Review: Rado

22 April 2024

So far on this Nordic cycle it’s been a bit of a bust foodwise. The Helsinki stay was nice, especially with a touch of winter. However, the dinner at Natura didn’t quite hit the mark. Oh well. Now “home” to Estonia.

After an annoying boat ride (the “fast” boats now take 2 hours instead of the earlier 90 minutes…what, so people can drink more and buy more useless shit on-board?) I get into town, run out and my Bolt was waiting for me. Off to my hotel and soon off to meet a dear old friend for a night of music, food and drink, having not seen each other since my last trip in 2018.

The next morning I got up early and front-loaded my itinerary again, since now we’re hearing about an unexpectedly strong snowstorm heading into town later in the morning. So I was out of my hotel by 6am and by 11am I was exhausted, looking at the snow starting to fall. I met another dear old friend for a long lunch, but had to miss meeting another friend due to the weather and not wanting to delay his trip off to the islands. I then headed back to the hotel to get a little rest, having run on fumes since leaving Chicago a few days earlier.

I then headed out to dinner in the Old Town at a place called Rado. I’ve heard good stuff, and their daily-changing menus caught my eye. There always seems to be interesting stuff, including offal, so I was really looking forward to dinner. I need a good one, after the two failed dinners so far this trip.

I took a seat at the back of the cute restaurant space in a building I’ve walked past hundreds of times. Relaxed with a drink and looked over the chalkboard menu they brought me. Interesting stuff. I ordered and relaxed. So good to be able to do this in Estonian again… And soon it started.

Oh, this is the perfect fish fry! So delicious these smelts. Breaded and fried perfectly, these beauties were meatier than usual too. So good. A wonderful start! Is my trip turning around food-wise?

Then this nice lamb shank, the meat just about perfect. Soft but retaining wonderful texture, without it falling off the bone like some demented BBQ. And absolutely flavourful, where you can taste the lamb and not some misbred joke. So good.

What a wonderful little discovery this turned out to be! Plus the service was impeccable. I chilled and went with a dessert as this has been so darn good all night.

A nice tres leches with some rhubarb additions. The latter is in season, so I expect to see this a lot on this trip. Delicious, the tartness of the rhubarb plays so well with the sweetness of the cake. An excellent close!

I thanked my excellent server as I headed out into a nice cool evening, really having enjoyed an excellent evening here at Rado. It was such a fun night I decided to drop into one of the top cocktail bars in the city, Whisper Sister, for a nightcap. Well, that nightcap turned into 3. Then into way too many more, basically drinking the place until it closed.

I’m gonna pay for this evening, but it was absolutely fun. Finally this trip is getting good!

Rado is very much recommended if you are in Tallinn. Fabulous cooking with well-sourced ingredients, excellent service, a winning package!

Rado
Vene 7
Tallinn, Eesti

Review: Natura

20 April 2024

My Nordic adventure did not start off very well in Bergen, which nearly caused more issues when the “hi tech” hotel’s doors failed and locked all the patrons who went for a morning stroll out… Luckily I made my flight out to Helsinki, where I feel a little more at home, having visited so many times over the decades.

I’ve not been back since 2018, so it was nice just going around, although the weather was a little shaky. It was sleeting and snowing on and off, so I decided to shift my itinerary in town a little and front-load everything in case we get more snow overnight.

I was exhausted by the end of the day, and I’m glad I’m in a cute little hotel that’s nice and convenient, and near my dinner destination, Natura. I read about this place and found it intriguing, as I wanted a good but not over-the-top evening here in Helsinki.

It was a very busy night here, a clear difference from last night’s mess at 1877 in Bergen. My server was really nice and she ran me through the menu options, and I decided since I’m so close to my hotel I could do the longer of the tastings. I relaxed with a drink in hand, hoping for a good evening.

Soon the bread service arrived. I gasped when I took my first bite…oh my goodness, is this all salt? I’ve never tasted butter this salty in my life, and even the bread was salty. Yikes!

Lucky we got some potato cream with roe to cool it down. Not bad. Let’s hope that’s an anomaly! It was nice to see the dill, it’s a reminder that I’m “home” in the Baltics… Then some nice local whitefish.

The fish was good, but this was a case of throwing too much unnecessary gunk on what is otherwise a nice fresh ingredient. Why not just let the fish shine?

