The best dishes I had in 2017

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So... at the end of last year I finally succumbed to publishing my first "best of" list for the dishes I enjoyed in 2016.  As friends are now publishing their "best 9" on Instagram and "best" lists, I decided that once again, it was time to reflect back on a year with lots of wonderful meals.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to eat well, and lucky to have friends who share the same passion.  I'm also grateful that enough chefs and restaurateurs choose to treat me well - probably better than I deserve.

Following last year's practice, the best dishes I have tasted in 2017 is listed in chronological order.  These may not be the most complicated or fancy dishes, but rather, these dishes elicited a certain amount of amazement, joy, and emotion out of me to be memorable.

House made pasta with "aonori" sauce topped with premium uni from Ta Vie 旅, Hong Kong - a dish that also made the list last year.  Chef Sato Hideaki is kind enough to make sure I get this each time I visit his restaurant, and even though it's only about 3 mouthfuls, it delivers an incredible amount of harmonious flavors and pleasure.

Slaughtering fat sheep, part 3

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This is a rant.  I'm not going to describe all the delicious food I had tonight at one of my (former) favorite restaurants.  I'm too pissed off by the unprofessional service to care.

I was really pissed off about the way our orders were taken for our dinner at Above and Beyond (天外天) in Hotel ICON.  To be fair, we were partly to blame for the problem.  Hello Kitty had pre-ordered 1½ roast Peking ducks for the 12 of us, as well as the restaurant's signature steamed coral crab with glutinous rice.  She was too busy at work when someone at the restaurant got her on the phone and tried to discuss tonight's menu.

So the task of ordering the rest of the dishes fell on our shoulders.  I was feeling lazy and kicked the ball over to A, who had never been here before.  He proceeded to order a few dishes, then passed the menu back to me so I could finish ordering the dishes.

This is where we ran into trouble.

AC x2

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It's almost the end of the year, and I had originally not planned any big meals after going through a quiet Christmas.  But The AC is coming through town again, and after meeting up with him exactly a year ago, I realized that he's not some crazy axe murderer and that I could join him for lunch - especially when it's at one of my favorite restaurants in town.

I didn't want to let Sato-san or Takano-san know that I was joining for lunch... I had wanted it to be a surprise.  But when I showed up at the entrance to Ta Vie 旅 with my camera in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other, Takano-san didn't seem surprised to see me.

We decided to take the 5-course short tasting menu, but Sato-san was kind enough to send us two extra courses.  I guess it's the holiday season, and we sure needed the extra calories...

"Crab house sandwich" : zuwai crab salad with crispy buckwheat crêpe - between layers of galettes made of blé noir is a combination of Japanese snow crab (ズワイ蟹) meat, avocado, and thin slices of cherry radish.  This was pretty delicious, and there was a small amount of sauce made with crab tomalley (蟹味噌) on the side.

Homemade nukazuke (糠漬け) bread - served with homemade butter.

A feast before Christmas

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L is back in town for Christmas, and when she planned her trip two months ago, she demanded that I take her to Uwe while she's in town.  So I dutifully booked a table, then added an extra seat at our table when My Favorite Cousin couldn't join me for dinner last night. 

It's Christmas holiday season, and given that Uwe's always had a tree in the middle of his restaurant, it wouldn't surprise anyone that there is now a Christmas tree in the space.  Except... that in order to fit an extra table for the busy season, they've decided to hang it upside down from the ceiling.  But this seems to be a thing these days...

Autumn landscape - once again we have a whole spread on the table as our "first course", but there is a little bit of variation this time.

Fallen leaves - dehydrated parsnip purée.

Finnish reindeer moss - with grated horseradish.  The "snow" underneath is made of hazelnuts.

Noodle trumps pigeon

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A friend is in town all the way from the Big Apple, and we figured that we should take him out for a nice Cantonese dinner.  Chili Shrimp Girl was also in town for the holidays, so the four of us book ourselves a table at Tasting Court (天一閣).  Our guest chose the simplest out of the three set menus, because he's been sorely missing pigeons cooked Chinese style...

Chinese grilled pork chop with soybean (西班牙黑毛豬叉燒) - this has always been tasty, with lots of flavors coming from the marinade of black beans, aged mandarin peel, and Chinese black olives.  Tonight it seemed that the flavors tasted a little more burnt than usual, although the texture was still bouncy and springy.  The accompanying pickled radish is always good.