a seamless birthday lunch celebration. we recently had a lunch party at komeyui to celebrate my mother in law’s 80th birthday. we booked for 34 people and had the whole restaurant to ourselves. the space has an elegant feel throughout. the service was friendly, accommodating and unobtrusive. we noticed the restaurant staff at work but we could hardly hear them. they seemed to go about their tasks in discreet silence.
we had an ‘omakase’ menu of 8 different dishes negotiated in advance with the restaurant manager mr. koji furukawa. the food was very fine, faultlessly executed and presented, with exquisite attention to detail, in the japanese manner. we felt we could have been in a fine restaurant in kyoto or tokyo. the classic dishes are all true to type: with something extra. the tastes are fresh and clean; the tempura batter seems to have been somehow fried without any oil as if by magic. grilled eel served with a dab of mascarpone is a kind of ‘a marriage made in heaven’ dish. the mascarpone cheese tasted, in its new context, a little like parmagiano reggiano parmesan cheese: it acted as what the japanese called ‘umami’, enhancing the eel while effacing itself.
a few of the guests were unfamiliar with japanese food. they approached some of the dishes tentatively: they had never had raw kingfish carpaccio so they tried a slice, found it interesting and went to have more. those who are familiar with japanese food were impressed with the freshness of the ingredients and the quality of the cooking. we especially enjoyed the kingfish carpaccio: the slices were very fresh and the accompanying ‘sauce’ which included sesame oil and minced red onions (though neither of the sesame or the onions was so strong as to dominate) transformed the fish – an interesting alternative from having sashimi with wasabi and soy sauce. another ‘surprise’ was the steamed custard ‘chawanmushi’: some people thought it was a sweet custard like a crème caramel and were pleasantly surprised when they discovered it was a savoury dish. it was such a very flavoursome custard dish: silky in texture, did not taste of eggs, but had a rich taste ofgoodquality stock. this dish is not uncommon in japanese restaurants: many are of indifferent quality but the komeyui version is a stand-out, not to be missed dish.
we now look forward to future occasions to dine at komeyui again – we hope sooner rather than later. it is on the top of our list of places to hold a celebratory party.