And at this point, I was having a lot of trouble understanding my new server, who seems to speak with an extremely heavy Italian accent – who does not appear to speak much Finnish. That’s one thing, but I can barely understand his English, and I don’t want to embarrass him by asking to switch to Italian… His description of the quartet of dishes that came out next got me more confused…

The lamb was okay, but again so salty. The herrings good, but too much other stuff once again. And the rest were weird… Again, I couldn’t understand what the server was saying (as the good original server was running around every other table), so it took a bit away from the experience.

Now this so-called “risotto” did not work at all. It feels like it should be called “oatmeal” instead, with a hodge-podge of berries and beets and other incongruent flavours. Again, I’m guessing and also looking at the printed menu of the ala carte items, as I cannot understand this server.

I see this night is not going as well as I thought. And just to show I’m not crazy, when the table next to me took a bite into the bread and butter, the guy winced and she coughed. Yeah, salt overdose…

Now this turbot wasn’t bad at all, probably the best dish of the night. Sadly it was a relatively tiny sliver, with a second charred out piece that look like it could have been left off. On the salty side, but edible. But at least I knew what I was eating as it was my original (the excellent one) server now back at my table.

What really shocked me was that a large percentage of the customers tonight are local, and they are also being served by that other server who speaks no Finnish with the impossible to understand English. Some of the customers seemed bemused by it. Is there such lack of workforce locally that this has become a problem in Helsinki? Goodness.

I was a little disappointed to get goose as a confit rather than unadulterated meat. And this was so absolutely salty that it was very difficult to eat. By this stage I have lost all interest in this dinner, and am glad the over-salted savouries are done with!

Approaching the third hour of dining, we get some local raw milk Loreley cheese from Otava. Okay, but again, my interest in food has already departed. I finished this with some struggle as we move into the dessert.

Luckily I love sea buckthorn, and this dessert focuses on it as a sorbet. It has such a strong flavour that eats into everything else, I love it. Perfect palate cleanser.

Now this next dish is a frozen yoghurt, which they say is their best-known dish. Interesting, that’s for sure. At least it’s not salty.

Now with the closing items I asked for a local tipple, so tried some local single malt.

And you know what? Just as a perfect sum up of this dining experience? Salty, salty, SALTY! Why are these chocolate-centric things absolutely so salty I needed to take a swig of water just to get it down?

So nearly 3 hours later, this evening was over. I walked outside into the flurry and wondered what happened. And realized I was so thirsty from all the salt I consumed tonight. I headed straight back to my hotel room and guzzed a litre of water. What a great night…

I think they have some good ideas, but the execution was a mess. Some of the ideas were a little too odd, some of it didn’t make best of the ingredients. Plus, when you have servers who cannot describe the food, you start off with a massive disadvantage. But overall, it was not good. Sigh…that’s 0 for 2 on this trip so far…

Natura
Iso Roobertinkatu 11
Helsinki, Suomi

When You’ve Waited Just a Little Too Long to Return… (Review #2: 1877)

19 April 2024

I had been planning to revisit Bergen, Norway since my previous visit in 2014. Never got around to it working out, but finally my chance came when I was planning this trip. For some reason, the SAS transatlantic fare was CHEAPER to add this extra leg. Fine!

Sadly it nearly went pear-shaped. After that excellent lunch at Mash, my Kastrup experience turned into a mess. Flight to Bergen was delayed, and even the crew seemed confused. Then it was moved across the airport, and when we ran almost across the huge terminal, they cancelled the flight. So another long run to the info desk across the airport. And folks, Terminal 3 in Kastrup is HUGE. Plus it’s a damn shopping mall, so you’re constantly dodging people shopping for cars and other unrealistic shit…

Eventually after a lot of drama and a lack of information, they put me on a later flight. Yet on the other side of the terminal. I got to Bergen exhausted, just for my hotel not to send me the info to check in. You see, it’s one of those “no front desk” places but their app didn’t work. So I had to waste a taxi ride from Bergen airport to another hotel – just so I can get my key.

UGH is right. So I need a fantastic meal, right? I’ve been waiting to return to 1877 for a decade since my amazing dinner there. However, something happened a few months ago that worried me. They wiped their social media, and posted weird stuff that’s more about design and decor, very little about food. I was worried but kept my booking.

My fears were confirmed when I arrived. The restaurant, which used to be bustling, was empty on a Friday night – a warm night when many people were out. Sigh…but let’s make the best of it. My cheerful and friendly server was great, so that kept me going. I decided to do the tasting menu. And it started with…

Bread and olives. Well, a good snack really, but I was saddened they had to warn me that the olives had pits in them… After a little bit, a cheesy snack.

