If you’re looking for a fine dining experience in Shanghai, I highly recommend Scarpetta. In the most unexpected city, you can experience Shanghai’s greatest Italian restaurant.
The polenta in a jar is filled with wild mushroom and eaten with a cheese crisp.
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Ijji recently opened in February but don’t wait too long to snag a spot. This traditional sushi restaurant is small and can seat about 16 people at a time. A credit card is required to hold your reservations. If you cancel, they will charge $100 per person so be certain you can make your reservations. Tip: go early to find parking. Ijji is located on Divisadero so street parking is tough to find. I was half an hour late because I was spending 30 minutes looking for parking. Luckily, I called the restaurant to let them know I was late looking for parking, and they were very accommodating. The restaurant is hard to spot since there is no sign outside but look for the wooden door.
I was seated at the bar and thoroughly enjoyed watching the chefs prepare the fish. I noticed the fish was stored in bamboo boxes instead of lined up on the counter. Every time the chef opened the box, I felt like like a giddy kid trying to peek inside a box of chocolates. I tried not to do this every time since all (chefs’) eyes are on you when you sit at the counter. Yes, even when you’re eating.
The menu only offers appetizers, nigiri and sashimi. I went with the omakase option. Menu said it came with 10 items and an appetizer for market price. I assumed it was an appetizer and 10 pieces of nigiri. However, it turned out to be an appetizer and 9 pieces of nigiri. Looking back, I would have opted for ordering from the menu instead since the omakase was the same price as each nigiri combined. All the fish was fresh but I personally would have been fine going without a few of the “omakase” selections. I also opted to add a few pieces in the end.
We added the ankimo nitsuke to the omakase. It is ankimo (monkfish liver) marinated overnight in a soy broth. It tasted like salty, soy ankimo. I personally preferred the sweetness of the regular ankimo.
Kobe beef refers to the Tajima strain of wagyu beef, therefore, only wagyu from Kobe, Japan can be called kobe.
Tsurugyu is known for its grade A Kobe beef. This place is amazing melt in your mouth goodness. Be ready to drool over the following epic food.
Placing the hot, fiery coals to grill the luscious meat.
The most delicious cow tongue, which is then dipped in lemon, salt and pepper dipping sauce.
Two cuts of rib eye steak full of natural umami.
Close up natural beauty shot.
Melt in your mouth kalbi (short rib).
Marinated belly goodness.
Cold handmade noodle soup.
To end the meal, they provided an ume (plum) tea and matcha green tea.
Overall, this was the best meal I had in Japan.
We were lucky and got to sit at the counter and watch the chef prepare the meat. He also kept an eye on us to ensure we didn’t overcook any of the precious meat, which was fine with me since I believe the chef knows all. All of the beef was rich and melted in your mouth. Each cut of meat had a special dipping sauce, so it was swapped out with every cut of meat. All of this cost about 60 USD per person, which is cheap for kobe wagyu. A must try when in Osaka.
(3 Chome-5-14 KawarayamachiChuo Ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture 542-0066Japan)
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