Delicacies with a tasty bloom

HE’S CELEBRATED the popular Japanese Tanabata Festival and introduced Thais to the delights of Kaiseki cuisine and now Chef Shigeru Hagiwara of Yamazato restaurant at the Okura Prestige Bangkok is feting his home’s lush canopy of cherry blossoms with a spring season menu that features 13 exquisitely prepared dishes.

His sakura-inspired menus include sakura shrimp, sakura sea bream, sirauo or whitebait fish, kinmedai or alfonsino fish as well as Kyoto Kujo leek and healthy mountain vegetables of ostrich fern, fatsia sprout and garland chrysanthemum. Starting from today and running through the end of April, the dishes are available a la carte for both lunch and dinner.

Located on the 24th floor, the glass-wrapped Yamazato has an elegant and interior minimalist decor with the Bangkok cityscape serving as a panoramic backdrop. The ceiling and the walls mimic the folds of origami and are finished in warm wood. Always packed, mostly with Japanese diners, the main dining area can seat about 100, and there are also four private rooms for more intimate occasions. 

A raw sushi bar greets visitors at the entrance with a tantalising parade of premium seafood flown in regularly from Tsukiji, Tokyo’s biggest fish market. At the far end of the restaurant is the teppanyaki area, with two large griddle-grill tables – each seating six – from where guest can watch their meal being prepared by the chefs and sample the dishes right from the griddle.

It’s impossible to fault Yamazato on balance of ingredients, flavours, textures and colours but what I love the most is the dinnerware. The artistic earthenware and lacquerware are carefully hand-picked by Hagiwara from different sources across Japan and make the food even more pleasing to the palate and the eyes.

For a light starter, opt for deep-fried sirauo fish with seaweed sauce, red and green pepper (Bt250) featuring seasonal aosa nori – seasonal mineral-rich green seaweed with a mild flavour – mixed in soup made from tuna and seaweed and topped with a generous offering of deep-fried whitebait.

Don’t miss the sakura shrimps, scallops and vegetables, which are mixed with batter before being fried golden brown (Bt450). Presented in an organic-shaped light green bowl is squid that’s been slowly simmered with Kyoto Kujo leek and cooked with egg and Japanese pepper (Bt300).

Then comes kinmedai and asari clam acqua pazza (Bt450) featuring grilled alfonsino fillets and poached asari clam with a lightly herbed sauce of cherry tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil. My favourite, though, is hamaguri clam and mizuna nabe (Bt1,200) served in a kami nabe paper hotpot over a tabletop stove. The hotpot is made of strong washi paper with an extremely dense texture that makes it durable against water and heat. It’s best seasoned with the available yuzu kosyo or yuzu flavoured green chill pepper.

Do leave room for the tempting sakura mochi (Bt200) – rice cake filled with sweet bean paste and wrapped in a pickled sakura leaf, accompanied by a cup of hot water dressed with sakura flowers.

If you don’t have time for lunch, sample the sakura-themed afternoon tea at the adjacent bar Up & Above. Priced at Bt780 for two, the set offers macaroons brushed with cherry blossom and filled with yuzu, cheesecake and marshmallows finished in pink from sakura extract, pralines with yuzu filling, madeleines, jamroll with yuzu and strawberry as well as four plain and chocolate scones served with clotted cream and berry preserve. A choice of Ronnefeldt tea or coffee completes the sweet treats. 

 

 

SAKURA TIME

>>The sakura promotion is available until the end of this month.

>>Yamazato is on the 24th floor of the Okura Prestige Bangkok on Wireless Road. It's open 11.30am to 2.30pm for lunch and 6 to 10.30pm for dinner. 

>>Sakura-themed afternoon tea at Up & Above bar on the same floor is served from 2 to 5pm. 

n Call (02) 687 9000 or visit www.OkuraBangkok.com.