Not bad, a good nibble. Then my heart sank when I saw the first major dish.

Well, it’s a “fish pudding” under this mess. It really was not good. The fishcake was really boring, clashing with this heavy sauce. The vegetables (supposedly castelfranco) added nothing, if another clashing element. Really a dish that makes me scratch my head…

It didn’t improve either with the celery dish next, as the texture was the big clash now with the seeds and roasted celery. Again, did nothing for me. What has happened to this place?

I shook my head internally when the main dish came out, pork neck. Now I love pork neck, don’t get me wrong, but when I am in the west coast of Norway, where the world’s best seafood is, why am I eating pork? Now this was done extremely well, and it was delicious, but it’s like eating a chorizo in Hokkaido or raw oysters in Delhi. It didn’t make sense.

If it wasn’t for the really nice server this night would have been totally crappy. Then a rather lame dessert, and I am done.

I chatted with my server for awhile, as she has a very interesting background. I thanked her and headed out, shaking my head. She did admit they had a concept change, which is sad for me as it turned a fabulous place into this mess. And yes, it’s empty on a Friday night.

Not a great start to this trip…

1877
Vetrlidsallmenningen 2
Bergen, Norge

Best Way to Do a Layover at CPH (Review #2: Mash)

19 April 2024

I was excited to start my very crazy, almost dizzying trip around the Nordics. I planned this trip when the nearly-bankrupt SAS offered an almost too-cheap-to-believe roundtrip to Europe, albeit with some twists. It was cheaper for some reason to have extra connections from/to Copenhagen before the transatlantic flight…so of course I took advantage of it.

I arrived at CPH after a relatively good red-eye flight. I had paid for a better seat, and the aisle bulkhead seat was the best one on the plane by far. Consider it was cheaper than a checked bag, that was money well spent.

I had about 3 hours at CPH before my connection, and we zapped through Schengen very quickly. So I had some time, and I headed to my usual at CPH, Mash. I’ve dropped in on many connections over the years since first doing so in 2014, enjoying their excellent Danish ribeye.

Alas I was a little early for their 12 midday opening, so I went to buy a discounted thin coat from shops trying to unload them as spring is here. I see in my itinerary some weather that may be worse than I had anticipated (I didn’t bring a jacket with me), so I bought one that was conveniently 50% off.

I headed up to Mash and relaxed with a much-appreciated cocktail overlooking the bustling terminal around the B gates entryway. I usually don’t like to drink or eat before a flight, but the next one is a quick one. Then not long after the good stuff arrived.

Yep, what I always get here, the excellent Danish ribeye. Lovely flavours, good temperature. Considering the plague of overcooked beef I’ve had in the US recently from “top” steakhouses, this was very welcomed!

A side of mushrooms, which is a change from my usual jalapeños, but it worked very well. A lovely lunch to have when you have a little time, and you almost forget you’re in an airport. Probably one of few places in an airport anywhere in the world I would be happy to eat at.

My flight is not far, so I decided to enjoy a last tipple and even a dessert…

Far bigger from what I usually have (especially as a non-dessert person), but this is the start of what should be a very fun trip, so i went with this nice combo. I was very happy and fuelled up for the second flight, and I thanked my excellent servers and walked down the stairs towards my gate for Bergen. What a great start!

Or was it? To be continued…

Mash
Københavns Lufthavn
Terminal 2
Kastrup, Danmark

I’m Too Old and Tired to Deal with Bad Nights (Review: DiAnoia’s Eatery)

7 April 2024

Although I did have a bit of a hangover after that delicious and fun night at Parlor Dim Sum, I had a busy Sunday in and around Pittsburgh. Sunny and warm, a perfect day. I rolled into my hotel mid-afternoon and dealt with some trip logistics for tomorrow early in the morning. I need to stop doing these Monday early AM flights…

But I was looking forward to a good dinner tonight at the very highly-rated DiAnoia’s Eatery. I first had to return my car to the airport, which was all good, but the crazy prices on rideshare into town. $80 on Lyft, really? I luckily found something a bit less on Uber, but this is ridiculous.

We rolled into the city and I walked into DiAnoia’s on a busy Sunday night. It was still hopping, and they squeezed me into a bar seat. I’m hoping it will go as well as last night! A cocktail in hand and I looked over the menu and ordered. I relaxed and some bread came out.

