dresese

Aburiya Kinnosuke

A few weeks ago, I went to a great Japanese robata-style grill called Aburiya Kinnosuke. I think this is the first time I've ever been to such a place, and it was quite interesting. For much of the food, they grill it around an open vertical fire, from which the chefs place vertical food around the perimiter of. It's a nice idea, which strikes me as not only efficient (you have more area to grill), but also tasty: the juices from the topmost things run down and flavor the meats and vegetables on the bottom.

Pictured here is one of the strangest things they had. To the naked eye, it is a cracker. But up close, it looks like a nighmare a small fish would have, since it is a "skin" entirely composed of tiny smelt. This one was grilled at our table on a portable charcoal grill. It was nice, not crunchy but rather firm and pliant like a flatbread. But the best item on the menu was probably a sea bass stuffed with herbs. They stuffed it with an intense amount of thyme, and it was amazingly tasty and fragrant.

For more pictures, see my flickr set. Sea bass not pictured.
Posted by ahyatt at September 24, 2006 01:03 AM