Low key restaurant front leads to masterpieces of eatable japanese cuisine
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 998
Reviewed: 9/21/2006
Rating: 10
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We raced over from SFO airport to Kaygetsu in Menlo Park to hit the Kaiseki dinner reservation. The restaurant is located in this random shopping center a couple of doors down from Safeway. The restaurant's exterior exudes a boring strip mall storefront but an interior boasting an elegant atmosphere. Our host seated us down in the busy dining room and started us off with hot tea and ordering of beverages.
A Kaiseki dinner is a tasting menu consisting of small dishes beautifully crafted to appeal to your sight, touch, smell, hearing, and taste. The dishes are works of art and you'll sit pondering whether to eat or stare at the meal. The meals are created using the freshest ingredients and based on the season will inspire the look and feel of the meal. The menus change every 90 days or so.
There's no way I'm going to get all the ingredients correctly, see attached menu for proper descriptions.
***Early Fall Menu 2006***
Sakizuke (starter) Triple appetizer (picture #6) made up of steamed chicken?, quick fried salmon, and lotus root filled with cod fish roe. The chicken in picture #8 looked like a piece of fish and minute flavorings of one, chick-o-fish is super good. The salmon had this wonderful foamy potato sauce. Not to take any mojo from the flaky fish but the potato sauce was incredible They need to sell this in an aerosol can (hint hint...million dollar idea). The lotus root was an interesting work of art but didn't yield the amount of flavors of the other 2 appetizers. Overall rating 9.5
Takiawase (slow cooked dish) Eggplant cooked in dashi surrounded by an assortment of colorful vegetables with bonita strips atop (picture #9). The eggplant was sliced thick and flash fried to maintain an excellent texture. Who knew eggplant could taste this exceptional? Mix in the rich silky bold fish broth and you have a powerhouse of flavors. I'm positive this magical concentrate can save lives, wake people from comas, cure cancer, power hybrid vehicles, it's the holy grail of broth. Rated 10.
Tsukuri (sashimi) Amazing attention to detail on this eatable flower garden (picture #10). There were 3 types of sashimi for this dish; Hotate (Scallops), Maguro (Tuna), Kanpachi (Amberjack). The freshness of the fish warrants a sushi bar visit alone. I've eaten at a lot of sushi places and few can come close to the our skilled chefs experience. Served at the perfect temperature and with delicate cuts, each bite slide effortlessly. It's a treat to eat freshly grated wasabi, you rarely see this at any japanese restaurant. Rated 10.
Mushimono (steamed dish) Decorated in fall colors was a terrine of refreshing seafood. My favorite dish of the night was what I call a flounder tofu sandwich in a bowl of shrimp sauce. I won't even attempt to figure how they were able to stick a perfectly cooked flounder to a piece of tofu. The semi-syrupy sauce had bits of shrimp floating around. Hauntingly delicious and can only dream of walking to the kitchen with a large backpack and filling up. We only rate to a 10 but I want to give an unprecedented 11. (pictures #11 and #12)
Yaki mono (grilled dish) One of the most creative designs of the evening belongs to the cedar wrapped mackerel over a bed of twigs and leaves. For a split second, I thought I was eating in the woods. At picture #13, you'll see white arrows pointing to mukago potatoes skewered on 2 pine needles. I wish I would have taken a better picture but they were miniature potatoes from japan. They are the coolest things! Inside the neatly wrapped cedar paper was an intense smokey grilled mackerel and mushroom (picture #14). I normally remove the skin but tonight's crispy skin intensified the richness of the mackerel. I hate mackerel with a passion and Kaygetsu showed me otherwise. This is by far the best mackerel I've ever had and a believer now. Rated 10+
Gohan mono (rice dish) - The rice and steak combo was accompanied with a red miso soup (picture #16). 2 tiny slivers of Kobe steak (picture #17) above a mound of gourmet rice. The meat melted in my mouth and had a sweet marinade glaze. The complex flavors of the 3 mushroom rice kept me guessing what the heck they did to the rice. Although the rice bowl tasted wonderful and a 9 range in flavor but was too much of a teaser. I wanted more steak! They need a $50 option were you receive a larger piece of kobe steak. Rated 9.
Dessert - consists of 2 miniature cream puffs (picture #18). One was green tea custard topped with match sticked chest nuts and red bean paste. The other was custard with raspberry, mint leaf, blueberry, and a liquor. Both were equally delectable but I'm leaning towards the fresh fruit cream puffs. Either way, you give me 2 dozens of these mini puffs and they'd disappear in 5 minutes. Rated 9.5
I'm speechless with the 2 hour eating marathon. Portion sizes might be questionable so either drink a gallon of water before visiting or learn to appreciate fine dining. Each dish was unique and well presented. The depth of flavors surpasses anything I could have imagined. The dinner was near flawless, the service was one of the best I've had anywhere. With every entree, the waiter informed us of the ingredients and answered any questions we had. Nothing was rushed and courses were brought out at the perfect pace. Common conversations with the amicable waiters made time sail by.
The final bill rang in at $270 for 2 people and it's money well spent. Kaygetsu tops my dining experience this year. There aren't too many restaurants I give a 10 rating to but I confidently hand it to the well deserved Kaygetsu.
“There is a reason this place is a Jatbar 10. I ate here last year and the Kaiseki meal was better than what I have had in Tokyo!Steve Jobs was at the sushi bar with his wife the night we were there. A low key place for those in the know! ”
10/12/2006 12:33:45 AM
noise ate...
What dish did you eat?
“Hands down the best Japanese food south of SF. Be sure to get the sake pairing. Also, you can add an extra course of sushi (selected by you) to the tasting meal to make it a bit more filling (and expensive, of course.)”