Not bad to fill my stomach with this cocktail. Soon after my starter came, carciofi.

These artichokes were excellent, wonderful texture and flavour, yum! I’m quite excited for this dinner now…but where is it? I shifted to a nice wine and kept waiting. And waiting… At about the half hour point I was starting to get annoyed, then I noticed they tried to deliver some food to the wrong people…

That’s my food. But wait, why two plates?

They brought my primo and secondo out at the same time. You gotta be kidding me. So they took the secondo back. And when I looked at the primo, my pasta dish, my heart sank. I thought this place was supposed to be good with Italian food?

They clearly messed up somewhere because this cacio e pepe is more like a soup. What a mess. They took a half hour to make something that most Italian restaurants would be horrified to bring out?

Look at this, it’s like I’m eating soup noodles or ramen or something.

This is how much liquid was left over afterwards. They should have called this cacio e pepe con acqua.

And when they brought my secondo out, the server just spilled the jus all over the place with no care in the world. Seriously, really?

As you can see the plate is flooded with the jus, a total soggy mess. This is their take on porchetta. Fine, but frankly this probably sat under the heat lamp because they screwed up the pasta and order, so it was really meh. I ended up pairing this with a grappa because I lost my appetite and want to forget about this evening.

Now the staff have made themselves scarce. After last night’s wonderful service by the city’s friendliest FoH crew, now I get a set of people who don’t care, and have really turned what could have been a salvageable night into one that I will remember for all the wrong reasons.

They took the pasta off the bill, as they should, because it was a joke. But with the bad food that took forever to come out, throw in the dismissive attitude of some of the staff, it sucked. I can’t believe people rave about this place. Maybe it was a bad night, but frankly I’m too tired to deal with bad nights anymore.

Avoid.

DiAnoia’s Eatery
2549 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Friendliest Crew in Pittsburgh (Review: Parlor Dim Sum)

6 April 2024

My short weekend trip to Pittsburgh began a little pear-shaped as my American flight was delayed. The amount of delays these days are getting so annoying. Ruined my plans for Friday evening. In any case, I had a very busy Saturday and was hungry for a nice dinner.

Tonight I was trying out Parlor Dim Sum, which looked like a fresh take on Cantonese food. I got there and squeezed into the busy bar on this Saturday night. I relaxed as I quickly ordered a cocktail, which was pretty good. I decided to order a few dimsum and see where the night goes. And it didn’t take long before it started to come out.

The spring rolls were very hot as you can imagine, but quite good, better than the usual stuff you get. The spicy sauce was relatively mild, and almost good enough to sip on…

The shumai were less good, it seems like it may have sat for a few minutes. It was a little more liquidy, like the steam condensed in the food a little. Too bad.

The lo mai gai sticky rice was quite nice, even if they didn’t go traditional with the huck of pork belly inside.

I was pretty happy with this so I went with a larger dish. I relaxed with some wine when it came out.

This claypot rice dish was excellent, full of Chinese sausage and some excellent cured pork belly that was extremely nice. It was a large dish, but I enjoyed every morsel of it. I wish there was some burnt rice there, but when I asked my really awesome bartender about it she said people would complain if there was (?!?!). Too bad!

I was full and happy, but the fun night had really just begun. I had planned to do a bit of a bar crawl down Butler Street but it turned out I didn’t need to leave my stool here. Lots of good drinks, a few shots with the crew, some very friendly fellow patrons to chat with, and next thing you know it was nearly midnight!

I had to run, but it was a night of very good fun that I’ve not had in a long time, maybe the best bar night I’ve enjoyed since the pandemic. So despite the hangover I’m expecting tomorrow, it will be worth it!

Definitely a nice place to eat, and you get to meet the friendliest crew in Pittsburgh if not the entire region!

Parlor Dim Sum
4401 Butler Street
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Review: Owamni

31 March 2024

Some not so great food stuff on this trip, including the odd and not-quite-there dinner at Harvester Kitchen in Sioux Falls. I headed off before dawn and there was some talk about snow, so I went north and spent part of the morning in eastern South Dakota before heading east back towards Minneapolis.

The weather held, but you can see the snow and ice melt was less and less as you got about half way to Minneapolis…then it cleared up more. I was shocked when I rolled into Minneapolis and the snow and ice was all but gone. Wow, did it rain while I was gone? In any case, I tried to catch up with some of my plans deferred from Friday.

