We always wanted to try this fancy gourmet tofu/yuba Japanese place ever since it opened in Beverly Hills earlier this year, but the price kept us away ^^;; Last week we heard it’s closing! (not even a year~~) So a couple of my co-workers and I made it there on their final night. Since it’s our last and only meal there, we order their most expensive courses. ^^;; Yutofu is not part of any of the course, it’s cooked on the table which has a timer stove in the center.
Michelle and I shared the Illumination course $85:
Shot glass three ways (Sesame tofu, yuba with sea urchin & caviar, Mountain potato with tomato gelee); Aperitif (Sake Sangaria). The three shot glasses are incredible!
Lobster Salad. Drunken manila clams (the soup is good, but only one clam! There shouldn’t be a “s” in the title then); sushi
Sashimi (Tuna, halibut, scallop, salmon, yuba with ikura, roast beef); Kobe style beef steak with wasabi sauce and Shrimp & edamame spring roll; dessert (soy ice-cream: Sesame, vanilla, Soy). There were also Lotus root fricasse with foie gras and intermezzo in the course, but I don’t remember how they’re like…I must have forgot to take pix of them.
Charles got the Koubai course $74:
Fresh yuba with tonburi caviar and Tofu salad (in the back). The fancy box is the 6 dishes appetizer (yuba rolled crab and asparagus, kumamoto oyster, roast beef, shrimp & scallop ceviche, steamed vegetables, and creme de tofu). All the meat tasted the best ^^;;
sahimi two kinds, very good. Bamboo steamed lobster is cook on the table and it took a long while. We almost felt asleep waiting for it ^^;; The course also includes kobe style beef steak with wasabi sauce (similar to the one in my course), takikomi rice, akadashi miso soup (forgot to take pix?) home made pickles or sushi (similar to the sushi in my course). desert (one of the ice-cream above).
Peggy, being a vegetarian, got the Kacho course $48 but turns out there are meats too.
hikiage yuba is another dish that took forever to cook! First we waited for it to be cooked, then have to wait 4 mintues in between taking out each layer of yabu…Peggy was patient enough to do it for us ^^;;
Three drawers, very cute presentation, but inside…err ^^;; 2nd drawer is duck. Bottom drawer is yellow tail sashimi.
Creme de tofu “Mineoka style”, taste a bit weird…; Lotus root fricasse. I’m not sure what the 3rd pix is…could be the Tofu steak with sesame ginger sauce. The course also include: takikomi rice, akadashi miso soup, home made pickles or sushi, dessert (one of the ice-creams above).
The amount of food, along with those self-cooking dishes, it’s no wonder that it took us almost 3 hours to finish the dinner. Definitely the longest dinner I’ve ever had, we were also the last customers to leave. ^^; By the end of the dinner, I realized why the restaurant is closing. The food is presented really well and the taste is delicate and unique, but no matter how fancy they are it’s still only tofu afterall. They don’t make me want to come back again either. The restaurant also located at the wrong area. They should open it at the west side instead of Beverly Hills. There are much more tofu lovers/health nuts in the west side, somebody didn’t do their research right.
Tags: Haute Cuisine, Japanese, Prix fixe
tofu taste depends heavily on water quality,
so its ambitious to make good tofu in LA!
I actually ordered gourmet tofu from Kyoto (it comes in bamboo) so expensive, but sooooo good!! can’t get this quality with tokyo water! haha
wow, must have been quite an effort taking photos of every dish! ^^;; But the presentation is so nice. Shot glass three ways is the most tempting!
I wonder if it is the same shop but I went to the Ume no Hana in 有楽町, which apparently has closed down already….I remember it tasted good but I was hungry still afterwards. ^^;;
oh yeah it was tiring to take the pix, it’s no wonder I miss some because there were so many. ^^;; Yeah that’s the same ume no hana! Seems like a big chain, there’s a branch off called “China Ume no hana” which serves Chinese food?
They probably didn’t make the tofu with good tokyo water…the Tofu I had is silky and smooth, but it’s not that extraordinary.