Japan

Chef: Matsuno Toshio Website: Not Available Cuisine: Traditional Japanese / Washoku

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Arashiyama is undeniably a magical site offering ample examples of the scenic beauty Kyoto is known for. However, unlike other areas of the city, it is perhaps less frequently associated with fine dining. If you follow the red book religiously, you would probably venture out there for the expensive three-starred meal at Kitcho. However, that's probably the only establishment on most foodies' lists. One would be forgiven for not having heard of Matsuno Shunichi's restaurant, Tempura Matsu, located a couple of kilometers down the Oi river in the Matsuo Taisha neighborhood since 1973. Nevertheless, you would certainly be missing out.

The restaurant is a well-kept secret among the locals and is often booked out by Japanese politicians. It has, however, started attracting some foodies from afar. But don't let the name deceive you. While tempura certainly features on the menu, the cuisine here is traditional Japanese (washoku) with some surprisingly modern and creative twists. This can be easily explained by looking at the CV of the current chef, Matsuno Toshio, who took over his father's restaurant a few years ago. Toshio has an impressive resume working with icons such as Alain Ducasse and Grant Achatz.

We were fortunate enough to have a private room upstairs. This allowed us (and most importantly, our two-year-old daughter) a bit of privacy and room to move around. Given we had traveled all the way to Japan, we opted for the most elaborate menu containing the best ingredients available at 15,000 yen per person; an absolute steal considering the feast we were about to indulge in. Many of the courses were also served on oribe ware (a style of ceramic ware with vivid colors) produced by one of Japan's most important artists, Kitaooji Rosanjin. Some of his works have been declared national treasures by the Japanese government and are absolutely priceless, fetching tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars for each piece. What an absolute honor to be able to use and admire them up close!

1st Course: Corn soup, scallop, water shield and prawn in bamboo cup. The bamboo cylinder was filled with a sweet corn soup, generous portions of scallop and prawn, and slivers of water shields (also known as junsai in Japan). It was chilled in the ice bucket to make this a refreshing starter. I particularly enjoyed the transition from the sweet flavor to a sharper finish with the junsai, which had been pickled in vinegar.

2nd Course: Sweetfish (Ayu). The last ayu of the season, which contained delicious roe, was presented in two ways. Firstly, as sushi and secondly, prepared using a charcoal grill, or sumibiyaki. The green sauce was made from ayu preserved in salt and vinegar from last year with water pepper leaves. The sushi was exquisite and sweet, but my favorite was the salt-grilled ayu. The entire fish could be consumed right from the head to the tail. Crunchy, crispy, sweet, and savory.

3rd Course: Prawn potato (Ebi imo), pike conger (hamo), and sea urchin (uni). The ebi imo is a unique variety of the taro potato and was served with deep-fried hamo and a sliver of uni, both sourced from Awajishima in the Hyogo prefecture, and chestnut chips. It was seasoned with salt from Okinawa. It was another well-balanced dish with varied textures and flavors.

4th Course: Matsutake Dobinmushi. A traditional but luxurious course serving the prized matsutake mushroom, which was coming to the end of the season. A teapot was presented to each person with a sake cup sprinkled with yuzu zest and a slice of sudachi on the side. Inside the teapot were oysters and matsutake. We were advised to first pour the broth out into the cup and drink it, before moving on to squeeze the sudachi over the matsutake and oyster before eating them. The broth was absolutely exquisite – a perfect marriage of flavors from the mountain and the sea.

5th Course: Pacific Saury Sashimi (sanma). Served simply with a pinch of salt. Don't let the simplicity of this dish fool you. This was simply the best sanma I have ever tasted and surpassed all expectations. I personally preferred my sanma grilled with salt, but this sashimi just melted in your mouth like butter. Absolutely divine.

We thought it would be a shame not to have a more fitting beverage to go with our food than beer, so we opted for the finest junmai daiginjyo called 'gesshou,' a limited release served in a chilled bamboo flask.

6th Course: Tile Fish (Amadai) and Fatty Tuna (Ootoro) Sashimi. The pampas grass (susuki) on the bowl is a typical decoration used during the months of moon watching (tsukimi). The sashimi was served with seaweed soy sauce on the side (nori jyouyu). It was a showcase of the superior produce and ingredients Japan has to offer. The amadai, or guji as it's also locally known, is considered the fish that represents Kyoto and is highly sought after for its sweetness. We were advised to eat the fried scales of the amadai after the sashimi. This was the perfect snack to go with the sake.

7th Course: Seabass (nozoguro). Slightly torched and served with wasabi and sudachi. It had an intoxicating smokiness and melted in your mouth all too quickly. The direct application of the wasabi was ingenious. It eliminated the charred smell, focused on the smoky flavor and cut right through the oiliness of the fish.