It all went well until my rental car, a shitty Hyundai Kona – known for engine breakdowns – decided to die on a highway on-ramp. Lucky I managed to steer it to the shoulder. The rest of the day was ruined. Waited around for a tow truck to get rid of the car, and I took a Lyft to Owamni, my dinner destination.

I was early by 90 minutes and chose to sit at the counter, but they were fine. It was a busy Easter Sunday night at this popular eatery focused on indigenous ingredients and prep. I had been wanting to eat here for ages, so I was really excited about this dinner.

Odd, like last night, they don’t have a cocktail list. So I just went with wine and ordered a few dishes. I was warned they come out fast…

Almost too fast. This was the big plate I ordered, the smoked quahog clams. Really? The sofkee, which was good, was lukewarm. The clam/crab shred was cold, partly icy, and full of crab cartilage. It’s like they expected the sofkee to heat up the seafood, but it didn’t do that; instead it chilled the sofkee so the whole thing was this unpleasant cold temperature.

The venison tartare was far better, the right flavours and temperature. The chips were great.

I could not get my server’s attention for more wine. Took about a minute of waving like a madman to finally get it. Then the snack dish came out, popcorn and crickets.

This was good, but an odd mixture – especially the popcorn being sweet. Needed a spoon to eat this dish. But it was good.

That wasn’t bad, except for the big dish that seems off. But I’m ready for more!

After 10 minutes I’m no longer ready for more. I could not get my server’s attention as he was just standing around talking to his friends. I’m a big proponent of fair wages for servers, but when you take the tip incentive out of the picture, you start to get those who couldn’t care less about serving their customers. So I just asked for the bill after I had to approach another server. He finally came by and I said I was gonna order more food but couldn’t get his attention, and he had a lame “oh sorry” that he clearly did not mean.

This last exchange was so off-putting I paid and headed out for another extended Lyft wait. This trip is ending so fucking badly, from the rental car meltdown to this sad dining experience. I’m done. And as I was almost back to my weird hotel I realised I forgot my jacket on their coat rack. Damn. Screw it, I’m not going back there, that jacket needs to be replaced anyway.

What a shitty way to end a trip. Owamni could be really fantastic with some quality control – both front and back of house. Sadly there wasn’t enough of it this evening, and turned someone who had been in happy anticipation to someone drowning in disappointment.

Now for that 3.30am alarm…

Owamni
420 South 1st Street
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Review: Harvester Kitchen by Bryan

30 March 2024

Although I had a good day getting to Sioux Falls, it went a little pear-shaped after that bad late lunch at Urban Chislic. And my hotel was…well, very weird. It was almost like how a horror movie starts, from the check-in to the weird room and weird people staying there…

I’m hoping my dinner tonight at Harvester Kitchen by Bryan will keep the positive vibes flowing. I was surprised to see a tasting menu only place in Sioux Falls, and that excited me. I always liked Sioux Falls (despite the bad chislic today). I had an excellent evening at Parker’s Bistro a few years back, and I was hoping for a similarly good night tonight.

My “horror movie” experience continued with an odd Uber driver, but luckily the restaurant wasn’t far away. It was Saturday night and it was nearly empty. I wonder if it’s because of the price point or the concept? In any case, I was seated at a nice banquette and I relaxed and looked over the menus.

The friendly staff got things going but I also noticed no real cocktails, just barely spiked mocktails. So I got one, and it was a little meh. I could have just gone with a plain mocktail or juice, but perhaps they don’t have a full license? Whatever the case, I chose the tasting with the meat/fish dishes, but skipped the pairing and did my own.

The first dish came out pretty quickly, but where is my wine? Took another 5 minutes for them to bring it out. Lucky it was a very generous pour of the Gruet, which I love. But these oysters, well, they didn’t work. First of all they didn’t bring out utensils, and I absolutely HATE eating oysters without them. They were not shucked well, shell fragments everywhere. Part of the oysters were frozen, whether that’s from the lemon ice or not I don’t know, but it was not good. A very weak start.

It didn’t take long before the turbot showed up. Now this was a 180-degree turn, as the fish was excellent, flavourful and cooked very well. Supposedly an urchin sauce, but that was a little weak. Plus the fish was good enough it didn’t need a clashing flavour.

