☆流れ星
Sapporo City's Susukino area is a floor in a building in the center of the area where several popular Japanese restaurants are lined up, but even though it is a new store, the dignified aura of the warm noren is impressive. When you quietly open the door, you will find a cozy adult space with a counter of 6 seats and 2 tables. "Oikawa" is a Japanese restaurant that operates on a fully reservation basis, opened by Keiichi Oikawa, who was born in Muroran and gained experience at the Michelin-listed restaurant "Ryokan Wakamatsu" in Hakodate and other famous Japanese restaurants. Currently, there are 3 course options, and in the top course, there is also prepared blowfish sashimi and hot pot dishes. However, in this day and age, there seems to be a partial price revision starting from March of Reiwa 5. This time, feeling like I wanted to enrich my heart with delicious Japanese food, I chose this newly talked-about restaurant and selected the most popular course for entry from the opening on Saturday.
Seasonal Recommended Course
Price: 13,200 yen (tax included) *excluding drinks
- Simmered octopus with assist, simmered fuki (butterbur), simmered awa-fu (wheat gluten)
- Blowfish fin steamed egg custard with crab sauce
- Sashimi: flounder with kelp, halfbeak (sayori)
- Grilled Spanish mackerel with yuzu, fried jikabuki (arrowhead), pickled chili miso
- White miso gratin style
- Highlight: shabu-shabu
- Scallop rice in clay pot
- Strawberry, coconut milk ice cream
- Matcha, bracken rice cake
I started by moistening my throat with a cold Taketsuru highball and calming my rising expectations. The dishes, made with carefully selected ingredients from all over the country, with a solid sense of the season and basis, were all very satisfying, but there were some particularly impressive ones that I would like to highlight with explanations.
- Blowfish fin steamed egg custard with crab sauce
A beautifully harmonious performance of a not overly sweet steamed egg custard with a rich dashi flavor and a "crab meat sauce". The blowfish fin makes a guest appearance in the middle, adding to the blissful harmony. Ah... I want to keep soaking in the umami and seafood flavors of the vast ocean forever. The grip is completely okay, my heart is already firmly seized.
- White miso gratin style
This can be considered the specialty here. In a pot that keeps it hot, the bubbling gratin is adorned with jewels of sea urchin and caviar. When you put a spoon in, the majestic and surprising freshness of the seasonal large Japanese flying squid greets you. The sweet flavor and lingering aroma of miso accentuate the sweet white sauce, creating a flood of mountain and sea flavors, richness, and scents. I don't care if I burn my tongue.
- Highlight: shabu-shabu
Beside a round dish with a striking vermilion color, the envy-inducing "New Year's Seafood Hot Pot from Honshu" from the freezing Hokkaido snuggles up. The rape blossoms are slightly bitter, the Negi onions from Shimotsuma are sweet. The wakame seaweed from Sanriku is rich in flavor from the warmth of the body. In the boiling sea, the seasonal premium fish, once dipped, has a firm elasticity followed by a soft tenderness. The fat of the highlight that has melted in the exquisite dashi made by the Japanese cuisine artisan... I can't stop eating with a spoon.
- Scallop rice in clay pot
Cooked in a clay pot until fluffy, when you lift the lid in front of you, the fragrant scallops and the aroma of Koshihikari rice fill the air, further enhancing the already satisfied appetite. The delicate and deep richness and natural sweetness, along with the exquisite finish of the dish, immediately evoke the Japanese people's feelings towards rice cultivation. Ah, delicious... Of course, please give me seconds!
"Season," "Seasonal," "Color," "Ingredient," "Idea," "Technique," "Creation" - A masterpiece of traditional Japanese cuisine with all one's heart and soul. In conclusion, this course leans more towards the classical side rather than creativity. It gathers carefully selected seasonal ingredients from all over the country and has a good balance. Each dish has a high basic potential and good connectivity, but in terms of flavor fluctuations, it was a bit gentle, so if there was a special and extravagant specialty dish other than the gratin that could serve as a strong personality and a divider of flavors, the entire course would have been more cohesive. However, since the content may vary depending on the timing and season, I am looking forward to it. Furthermore...