Autumn goodies

Oct 9, 2010

Autumn in Japan equals to delicious good food.
It's this time around when people start to gain weight and the fat would stay until the end of the winter season, like what we see in American black bear, with exception that we don't hibernate.

The Japanese autumn seasonal foods are, matsutake (Pine mushroom), kaki (persimmon), sanma (Mackerel pike), kuri (chestnuts) and satsumaimo (Japanese sweet potatoes). Among all these, the most expensive one would be matsutake, the reason for why we haven't had the chance to taste it. The price of matsutake can go as high as $1000 for half a kg. Matsutake are hard to find (though simple to harvest) and therefore they are expensive. What Japanese love about matsutake is their intense spicy/cinnamony aroma.

Matsutake mushrooms

We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant yesterday. While looking at the menu, we decided that it's time for us to try the matsutake mushroom for the first and probably the last time, regardless of the price.

松茸釜飯セットMatsutake rice set (my choice)

A closer look at matsutake rice

松茸小鍋セットMatsutake hotpot set (Hubby's choice)

Just add the ingredients into the pot until the fire goes off.

Ingredients of the hotpot

Matsutake hotpot

Side dish 1: Sashimi

Side dish 2: Tempura

Side dish 3: nimono

Side dish 4: radish pickles

Sushi and fried shrimp set (Sya's choice)

So, what's our impression of the dish? The dinner course was delicious (especially the side dishes). The mushrooms had a strong aroma, which was unique. But to be frank, both my hubby and I concluded that it may be difficult for foreigners like us to fully appreciate the taste. It was actually so so for us. We might not come back and pay this expensive price just to enjoy the matsutake mushrooms. We would just go for our favourite dishes like sushi and sashimi.

6 comments:

TK said...

OMG! Terliurnya I tgok all the food.Semuanya very healthy food. We had Sushi last weekend tapi tak puas. I wanted to have more and more...
I dpt bayangkan kelazatan mushroom tu. I mmg suka all kinds of mushroom.

Quiyah said...

i love sushi too! sedap betul tgk, terliur ok..

Nana said...

Hi TK!
Yalah...I rasa I akan miss all these Japanese food when I go back. Bukannya takleh makan kat Malaysia, but I guess the food presentation and the taste would be different. Mushroom tu crunchy, tapi the bau tu kuat sikit. My hubby tak suka...hahaha. Alah, dah darah melayu. Tak mungkin semua makanan Jepun boleh diterima ya tak? hehehe

Nana said...

Hi Quiyah! Thanks for dropping by.
Nak makan sushi yang sedap2 kena datang Jepun. Kat Malaysia is considered luxury food. Mahal2 belaka. Kat sini, reasonably priced. From really cheap price to really high price. ;)

The Bubur Caca Lover said...

nice pics. i yg duduk kat jepun ni tengok pon terliur. hahaha~

i love japanese food but not my husband. so, kalau kawan datang baru dpt makan japanese food. nasib kurang baik, takde org pulak yg nak dtg dlm waktu terdekat ni... hmmm... drool over the pics jelah buat masa ni..huhuhu~

Nana said...

Thanks Maz!
Haha...itulah, bukan semua orang boleh terima makanan Jepun ni. Dan semestinya walaupun kita suka makanan Jepun, ada makanan yang kita takleh terima juga. La, nak kena tunggu visitors ke baru nak gi makan kat restaurant jepun. Apa kata ajak kawan2 Jepun gi makan sekali? :)

Post a Comment