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moominmollyFood has been consistently excellent so far, but tonight we went a bit further afield and had dinner with NINJA.
Ninja might sound like a cheesy themed restaurant, and perhaps it is. But it's themed in a way that oozes cool from every black-lacquer pore. The staff were graceful, if a bit baffled, at dealing with English-speaking diners: they had an English menu scroll printed up, so we clearly weren't the first they'd seen, but we seemed to be the only non-Japanese in there. Anyway, I'm up in the middle of the night with a bit of insomnia, so here are photos.
First, we were led down a twisty, low, mostly-unlit passageway by a sneaky ninja. At one point, we had to complete a secret ninja ritual to get a small drawbridge to come down. Once across, we had to complete another ritual to bring it back up behind us, since sometimes BAD NINJA ATTACK. I was impressed at the security system. Once in the ninja village, we were led around in a complicated circle (to disorient us) and then brought to our secret ninja private dining room:
The menu was presented on a gorgeous green scroll.
We ordered drinks. David's was some citrus-sour-apple thing:
Mine was ume plum, mint, and something slightly sweet and fruity. It sounded like an alarming combination of flavors, but it was electric and perfect. Didn't get a picture of it, though. An ume plum, just plopped in my drink! I felt like a warrior.
For starters, David had a "signature dish" of theirs. It was a warm soba salad with .. I don't know what-all. Bacon and mixed wild mushrooms and greens, among other things. I had a bite of a mushroom, despite the bacon, and it was quite good. I guess they take the presentation of signature dishes seriously:
I had a dish of fried potatoes and tubers in a complex, rich yogurt sauce. It was good, but the most lackluster thing we ordered. I forgot to even photograph it alone.
David had sweet-and-sour pork in squid ink with asparagus. They were gigantic hunks of meat with a fine fine batter around them. I had a bit of asparagus in the sauce, which was more savory and tangy than I'd expected.
We shared a tuna tartare, which was excellent and exactly what you'd expect -- except for the sweet minty jelly on top, which made for a nice texture and flavor contrast.
I had ancient black rice and shrimp tempura sushi. I must have some regular tempura somewhere -- even from within the sushi roll, it was clear that this tempura didn't have a lot to do with tempura at home. It seemed much crisper and lighter and less overwhelming:
This was far more food than we'd expected it to be, so we weren't able to order anything off of the secret ninja dessert message that was passed to us. And, exciting as frog-shaped cheesecake might sound, that caramel butter mousse and lemon tarte with praline cream and persimmon sauce sounded ... much better, given the quality of the preceding meal.
But we did have a post-dinner coffee. Good coffee, with the coolest presentation I've had in a while.
Ah! And, if the light in the previous photos looks odd, it's because our ceiling looked like this:
The way out was, happily, much easier than the way in. I could see going in there and getting quite drunk, indeed, with the ninjas: you need a secret escape hatch. Here's the only ninja I caught on film:
When taking photos of food in a dimly-lit black-walled restaurant, you really get to test how steady your hands are. Except for the last two photos, none of the pictures I took tonight were faster than 1/30 sec. Most were at around 1/15 (f 3.5).
Fooooood.
Ninja might sound like a cheesy themed restaurant, and perhaps it is. But it's themed in a way that oozes cool from every black-lacquer pore. The staff were graceful, if a bit baffled, at dealing with English-speaking diners: they had an English menu scroll printed up, so we clearly weren't the first they'd seen, but we seemed to be the only non-Japanese in there. Anyway, I'm up in the middle of the night with a bit of insomnia, so here are photos.
First, we were led down a twisty, low, mostly-unlit passageway by a sneaky ninja. At one point, we had to complete a secret ninja ritual to get a small drawbridge to come down. Once across, we had to complete another ritual to bring it back up behind us, since sometimes BAD NINJA ATTACK. I was impressed at the security system. Once in the ninja village, we were led around in a complicated circle (to disorient us) and then brought to our secret ninja private dining room:
The menu was presented on a gorgeous green scroll.
We ordered drinks. David's was some citrus-sour-apple thing:
Mine was ume plum, mint, and something slightly sweet and fruity. It sounded like an alarming combination of flavors, but it was electric and perfect. Didn't get a picture of it, though. An ume plum, just plopped in my drink! I felt like a warrior.
For starters, David had a "signature dish" of theirs. It was a warm soba salad with .. I don't know what-all. Bacon and mixed wild mushrooms and greens, among other things. I had a bite of a mushroom, despite the bacon, and it was quite good. I guess they take the presentation of signature dishes seriously:
I had a dish of fried potatoes and tubers in a complex, rich yogurt sauce. It was good, but the most lackluster thing we ordered. I forgot to even photograph it alone.
David had sweet-and-sour pork in squid ink with asparagus. They were gigantic hunks of meat with a fine fine batter around them. I had a bit of asparagus in the sauce, which was more savory and tangy than I'd expected.
We shared a tuna tartare, which was excellent and exactly what you'd expect -- except for the sweet minty jelly on top, which made for a nice texture and flavor contrast.
I had ancient black rice and shrimp tempura sushi. I must have some regular tempura somewhere -- even from within the sushi roll, it was clear that this tempura didn't have a lot to do with tempura at home. It seemed much crisper and lighter and less overwhelming:
This was far more food than we'd expected it to be, so we weren't able to order anything off of the secret ninja dessert message that was passed to us. And, exciting as frog-shaped cheesecake might sound, that caramel butter mousse and lemon tarte with praline cream and persimmon sauce sounded ... much better, given the quality of the preceding meal.
But we did have a post-dinner coffee. Good coffee, with the coolest presentation I've had in a while.
Ah! And, if the light in the previous photos looks odd, it's because our ceiling looked like this:
The way out was, happily, much easier than the way in. I could see going in there and getting quite drunk, indeed, with the ninjas: you need a secret escape hatch. Here's the only ninja I caught on film:
When taking photos of food in a dimly-lit black-walled restaurant, you really get to test how steady your hands are. Except for the last two photos, none of the pictures I took tonight were faster than 1/30 sec. Most were at around 1/15 (f 3.5).
Fooooood.
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no subject
Date: 2005-02-14 07:40 pm (UTC)Someday I want to make a frog looking cheese cake.
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Date: 2005-02-14 10:11 pm (UTC)