Back in Japan (May 2017)...Local eats

This time, because we had a lot of family stuff to take care of, I spent a lot of time with Tomoko in Urawa. I love the neighborhood and it has a nice gourmet scenes.


Our "go to" soba place. On a warm day, I enjoy their cold bukkake soba with grated mountain yam.


A cute bistro is within a walking distance from my sister's home. I loved the octopus ragout spaghetti.


A new soba and duck izakaya.


We had small dishes to share.


All so tasty. I loved the miso bagna cauda sauce for the steamed vegetables. The grilled Saikyo-miso marinated oysters were so huge and so plump.


Duck was slow roasted and so tender. It went really well with 2015 Argano Clan by Katsunuma Jozo in Yamanashi. It was a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Muscat Bailey A.


Soba time. I grated the wasabi for everybody. I had cold soba with walnut dipping sauce. It was so good. Wataru turned 16 in May. He's still growing taller!

Back in Japan (May 2017)...Friday night at Ichirin

Every time I go back to Japan, I go to see Mikizo-san at Ichirin. His seasonal kaiseki dishes are to die for.


Tomoko and I were excited to experience early summer treats.


Cold Akita shin-junsai with shrimp in dashi gelee. Shiro-kisu (dried overnight), shiro-zuiko, and tsuruna in clear soup.


Mako-garei and its guts (kimo) from Miyagi. Honmaguro from Okinawa.


Kogiri nasu from Hamamatsu, akamiso & goma, Abashiri kegani, Miyazaki soramame (simmered once in dashi) shira-ae, usuimame from Kyoto karatsu uni, kanagawa kamasu sushi, Kyoto sazae, ayu kanro-ni. Summer limited edition, Natsu Shibori Junmai by Kokuryu (Fukui) was so pure and nice.


Kuroawabi sobanomi & nagaimo. Hagi amadai shoga yaki w/ sudachi, Aomori gobo tatsuta age, hajikami shoga.


Akabu NatsuKasumi Junmai, made by a young 6th generation brewery master in Iwate had a nice balance of acidity and umami. Tekka-don (tuna sashimi over sushi rice) 8 mm cut hon-maguro tuna, ariake nori, akazu sushi rice, okra wasabi. I must say it was probably the best tekka-don I'd ever had! He said that he concluded this size (8 mm) of the cut was most ideal for tekkadon. It completely made sense. The way the tuna and sushi rice mingled and fell apart in the mouth was simply perfect.


Dekopon konatsu citrus jelly mizudashi. Kuzumochi filled with anko (azuki bean paste). Kuzumochi was made from 100% premium yoshino kudzu and knead with wooden spatula by hand (non-stop) for more than 30 minutes to achieve the texture. It was also made just before it was served.

What an amazing meal, and what an amazing time I had. Thank you so much, Mikizo-san.

Back in Japan (May 2017)...First night sushi

I had another trip back to Japan last week.

I took ANA fight. I liked the braised mackerel in soy ginger sauce.


Back in Urawa. Dinner at a local sushi restaurant with my sister, Tomoko. The wild-caught oyster from Wakayama was so huge and so good.


Sake, tako, massive shirako...feeling good to be back home as always.


I think I had almost 20 pieces of sushi. It was so hard to stop.

Donabe Story on Cook's Gazette

The latest issue (Issue 10) of a popular culinary website, Cook's Gazette, is all about Japanese food and its culture. And, they have a special article about DONABE. It's a wonderful story featuring our donabe, Nagatani-en, and myself. Please check it out!

Happy donabe life.

Donabe Cooking for Flavors of Los Angeles Event

My donabe chicken sukiyaki, ready to serve

Last Sunday, I had a pleasure participating in a big charity event, hosted b American Liver Foundation.


The event was titled Flavors of Los Angeles, and many talented chefs from popular restaurants in LA gathered to cook for the guests in this event. The chef chair of the event was Chef Kevin Meehan of Kali, one of my favorite restaurants in LA!


I teamed up with my friends and super talented chefs, Kuniko (formerly the head chef at Hinoki & The Bird) and Shiho (partner/ chef of Sweet Rose Creamery) to offer 5 courses for 12 guests at our table. Our table was set up and ready to go.


We started with Kuniko's kombu-cured fluke carpaccio dish.


The second course of roasted yam dish was also made by Kuniko. Both of her dishes were so beautiful and delicious.


Other tables were busy, too.


Sommelier, Mark, talking about the wine he poured, to the guests at our table.


Time for my donabe dishes!


I made Tori Suki (chicken sukiyaki) with classic-style donabe, Hakeme and Kyoto Ame-yu.


I also made English Peas and Hijiki Rice in my double-lid donabe rice cooker, "Kamado-san". I used the large 5 rice-cupsize of Kamado-san, and it came out very nice.


Shiho made really delicious matcha parfait and everybody fell in love with it. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the finished dish, as I was busy helping plating the dish.

I had such a great time working with such talented people, and it was also my honor to be part of this charity event for American Liver Foundation!

A post shared by Naoko Takei Moore (@mrsdonabe) on May 1, 2017 at 5:32pm PDT

Happy donabe life.