A Japanese spiny lobster (ise-ebi) was brought to our table alive again to showcase the superior quality of their ingredients. Japanese people go bonkers over these crustaceans at the height of the season. I certainly got excited as it had been a while since I had one.

8th Course: Ise-ebi shabu shabu. A decadent and luxurious rich soup made from the head of the ise-ebi was presented to each of us in a bowl. The aroma from this was unbearably good, and I had to hold myself from immediately picking it up with my hands to slurp it – fortunate given the bowl was scorching hot. Each person had a portion of the ise-ebi and two thin sheets of tofu skin, otherwise known as yuba. The sweet ise-ebi and yuba soaked up the flavor of the soup. It was unbelievably sweet and euphoric. The last time I had such an array of exquisite courses, one after another, was at Matsukawa over two years ago. But this was at less than a third of the price. A small grilled rice ball, or yaki onigiri, was brought afterward to soak up the rest of the soup. This was comfort food for the ultimate foodie, and it was great to see that the chef was humble enough to serve such a common touch. After all, this was the equivalent of having great bread in Europe to mop up the sauce. It was very gratefully received. There was no way I was wasting even one drop of this delicious dish.

9th Course: Pike Conger (Hamo) shabu shabu. Served with mozuku seaweed and dipping sauce. The hamo, sourced from Numazu, had been prepared using the traditional technique of honegiri, which requires a skilled chef to break the hundreds of tiny bones in the fish without breaking the skin. A shabu shabu set was brought right next to the table for the chef to prepare. I thought perhaps two shabu shabu was overdoing it, but I was wrong. This was on par with the shabu shabu of the matsutake and hamo I had at Matsukawa. The hamo was cooked in a shallow fashion to ensure it was not overcooked to retain its soft texture. A delicate fish like hamo can easily be overcooked, so this technique ensured the fish was treated with the utmost respect. Mozuku is a seaweed from Okinawa, which has a jelly-like texture not too dissimilar to jellyfish. The final product was another winner. It was a shame we only got two pieces!

10th Course: Pike Conger Dashi, made from the remnants of the previously presented hamo and served with gingko nuts. Nothing went to waste here, and I admired the chef's respect for his ingredients. Amazing aroma and flavor from such a simple-looking soup.

11th Course: Prawn and lotus root tempura. Served with the option of salt and sudachi. Of all dishes, I expected this one to be amazing given the restaurant's name, and luckily they lived up to it. The tempura was light and without oiliness. The prawn was juicy and cooked perfectly. A second plate of tempura with Japanese whiting (kisu) and onion was served. The onion in particular was remarkable with its sweetness and juice.

12th Course: Udon. Homemade udon was served in a giant ice cube with quail egg, mountain potato, and dashi. This required a couple of people to serve given its size, slipperiness, and weight. It was certainly entertaining and very theatrical. The ice cube was an idea that came to the chef when he wanted to find a way for his diners to enjoy the rich dashi stock instead of wasting it. Depending on your personal taste, you were advised to let the dashi sit longer in the cube to allow the melting ice to dilute the stock. It was quite remarkable how much the flavor changed during the ten minutes. Flavor-wise, I wasn't convinced on this one. It was perhaps less flavorsome than everything else we had that evening, and I found the quail egg to be slightly bland in the rich dashi. The texture of the udon was good but, again, nothing outstanding. It was a very fun dish, however.

13th Course: Houjicha ice cream. A good ice cream which cleansed our palate. While it was perhaps lacking in creativity, we were stuffed at this point and welcomed the light dessert. Our meal at Tempura Matsu was without a doubt the highlight of our trip and almost on par with my most memorable Japanese meal at Matsukawa. The quality and variety of ingredients were simply remarkable, particularly given the affordability of the meal compared to many establishments in Kyoto that would easily charge you two to three times as much without batting an eyelid. As we made our way out, Matsuno-san came out to thank us for our custom and bid us farewell. I will not be forgetting this meal for some time to come. It was a magical four hours that went by at a perfect pace.

Chef: Heston Blumenthal Website: www.thefatduck.co.uk Cuisine: Modern British

Photos: Courtesy of Harvard Wang (www.harvardwang.com)

I had pretty much given up my hopes back in late 2014 on dining at the Fat Duck in Melbourne in the absence of any confirmation email. Fast forward a couple of months when I had pretty much forgotten about the whole affair when a friend of mine offered me a seat at his table of four. I sheepishly looked at my wife, and she reluctantly agreed to me going alone. Fast forward another week, and suddenly I had a phone call from the front of the house confirming my table for six! I couldn’t believe my luck. It wasn’t difficult to fill up our table. First and foremost, we definitely had to invite our friend Sarah, who came with us to our last Fat Duck meal in Bray a couple of years ago. Check. My new foodie sidekick and amazing photographer Harvard Wang (who was also the photographer at our wedding). Check. My wife’s friend and his wife, who are both fine dining and wine enthusiasts (he even had Jeremy Oliver host his 30th). Check. And my wife, of course, this time. Check. Returning to the Fat Duck ‘Family’ felt rather nostalgic. A couple of the front of house staff recognized us from our previous meals back in Bray and stopped by to say hi.

