Saturday, April 21, 2007

Ginza Sushi

This is a tough one. It seems as though I've been waiting forever for this one to open. I would drive past it in Tiburon from time to time, trying to find an opening date. It finally gave one about a month ago, and I just recently got myself here for a lunch. I can see why they took their time -- the interior is simply gorgeous. There was a lot of money and effort put into Ginza Sushi for a graceful elegance to match its beautiful view.

Ginza View

I sat by a movable glass wall, and asked the waitress to open it as I wanted to take a photo, and enjoy the sea. I could hear the sound of the waves lapping on the shore all during lunch, and it was quite refreshing!

Miso soup & fruit salad

The menu was heavily redacted with white stickers obliterating a good deal of the menu. The waitress mentioned that it had been cut back due to its over-ambitiousness, and it was hoped that they could bring back some of the items. I hope so too, as they were some of the more interesting things! So I decided on an old Japanese standard, oyako-don (Chicken & egg over rice). But first came a creative rendition of miso soup, with curls of agedofu in it. It was quite good. When I requested iced tea, they asked if green was ok -- and I found that they serve a very refreshing iced green tea.

Rather than the same-old green salad with miso dressing course, Ginza paired the soup with a Japanese-style fruit salad. Kudos for originality, oops for execution. The salad consisted of what appeared to be canned fruit cocktail mixed with fresh apple pieces and yes, sweet corn. Entirely something you could be served in Japan. However, the canned fruit wasn't drained well enough, making the mayonnaise dressing become quite runny and diluted. Believe me, corn is a much better suprise in fruit salad than purple octopus arms in potato salad, and I've been served both. There are no cultural inhibitions about food combinations in Japan, except in their own traditional cuisine.

Oyako Don

I am sorry to report that I didn't like my oyako-don, and I was sooo hoping that this place would be stellar. The egg was rather curdled and sauce was too heavily soy sauced... and they used dark meat which I do not like. It had a kind of boiled taste where it becomes rather rubbery. As you can see from the photo, the chicken pieces were not well incorporated into the egg mixture either. I heard that their grilled yellowtail collar and tempura are highlights. I'll come back again to see if they've gotten in the grove in a few months, it is just their first month in operation.

No comments: