Page 17 - seniors today August issue

contains tools with the bandanna serving as
a napkin, the menu… inside the measuring
tape! Deconstructed Japanese classics
using seasonal ingredients, and oh yes… all
vegetarian!!
Hammer, shovel and other
tools to eat with Menu on a measuring tape
The usual basics of molecular cuisine
- sous-vide cooking, effervescent foams,
chemistry-lab equipment - transform
things we eat as if by a wizard’s wand,
conjuring, in unconventional ways, familiar
ingredients. Master cooks are alchemists,
turning gnarled root vegetables into
delicate sea foam, hazelnuts into digestive
liqueur, combining spices and chilies into
a paste that burns and soothes at the same
time. Dinner is interactive and inventive,
full of surprises, as objects transform,
liquid nitrogen floats across the counter, a
mint meringue soaked in liquid nitrogen
explodes in your mouth and the resultant
smoke is exhaled out of the nostrils.
Different tools like hammers and shovels
are used to prepare and consume each dish.
Although the experience - for an intimate
group of just eight diners per seating -
makes this Michelin-starred restaurant
exclusive, the atmosphere is casual and
comfortable. Chefs chat enthusiastically,
explaining preparation techniques,
At work in Tapas Molecu-
lar Bar Beautiful plating
17
Tricks of molecu- Unusual vegetables
lar gastronomy
concepts and stories behind each dish,
satisfying our curiosity about this show of
wizardry and whimsy.
Deconstructed sushi
Inspired by candy floss
Tapas Molecular Bar Tapas Molecular Bar
Narisawa
Narisawa and his groundbreaking cuisine at
his iconic restaurant, has become a must do for
visiting gastronomes. Narisawa melds classical
French gastronomy with Japanese principles,
local ingredients and molecular techniques.
Taro potatoes from Ishikawa, lotus root from
Hokkaido, strawberry and yame matcha from
Fukuoka, are just some of the ingredients in
the deliciously rich fourteen-course omakase
vegetarian menu. Responding to seasons and
landscape, his recipes are ground breaking,
especially the ‘Satoyama Scenery and Essence
of the Forest’, an elaborate edible landscape,
evoking the forests and fields of rural Japan.
The ‘Soil Soup’ which is, to quote him, “a dish
that contains my conviction for a natural
environment so safe, you can eat the soil itself.”
Combining the deep, earthy flavor of actual
soil from the pristine mountains of Nagano
Prefecture, the food is “beneficial to both body
and spirit and a continuously sustainable
environment which we call Innovative
Satoyama Cuisine.”
Beauty on a plate at Seasonal vegetables at
Narisawa Narisawa
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