Food review - Sapporo
Feb. 19th, 2008 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzThursday on Valentine's day NoKey took me out for dinner at Sapporo (Jacques Duthilweg), a Japanese restaurant close enough to our home that we can cycle there. The building itself from the outside looked smart and it even had a drive-in. Inside, we were greeted by a hostess who took our coats and gave us a numbered slip in return. We were ushered upstairs to the teppan yaki part of the restaurant.
There was a ricepaper division between the sushi-eating guests and the walkway that took us to the teppan yaki part, which made sure that guests that were eating would not be disturbed by other customers walking by their tables. The teppan yaki part was close to the kitchen. The walls were a mint-shade of green, and we were seated at the head of one great oval, far away from the two hibachi itself (for lack of a better word in my vocabulary).
As soon as they had handed us a pair of polyester kimono in bright patterns, we sat down. I am used to sitting on barstool-height, but this bar was much lower and we sat on ordinary chairs. The kimono made sure we slid in our seats too.
The mint-green wall in front of us held little decor and the only things that were visible in a pleasing sense were a large Japanese-esque fake painting on the far left wall and a small bonsai tree on the counter below the vast expanse of mint-green and slightly to the left where we could hardly see it. The clutter of clean plates there distracted too much anyway.
We drank a good cup of green Japanese tea, finely ground, and waited for our meal. The waitress taking our order got confused at NoKey's choice: Surprise menu A but without meat or shellfish or any kind of crustacean.
The serving personell consisted of two girls in kimono running their asses off, and a man in a suit trying to help them out. More often than not they were too busy milling about to actually get us another drink, although this only happened after the second cup of tea. From where we were seated we could peek into a part of the half-open kitchen and could see their sushi chef -- a man with his hat pushed so far down over his eyes it was resting purely on the bridge of his nose. He used a flame torch on his sushi at times, kneading rice and rolling sushi with what we deemed skill, although as Westerners we can not say for sure.
The food itself came at greatly varying intervals, apparantly because we sat in on the left hibachi halfway through their meal, and after they were done we ate along with the right hibachi who came in over an hour after us.
NoKey had made a reservation for the master cook -- and if the man cooking for us was really the master, I can't say I am impressed with his skills.
The food itself was alright. My lambchops were still very red inside and I didn't like them much, and despite the difference in structure it tasted almost thesame as the duck: too much pepper. The rice was good, the gyoza were as delicious as I remembered them and the yakitori was good as well.
Still, for a very expensive meal we weren't impressed. We have two more Japanese restaurants to sample, but so far Yamato at the Kruiskade is the best. (Ask for the master cook and be blown away!)
Sapporo
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 6
Service: 5
There was a ricepaper division between the sushi-eating guests and the walkway that took us to the teppan yaki part, which made sure that guests that were eating would not be disturbed by other customers walking by their tables. The teppan yaki part was close to the kitchen. The walls were a mint-shade of green, and we were seated at the head of one great oval, far away from the two hibachi itself (for lack of a better word in my vocabulary).
As soon as they had handed us a pair of polyester kimono in bright patterns, we sat down. I am used to sitting on barstool-height, but this bar was much lower and we sat on ordinary chairs. The kimono made sure we slid in our seats too.
The mint-green wall in front of us held little decor and the only things that were visible in a pleasing sense were a large Japanese-esque fake painting on the far left wall and a small bonsai tree on the counter below the vast expanse of mint-green and slightly to the left where we could hardly see it. The clutter of clean plates there distracted too much anyway.
We drank a good cup of green Japanese tea, finely ground, and waited for our meal. The waitress taking our order got confused at NoKey's choice: Surprise menu A but without meat or shellfish or any kind of crustacean.
The serving personell consisted of two girls in kimono running their asses off, and a man in a suit trying to help them out. More often than not they were too busy milling about to actually get us another drink, although this only happened after the second cup of tea. From where we were seated we could peek into a part of the half-open kitchen and could see their sushi chef -- a man with his hat pushed so far down over his eyes it was resting purely on the bridge of his nose. He used a flame torch on his sushi at times, kneading rice and rolling sushi with what we deemed skill, although as Westerners we can not say for sure.
The food itself came at greatly varying intervals, apparantly because we sat in on the left hibachi halfway through their meal, and after they were done we ate along with the right hibachi who came in over an hour after us.
NoKey had made a reservation for the master cook -- and if the man cooking for us was really the master, I can't say I am impressed with his skills.
The food itself was alright. My lambchops were still very red inside and I didn't like them much, and despite the difference in structure it tasted almost thesame as the duck: too much pepper. The rice was good, the gyoza were as delicious as I remembered them and the yakitori was good as well.
Still, for a very expensive meal we weren't impressed. We have two more Japanese restaurants to sample, but so far Yamato at the Kruiskade is the best. (Ask for the master cook and be blown away!)
Sapporo
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 6
Service: 5
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Date: 2008-02-20 08:13 am (UTC)