I switched to a non-bubbly just in time for the next dish. If anything, the wine pours were very generous.

This is the pappardelle bolognese dish. Beautiful presentation, but unfortunately doesn’t maximise the utility of the sauce, which wasn’t anything special. I ended up trying to roll the pasta out, soak it in the sauce, and eat it like normal pasta, but that didn’t help. I also tried to keep it rolled, and stuffed the sauce into it like some dumpling, which was a little better as you got more of the sauce with the pasta. But alas, I can’t say I enjoyed this dish.

The shortrib was the last savoury dish and it was extremely tender, but the consistency was odd. Was this really shortrib? I’m not going to go into it, but it was tasty enough. Still, it just added more questions about this dinner.

By this time I was a little tired and got a coffee with my dessert.

Not bad. As I was eating it and sipping on my coffee, I heard Chef Bryan Moscatello (or someone else from the kitchen) come out to greet some of the tables. And shockingly that person didn’t acknowledge me. Wow. That says plenty.

I left this dinner disappointed in many ways, from dishes that just didn’t quite work to just a very weird vibe about the place. Oh well, at least it was better than the chislic earlier…

Harvester Kitchen by Bryan
196 East 6th Street
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

PS: Just when my night couldn’t get worse, my Lyft driver drives past me – twice – and cancels me even though he knew he went to the wrong place. Took another 15 minutes to get a ride…

Trendy Does Not Equal Good…

29-30 March 2024

One of the things you notice if you travel a lot is that when you rely on stuff you find online when you do your food research, you get some gems – and you get some duds. I’ve had plenty of duds recently, and sadly, I have to add two more now. And these are all “trendy” places.

If you read my previous review on that excellent dinner at Kado no Mise in Minneapolis, you’ll note early on I mentioned I had lunch at a trendy place that went rather subpar? Sadly the place in question was the highly-raved Union Hmong Kitchen.

I got there not long after it opened on this Friday and ordered. It was quiet as it was early, so I just chilled out trying to plan what I was going to do due to the ice changing my plans. Then my lunch arrived.

My heart sank. The pork belly looks sad, really sad. They were some of the worst roast pork belly I’ve had. Stringy, at times all fat, and almost no flavour. It’s like someone forgot to season this. This does not even compare to the amazing Hmong pork belly I’ve had at places like Union Market in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, which had some of the best Hmong meats I’ve ever had, or more recently, Hmong Express in Appleton, Wisconsin.

I will say the sausage, which I took away, was far, far better. But this belly dish was just a cry for help, I’m sorry. I love Hmong meats, especially the pork belly, but this looks ridiculously lame compared to the stuff you can get at any small Hmong store in Wisconsin.

The next day I headed out of icy Minneapolis before dawn, as I planned to spend part of today in northern and north-west Iowa. I was amazed that merely 15 miles south of the Twin Cities there was very little snow or ice left. So I had a very productive day as I moved south, then south-west, then west through Iowa and eventually into South Dakota.

I drifted into my destination, Sioux Falls, at an earlier than expected hour, so I had time for a late lunch. I have this love for chislic and would grab it at every opportunity I get, so I decided to try this place called Urban Chislic.

I hesitated because it was featured on that crappy “DDD” show hosted by that gasbag who I will never forgive for what he said to me the night my restaurant closed. But I nevertheless took out an order each of the beef and lamb chislic and opened them up. Honestly, it don’t matter which one this was cuz they looked the same.

My heart sank again. This was really poor. Once I bit into it, I was even more sad. They forgot to season it. I called for no sauce because that’s the tradition, but these were dead plain. Worse, it was cold, 90 seconds after they brought it out from the kitchen? This also tells me they are not making these fresh. The lamb suffers more with that bad temerature than the beef, but both were awful.

Well, I got burned on both of these. Sad, as these places have amazing potential with great concepts, but the products I received are half-assed at best, shows no care. It won’t put me off pork belly, Hmong food, or chislic, but it will put me off these two establishments next time I visit Minneapolis or Sioux Falls.

Sigh…

Union Hmong Kitchen (Lake Street)
901 West Lake Street
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Urban Chislic
431 West 85th Street
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Review: Kado no Mise

29 March 2024

I got into Minneapolis early this Saturday morning. I knew the Twin Cities took a major snow hit last week after a nearly dry and almost-too-warm winter, but I was surprised it hasn’t melted off with the rain like it has in Chicago. Oh well, that may put a major damper in my plans today…

Yeah it did. I had to improvise a little, ended up hiking through at-times calf-deep snow and ice, so I got in a good workout. Sadly a poor lunch at a very hyped place didn’t help (I’ll write about this in a few days). So I was looking forward to my dinner at Kado no Mise, a much heralded Japanese restaurant located very close to the much-missed Bachelor Farmer.

