Sharmila on Food

Nanao, Roppongi Tokyo

This was our fancy schmancy meal in Japan on our honeymoon.  Therefore, it seems unfortunate that every time I say Nanao in my head I just conjure up visions of Robin Williams gurning like an idiot in Mork and Mindy (those oldies amongst you will probably know what I’m talking about).

Anyway, another Jamie recommendation, another great meal.  This restaurant is tiny, composed of a few tables, and six spots at the bar facing into the kitchen.  Luckily for us, we bagged the seats at the bar.  Interestingly, all of the staff are women, from the owner, to the chefs to waitstaff.  I have to admit, it was very refreshing, especially seeing a bunch of obviously very talented women quietly and calmly going about their business in the kitchen.

There is no menu in this place - it’s a question of sitting down and then being presented with the 10 or so courses that they are putting together that day.  I love this style of eating.  I’m so indecisive and suffer form such bad food envy, that any way of taking the decision making out of my hands is a good thing.

To start, a lovely tasty and refreshing bowl of miso soup, containing some unidentified vegetables.  They had a texture akin to samphire, but none of the saltiness.  Regardless, this was delicious.

Now, this is where the descriptions probably go a bit awry, because, basically, there were a few things that I can’t say I could identify.  This is a case in point.  There was definitely some sweet omelette in there, that white stuff wasn’t fish, and it was cold.  Brilliant. Anyway, it was tasty.  Again, refreshing but also displacing that delicacy that Japanese cuisines has in spaces.

Next up, some corn tempura.  Simple as, but truly delicious.  How can corn in batter taste that good?  Exemplary frying, greaseless, with the sweetness of the corn coming through. I could have eaten many more of these.

The next dish was made up of sashimi (of some form of deftly sliced white fish), greens, daikon, and then some jelly that I think may have been essence of natto.  This was probably my least favourite dish of the evening.  The fish was gorgeous, but there was a strange gunge (akin to natto) that kept adhering to my chopsticks, and umami hit of the jelly was sometimes too overpowering.  However, the husband loved this, so what do I know?

Another dish I couldn’t identify (I’m good at this, aren’t I?), but again, tasty.  Thus far, we had had quite a few cold dishes, which I did like.  I couldn’t help feeling a teensy bit healthy.

I took a while to work out exactly what the okra and peppers were resting on in the next dish.  It finally dawned on me that it was skinned, baked aubergine.  This was a dish that felt initially a bit “meh”, but slowly grew on me.  It wasn’t a favourite, but was better than the sum of its parts.

At this stage, a little interlude of a clear broth with, I think, some form of mountain yam.  This felt like its role was as a palate cleanser, and it definitely did the trick.

On to some delicate picked vegetables.  As I love pickles, I like this a lot. Simple as.

And then, le bouef.  Oh, this was so tasty.  I had never had high grade Japanese beef before.  I’m very glad I now have.  I think it was from Hakkaido.  It could have been from Aldi.  It tasted so gorgeous I wouldn’t have cared.  Meltingly tender, but also with a lot of flavour - something I thought it may have lacked.  It sizzled away in that little pot, and we scooped it up, still rare, enjoying every last morsel.  I loved this so much that I scooped up the juices and poured them on the rice.  The waitress looked at me like I was a little mad.

After that little moment of paradise, it was time for pudding.  We had a choice of matcha ice cream with adzuki beans, or warabi mochi.  I had to go for the warabi mochi.  This is a jelly like substance, which I think is made from some form of bracken flour.  I have a bit of a thing for wibbly wobbly textured Asian desserts, and warabi mochi is top of the tree in the texture stakes for me.  This was homemade, and the best rendition I had during the entire trip (and I tried a lot of warabi mochi, I can’t tell you).  Sprinkled with brown sugar, this was a delight.

After that little succession of dishes, and a couple of glasses of schochu, we ambled home, thankfully not feeling like we were about to explode.  This was one of those meals that wasn’t composed of fireworks (apart from that beef), but one where the whole succession of quiet, calming little dishes snuck up on you and ultimately imbued you with a sense of warmth.  Just the type of meal you sometimes want.

Details:

Nano

1st floor, No.2 Ishihara buildg., 1-5-10 Azabu 10ban, Minato-ku

Nearest transport: Roppongi station

Price: medium to expensive (a relatively reasonable 8000 yen for the menu)