. After a little while they arrived. It’s been so long since I’ve had a full serving of oysters, I was drooling…

Well, it had to wait a little. The shucking was absolutely sloppy. There was so much broken shell in the oysters I wonder if I’d end up hypercalcaemic. And half of the oysters weren’t even shucked right. It’s like they broke the shell, hacked at it, cracked more of the shell, and left the oyster barely half-shucked. I know there’s a labour shortage right now, but this is still annoying.

If you are not gonna shuck the oysters right, then at least don’t crack so much of the shell into it, please?

Despite having to basically shuck them with my dull knife and constantly spit out chunks of shell, I miss my oysters. Some were nice, some were very neutral. The meaty ones were excellent, especially the Otter Cove jumbos. I eat my oysters, I taste them. I chew through them for the full flavour. I don’t understand people who don’t.

I wasn’t full despite consuming so much shell, so I decided to order another dish. Let’s see how they cook bivalves, so I ordered a pound of steamed clams in spicy broth. I relaxed with a glass of wine once they remembered. And after a little while the bowl came out…

I was puzzled, as it came with a spoon. The flavour was quite rich, the clams were tasty certainly. But this wasn’t a “broth” at all. This was liquified butter! Oh, it’s wonderful, and great to use the rather limited bread they served to mop up some of it. But why a spoon? If you drink this I guarantee you will have an infarction before you reach the front door.

It’s hard to see from this angle, but it’s swimming in liquified butter. Made for excellent clams and dip for the bread, but frankly it’s not a “broth” by any means. Now I’m not complaining because it made the clams damn tasty, with a spicy, garlicky touch to the buttery excess. But now I’m definitely full.

I headed out not sure what to think, but it was generally a good lunch. The haphazard shucking was a downer, but overall it’s not bad. It’s worth dropping into again, especially after they get back into a better rhythm. Especially whoever shucked these things. No osteoporosis for me, but they better not end up as kidney stones down the road!!!

Whiskey & Oyster
301 John Carlyle Street
Alexandria, VA