Having paid upfront for the meal at the time of the reservation, all we now had to do was decide on the wine pairing. A couple of us opted for the cheapest option of circa AUD200 per person, whilst one of us opted for the luxurious fine wine pairing at north of AUD 1,000. Hefty, yes. Worth it? Definitely! When you get wine like the Henschke Hill of Grace poured, who could blame her? And, just like at the Fat Duck in Bray, the sommelier was generous and topped up each glass of wine at least once throughout the meal. This was going to be a long and fun afternoon!

While our wines were chosen, we could not resist checking out the Fat Duck wine bible. My wife and I had fond memories of trawling through the wine list in Bray. Our first trip to the Fat Duck was also our first-ever fine dining experience, leading to over a hundred fine dining adventures since then. I guess you could say Heston was the one who really started us off on this journey and passion.

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We all partook in a glass of champagne as we settled in for the afternoon. Having been away from the fine dining scene in Europe for a little while, it was rather nostalgic to see the attention to detail and surroundings by the front of the house headed by restaurant manager, Dimitri Bellos. There was always someone at the right time in the right place when they were needed. While some of the services at the upper end of fine dining establishments in Australia are very good, there’s still a long way to go to catch up to the caliber of those like the Fat Duck. Heston invests in his staff with choreography lessons and the like, and it showed!

Simple things made such an impact. For example, after only a couple of small dishes, Dimitri had picked out two of the diners at our table who were left-handed and, without them even registering the change, their cutlery from here onward had been oriented to their left hand. Simply amazing.

Course 1: Aerated Beetroot. We were instructed to eat this in one bite. The earthy beetroot macaron dissolved immediately to leave behind a tangy flavor from the horseradish cream. The flavor of the beetroot was much more intensive than the last time I had tasted this dish, and I loved the slight heat from the horseradish. There was a lot happening in your mouth from such a small morsel.

Course 2: Nitro poached aperitif. Choice of Vodka and lime sour, gin and tonic or Campari soda. Why have an aperitif in a glass when you can pick it up and pop it in your mouth? I had the gin and tonic which exploded in my mouth with smoke bellowing from my nostrils. Refreshing, fun, and a beautiful palate cleanser.

Course 3: Red Cabbage Gazpacho, Pommery grain mustard ice cream. The deep color of the red cabbage is mesmerizing to watch as it gets poured into your plate of mustard ice cream. The rich and creamy ice cream balanced out the heat from the mustard. The compressed cucumber lifted the dish by adding some textural crunch and a refreshing element to all the strong flavors competing against one another.

Course 4: Savory Lollies. Waldorf salad, Salmon twister, and Feast. This was a new one for me and one which I really looked forward to. I just missed out on this course the last time I went to Bray and boy did it put a smile on everyone’s face! The Waldorf salad on the left had three flavors of apple, walnut, and celery. The salmon twister made from salmon smoked in lapsang souchong tea, asparagus, and horseradish cream was divine with a sweet and smoky aroma. The feast was a homage that did justice to the iconic Australian Golden Gaytime. Chicken liver parfait was coated in fig and wine gel and crunchy nuttiness. While they were relatively small in size, the flavors were big, bold, and beautiful.

The next course was a familiar sight and one which we never tired of. It was a tribute and homage to Alain Chapel who was one of the founding fathers of nouvelle cuisine, and Heston had fond memories of dining at his restaurant with his parents when he was growing up. The front of the house started preparing the next course by serving a pack of Fat Duck Films which were flavored with oak and moss. A wooden tray containing moss and dry ice was brought over to the table, and water was poured carefully to release a blanket of oak and moss-scented smoke to stimulate all the senses.

Course 5: Jelly of Quail, Marron cream, Caviar sorbet, oak moss and truffle toast. This dish was adapted to the Australian environment utilizing marron instead of crayfish. The caviar sorbet was also a new but welcomed ingredient. It was a polished dish that took the umami to a level which I had not thought possible. It was, however, very intense. You only needed the small portion served. The earthy flavors of the truffle toast were complemented by the intense flavor of the jelly and cream.

Course 6: Snail porridge, Joselito ham, and shaved fennel. Granola had been added to the dish since the last time I had this to provide some textural contrast. While the dishes in the Fat Duck often stick around for a while, the team is constantly