Food is great. Everyone loves food. Some might call it an essential to survival. But not all foods are created equal. Some are lame and bland and tasteless. Some are Brussels sprouts. Some are chocolate eclairs.
And then there’s Japanese food.
“So what?” you might say. “Who gives a god-damn doodly bugger bollocks?”
Well, okay. You may take Japanese food for granted. But it’s still a relative rarity in certain parts of the UK that aren’t London. And even then, YO! Sushi isn’t really Japanese food. Or perhaps I should say “authentic” Japanese food.
Tonight I went to a place in Southampton that I’d always wanted to go to but never had done for some reason. That place is Zen, a Japanese restaurant at the far end of the High Street. I was gently encouraged into this course of action by my very lovely dining companion for the evening, who was a big fan and certainly didn’t need much convincing when I suggested we give it a shot.
Inside, the décor is a curious blend of Japanese and Western cultural influences. There is Japanese artwork on the walls, but the heavy chairs would look more at home in a banqueting hall than an Eastern-style restaurant. Also, there is a glitter ball, the presence of which was never fully explained.
The place is bathed in a soft red light from the lights on the bar and the candles at the sides, and the ambient light is dim, but not annoyingly so. It’s a very pleasant atmosphere in which to dine, marred only slightly by the distinctly Western pop music playlist.
Then came the food. It came very quickly, for starters, which is a good thing. Also, it was delicious.
You want more details than that eh? All right. I had a “Teriyaki Salmon Set”, which included several generous chunks of beautifully-cooked melt-in-the-mouth salmon in gorgeous, sweet teriyaki sauce. Then there was a simple salad with tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce with a mild yet tasty dressing. There were some pickled vegetables (cucumber and carrot strips) that had been pickled in a very sweet vinegar. There was a mound of sticky rice. And there was a bowl of very tasty miso soup, too, containing tofu which dissolved into nothingness pretty much the second it hit your tongue.
There was not one thing on that plate that wasn’t delicious. Even the simple “side salad” tasted great thanks to the dressing. But the highlight of the show was the salmon. It was magnificent.
Dinner was followed with a look at the sake list. We opted for “Kushi” (I think), which is a plum wine which tastes dangerously non-alcoholic and is served cold. It was fruity and delicious, and had a bit of a bite to it, but not in that sometimes-unpleasant overly-alcoholic way. The bite in this was from the tartness of the plums, and it was a pretty delicious way to cleanse the palate after the yumminess of the main course.
I later told my experiences to a friend, who claimed that an actual Japanese friend of his didn’t rate it much. This was a surprise. So maybe it’s not that “authentic” after all. But it was certainly delicious, and I’d definitely recommend it. So who are you going to listen to? A Japanese person or the guy whose blog you’re reading right now?
Actually, don’t answer that.
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