CHOTTO: MARINA, SF
Monday, May 08, 2017
We came in as a party of two without reservation, and thankfully we were still able to be seated, albeit being bar seats.
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| Uni sandwiched between halved scallops. Yuzu soy seasoning, some mircogreens that served as aesthetics enhancers. Tobiko was cute. Chili flakes brought the dish home. Reproducible at home level: 80%. I made this at home, with the uni, scallops, yuzu sauce, tobiko, chilli flakes. No microgreens because they are $$$ for such a small amount. Really should start growing them at home instead. |
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| We looked over to the other man sitting beside us at the bar. And told the owner we wanted whatever it was he was drinking. It was this. Translates to Man Mountain. Hello yes let me drink that. |
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| A chilled drink |
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| And he filled it righttt up |
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| Soft poached egg, roasted shrooms (funny story. I was talking about shrooms one day with my coworkers. About how I watched a documentary on them, a documentary by vice. About how there's this ancient sacred culture of shrooms somewhere in south america - or was it Mexico? That was not a funny story. I apologize. It seemed like a better story when we were talking about it), fancy designer greens. Tart dressing. The yolk helped kill some of the tartness. It was delicious. Reproducible at home level: 100% |
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| Why has brusell sprouts got such a bad rap amongst children? Is it because TV shows says they are the enemy to the palette of those under the age of 12? What a tragedy - because these are delicious. A sweet, very umami soy glaze coats each ball, flecked with chilli (I see they enjoy flecking with chilli at this place). Generous squeeze of lemon (meaning, squeeze every drop of juice you can get from that lemon) is needed. It is quite oily and heavy from the sauce and oil in which its been roasted. |
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| Beef tongue. The least amazing. Was not bad, but wasn't great. They used sichimi togarashi (the Japanese seven spices powder) all over (again). The red sauce on the bottom was so unmemorable that I have no recollection of what flavours it brought upon my tongue. |
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| Sliced hamachi (I presume this was near the belly. The fat was so graciously marbled), avocado. This was one of the specials (the other one was a roll if I am remembering correctly), and it really just alternating slices of avocado, hamachi, topped with tobiko and the yuzu sauce. Hamachi was very fresh. But still was not worth however much we paid. Not sure how the avocado helps the hamachi (or the other way around). Both are so fatty and moreish. At least place the tobiko on more neatly - maybe in small blobs and not just sprinkled all over. Looks messy. The microgreens also make an appearance here. They were not eaten. |
