Shiki Lunch Review - Kaiseki Sets Galore

Sometimes I work up a craving writing about restaurants. Tee Hee! After completing my Shiki review from ages ago I had the irresistible urge to head there.

Saturday was the perfect day to plot my way to Shiki. Sunny with beautiful weather, we stopped by Paper Source in Coolidge Corner to buy a wedding card and then I suggested walking over for lunch :)

The main feature of the lunch menu is "Kaiseki". I believe this is the more casual form of kaiseki. Each set is named after a flower. There's the Cherry Blossom set (smallest at $12) all the way to the Camelia (largest at $18). It is rather confusing what the difference is between the sets and the staff don't explain it well. Never fear however, I have it deciphered. The staff don't really know the difference themselves, just order based on how much you want to eat. The hungrier you are, the larger the set! Elementary.

P got the Chrysanthemum set ($16). It included soup and salad, tempura, sashimi, chawan mushi, tataki, and an assortment of cooked items. I believe the sets include generally the same thing with larger sets having more of the same thing.

Chrysanthemum set (tempura not pictured):


Rather than get a kaiseki, I got a Ika Natto (Squid and Natto) set which I loved. Much better than the Blue Fin version. Mmmm the gooey goodness! The raw quail egg makes the whole concoction creamier and richer.



I only stole a couple pieces from P's set. His verdict is that the set was decent though he suspects some of the items liked the broiled fish were left overs from yesterday's dinner :P


Chomp Meter:
IMO Dinner at Shiki is way better than lunch. More variety with more interesting dishes. Though if you're hungry and want to eat up a storm, lunch is pretty good value. See my Shiki dinner review.

Shiki Japanese Restaurant
9 Babcock St, Brookline 02446
At Harvard Ave
Phone: 617-738-0200

Shiki Review - Izakaya Style Dining (Brookline, MA)

Shiki Japanese Restaurant was one of my favorite spots to dine at last year! I get on these kicks where I am obsessed with a particular place. Anyway this is an old review but better late than never!



Shiki means 4 seasons in Japanese and the restaurant was true to the theme with fall dishes such as pumpkin on the menu and a painting with the Japanese character for "fall". Small plates and sake are served here. The concept is similar to tapas, so everyone gets to share and sample a variety of dishes from the menu. Over several visits, we managed to try a variety of dishes. These my picks for best dishes from the menu!

Beef Tongue

Ankimo or monk fish liver (I love this!)

Poached Egg with Dashi Sauce (You mixed a raw egg with a variety of ingredients! Delicious!)

Eel Millefeuille

Ika Natto

Today's Rice (this is the rice of the day made with seasonal vegetables and is usually quite good)

Sake Sampler - Very reasonably priced with 4 different types of sake choices.

PHOTOS:

Pumpkin with Snow Crab (Seasonal) (L)

Fermented Squid Ink Dish (R). I don't see it on the menu anymore. The flavor is intense and is an acquired taste I'm sure.





Chomp Meter:
4.5 stars! Minus 0.5 because service can be very slow.

This izakaya style place reminds me of the, now closed, Goemon on State Street. Anyone remember this restaurant from years ago? Everything at Shiki is presented beautifully and I love variety of Japanese food here.

Shiki
9 Babcock St, Brookline 02446
At Harvard Ave
Phone: 617-738-0200

An Evening at Toro

It's been a year since I've last been to Toro. You can't make reservations here so getting there early is key. We arrived at 6pm sharp and the restaurant was already busy but still had tables available.

Toro is owned by Ken Oringer who also runs Clio. The restaurant, in the South End, delivers a modern take on tapas. I always enjoy a trip here. Some of the choices like the foie gras and oysters are decadent but since the portions are small, it makes me feel a little less guilty! Here's what we got:

Atun Crudo: This was sashimi grade yellow fin tuna with citrus and soy. The flavors were really light and refreshing. Perfect for a hot summery evening.

Garlic shrimp: This was only ok for me. I guess I'm not a fan of garlic shrimp.

Foie gras: The portion is small. The foie gras is about the size of 2 quarters or less. Can't expect too much for $12? I thought the ginger gelee was a little overwhelming. Also the fg was cold.

Stew of sea urchin crab meat and lobster: The taste of the tomato was too overpowering. I wish I could taste more of the uni. But that's me. This is dish has gotten raves from friends.

Corn with aged cheese: This is the house special and delicious. Make sure you get a piece with generous topping of blue cheese haha.

Duck with rhubarb: I liked the flavor pairing on this.

Paella: It was ok. Wouldn't get it again and save room for more tapas.

Kobe burger: It was good but not really the religious experience kobe beef should be. Pass.

Fried potatos - Boring, nothing special.

Tripe with chick peas and blood sausage - I liked this! (Disclaimer, I am a tripe lover hehe) The chickpeas are stewed in tomato sauce and tripes with blood sausage. Very filling though.

Roasted eggplant - This was pretty good too!

I also spied some Jamon Iberico on the menu. I read in a WSJ article recently that restaurants in the U.S. will soon be allowed to serve Jamon Iberico de Bellota (where the pigs feed exclusively on acorns)! I wonder if Toro will import some too?

Photo courtesy of WSJ:



Toro
1704 Washington St
Boston, MA 02118
(617) 536-4300
(South End)



Chomp Meter:

A great place to go for drinks and small plates. You get creativity at lower prices. I like!

Tasca Tapas

I've always wanted to try Tasca but our plans are always foiled by the inabililty to find parking or because of the long wait. Pacman and I finally made it there a couple weeks ago and scored a nice parking spot on Washington street off Comm ave.

Just a quick post on this one. I thought the food was only OK compared to Dali but the prices were much cheaper. Or perhaps we didn't get the right dishes? It was only the 2 of us so we weren't able to sample many plates.

We got the beef cappacio, duck with red cabbage, chorizo in a flakey pastry, egg and potato omelette, and a cod fish dish. The food was good but none of the dishes were spectacular. The duck was too dry though the taste did grow on me after several bites. I think it was the pairing with the cabbage that saved the dish.

From L to R: Duck, Chorizo, Beef Cappacio


Tasca
1612 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA 02135
617 730 8002



Chomp Meter:
Good enough but not a wow. I am unlikely to go back. Come to think of it the quality is similar to Taberna de Haro, though I like the latter better and they have outdoor seating in the summers. My personal favorite is Dali of course. :) Tasca's is a good restaurant to check out if you're in the area and looking for reasonably priced tapas. I wouldn't go out of the way otherwise.

Tapas @ Taberna de Haro

Chompster is starting to work for us! No more figuring out where to go. Thanks to Cindy's favorites, we checked out Taberna de Haro last Friday. It's funny how we've never really noticed the place even though we used to frequent Ginza right across the road.
We didn't have reservations so we had to wait a little, but it wasn't bad. We got glasses of sangrias and hung by the bar. Compared to places like Dali and Tasca, Taberna de Haro has higher ceilings giving it a more spacious, less crowded feel. However, looks can be deceiving, the place was packed even as we left at 11pm.

I must say, I really enjoyed the sangria there. It was sweet and fizzy with lots of fruit. Just the way I like it. We also had the steak pincho with asturian blue cheese. The meat was well grilled, though the flavor of the blue cheese was a little intense for my liking. Next we had the fried cod balls. They remind me of Japanese takoyakis! :) Though the insides of the balls were drier.

The pinchos:


Squid balls:


Chomp Meter:
All in all, I thought the food was pretty good, though I didn't love any one dish enough to have it again should we revisit the restuarant. Wait, I take that back, will definitely get the sangrias again!


Taberna de Haro
999 Beacon St. (St. Mary’s St.)
Brookline, MA 02446
617-277-8272

Oh and a random piece of useless info. The night we went, we saw the filming of a movie, Everybody wants to be Italian, happening right next door. We asked one of the crew members who was starring in the movie. His answer? No one famous yet :))