Itoshima’s tea beans were boiled in tea and then put into a tea bag. Mangalica dry-cured ham was served in a plate made to serve tea.
Yame Hoshinomura’s product. This is a tea born at Shinya Yamaguchi’s tea garden in Hoshinomura. It received the Finest Award at a Japanese tea award ceremony last year.
Caviar from Pays de la Loire (France) and Tsushima tuna.
The food was paired with a strong Blanc de Noirs wine made 100% with pinot noir that goes well with caviar and its slimy texture.
The base concept was “Kyushu”. It was created during a free research using Kyushu’s summer ingredients. It uses Karatsu’s kuruma prawn, Fukuoka’s fruit tomato, and Nagasaki’s watermelon. The prawns are raw and the rich juice and oil was withdrew from their shells. Tomatoes’ umami and sourness are then added, and watermelon jelly are put on top to prevent the soup’s temperature to rise.
Looking at the kuruma prawn cold soup next to the bonito, the obvious choice was a rosé. Even inside its refined flavor, the taste of the umami and juice could be felt plentifully.
This dish was inspired by gazpacho. Turmeric, grapefruit, vinegar sauce was added to sauteed Myoga golden cherry tomates and white celery to enjoy a golden fruity summer.
Even inside its refined flavor, the taste of the umami and juice could be felt plentifully.
And here is the butabara (pork belly) dish of the course! It was mixed with squid tentacles dashi and dressed with squid ink.
With squid, butabara (pork belly), and tempura as the keywords for this dish, we had to use Japanese liquor here. It was cut with water, which gave it a mild taste that goes well with greasy food.
It was not served too hot, so guests would enjoy the difference in temperature.
Steamed horned turban and potato confit was put together inside the shell. The green bourguignon butter was made from black olives, crispy stir-fried bacon, and powdered parsley. The white foam sauce was made from potatoes and onions. It was influenced by Hakata’s snacks that are eaten with alcohol.
Rich and creamy, with a nuance of butter.
A rarely used wine from South Africa was selected for this one. It tastes like a standard Bourgogne wine made from chardonnay. The barrel was cleanly used, and gave it a nuance of marmalade.
A Tanaka 65 was poured, and light salt was used on the chicken breast that was grilled at high temperature.
The chicken breast was paired with a Sauvignon blanc, and fresh wasabi was put on top of it. Slices of wasabi were put under the meat.
The yellow color comes from mangoes and grated daikon mixed with tosazu vinegar. The rock salt used comes from Molokai in Hawaii. This rock salt is also used at Hachibei Hawaii, and goes really well with chicken. We’ve managed to make a skewer that fits the Sauvignon blanc really well. And of course, the chicken meat matches wasabi and mango very well too.
A juicy and tropical wine from New Zealand.
The image of a Hawaiian women was what influenced the choice of the wine to give a sexy mood to go with wasabi, chicken breast, and Hawaiian salt.
Grilled corn with sauce made with spices. A strong flavoring reminding of Hakata’s was used for this simple composition!
It was paired with a dry alcohol, instead of a standard Sauternes.
The Savagnin used was matured during 6 years, and matched the foie gras. As it gives a tropical feeling, it went well with the mango chutney.
The Wakkanai flounder was charcoal-grilled with salt only. The sauce was made with the flounder’s broth, Spanish olive oil, and white wine vinegar.
By pairing the Sicilian orange wine with this simple cuisine, it deepened its flavor.
The nuance of tangerine coming from the grape’s skin accompanied the charcoal’s fragrance instead of an actual tangerine.
With this dish, we wanted to present the savory taste of a beef lean meat that wasn’t wagyu beef! The meat was matured using a wet-aging technique for 40 days, and then dry-aging for a week. It was then scorched with ink to give it a fragrance of firewood for a simple presentation!
That’s the combination we enjoyed the most. The red foam was prepared with the strong taste of bright fruits.
The sea urchin comes from Rebun Island and Rishiri Island, the rice from Hokkaido, and the seaweed is the best from the Saga region.
The Japanese sake’s sweetness was in harmony with the sourness of the wine. An orthodox way to complete the dish.
This sparkling Gyokuro is a Dentou Hon Gyokuro from which the carbonic acid was drew out.
A rich caramel was poured on a refreshing vanilla ice cream. Thanks to an idea we got from Mr. Yoshitake, we caramelized the crème anglaise using brown sugar. The crème anglaise was composed of Madagascar vanilla, and white chocolate, tangerine juice mixed with caramel sauce.
A fruity coffee with a tasty flavor made 100% in Ethiopia. It was chosen as if the crème brûlée was to be accompanied by a fruit juice.
The tarte au citron made of meringue was melting in our mouth. The meringue was made of fresh mint gathered from Mr. Yoshitake’s home, that was abundantly boiled down. On the meringue were put a lime confit that used Kagoshima yuzu and Asakura Japanese pepper, yuzu, and a cream that used lemon juice.
The chocolate terrine was composed of Caribbean cacao that was gently cooked in hot water, and white tea received from Mr. Tokubuchi.
The prune was made of a Porto wine boiled for two days, and a ganache made with vanilla, and a strong cacao with the sourness of Madagascar.
And lastly, we had a pepper mint preserved in sugar that was paired with a white dark tea to give a refreshing taste.
The white tea from Yame Hoshinomura was made into powder, and ground with a millstone to create a white matcha. We worked with dark tea, and a very rare and precious white tea from the Japanese manufacturer Hakuju.