Kado no Mise apparently do a kaiseki night on Tuesdays, which is too bad as it’s something I definitely would have loved to try. But I have high hopes for this place as I rolled in on my Lyft and headed up the stairs. And I sense a good evening, as I was seated at the counter where Chef Shigeyuki Furukawa was stationed.

Honestly it didn’t start too well. Just before I was about to use the hot towel to wipe my hands, the server took it away…geez, really? And the first sake pour was a little light. However, once I saw the first dish, I was far happier.

Now this was a welcome sight, hotaru-ika (firefly squid). Not had this in awhile, as you can still taste the essence of ink as you bite into this. Tasty dish, good start. A different sake was poured and the very hot chawanmushi was next.

Subtle, took awhile to bring this out, from the shiitake to the dashi. I thought maybe this particular sake ate into this dish a little due to its subtlety. Whatever the case, I enjoyed it more without the sake, drinking it all afterwards.

A plate of other snacks showed up, with the botan-ebi as a delicious bite. The celery was interesting, once again, subtle and nuanced. I fear this may be lost on some diners. At this point a larger sake pour happened as we enter the sushi segment. Chef Furukawa got to work and we have a series of breams to start.

The tai (sea bream) was quite nice, but the kasugodai (baby sea bream) was really fantastic.

Lovely stuff. Then the sakuradai (cherry bream).

Tasty morsel that’s for sure. BTW the rice is excellent, a good balance with the fish and consistency about perfect. And the bream series ends with kinmedai (golden eye snapper).

I’m not the biggest fan of kinmedai, but this was rather good. I enjoyed that series, you don’t often get a bream set like that. Then with another sake, we have the tuna series. Of course it starts with akami.

One of the better lean tuna I’ve had in a long time, really delicious.

The chutoro was excellent, really lovely flavours that just melted in your mouth. Again, the excellent rice made it even better.

The otoro was good, but I think the chutoro was the winner of this series. Good stuff. Another sake pour and we have the more distinct flavoured pieces.

Shimesaba (cured mackerel) didn’t work as well for me, as I thought the ginger was distracting. As a mackerel fan I really don’t like this adulterated. Oh well, a rare miss tonight. Then a nice surprise, sagoshi (young Spanish mackerel).

You don’t see sagoshi too often, and this was quite delicious. And of course, kohada (gizzard shad).

Again not one of my favourites, something that often comes on the early side of an omakase, so I kind of like this order.

That was a good set. But it’s not over yet because I ordered the more extensive menu. So next up was some uni.

In a wee handroll, delicious. You can so taste the sea here, just wonderful.

Then we have some delicious tuna, just a great way to ease into the last item…

Yep, wagyu, something that’s pretty common in omakases these days. I don’t remember nikuzushi ever ending up in these things except in trendy non-edomae places, but it seems to have spread. Delicious.

That was quite good! And it was clearly the end as the tamago was presented.

Quite good, with some quality of care in making it. Chef Furukawa asked if there’s anything I wanted, and I thought let’s do one more saba as a palate cleanser…

Well, I forgot about the ginger. Oh well, I guess it did work as a palate cleanser!

I probably didn’t need one as this miso soup was absolutely delicious! Chef said they use a combination of three different red misos, and the depth and complexity of this soup was astounding. A wonderful way to end the night!

A nice dessert closed the dining experience, as well as a wonderful conversation with Chef Furukawa about various topics, from interesting kaiseki around the US to the state of the restaurant business. A really good chat.

I thanked Chef Furukawa and headed out…well, not quite yet. I dropped into the whisky bar connected to the restaurant and wanted to see how it is. A cocktail and a less-well-known Japanese whisky later, I was happy and ready for my Lyft back to my hotel.

Kado no Mise definitely passes the test and it’s quite excellent. I really now want to try to come back on a Tuesday to do their kaiseki, so that’s on my list for my next trip to the Twin Cities. But gotta figure out how to do this on a Tuesday without missing that much work…

But this is highly recommended! Is my luck on this trip turning around?

Kado no Mise
33 North First Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota