There is really very little that isn’t tasty when battered and fried in oil, and many foods are also inexplicably improved by skewering.
Sarah’s friend Yuki made a reservation for us at Kisui, which means “native,” in Hyuga, a place where my hostess has never eaten except with Yuki. We had a private room, with table and floor mats to sit on. We sat down, at place settings each set with a tray of four sauces in a row, a larger bowl of a fifth sauce, a bowl of cabbage and a cup of vegetable strips (2 daikon, 1 carrot, 1 cucumber) in water, and in the middle of the table the pot of oil began to bubble.
Yuki ordered beer for herself and me, and Sarah had orange juice (she was driving – they’re amazingly strict about that here). Yuki also brought her bottle of Shochu out of the keep (you buy a bottle of something good and the restaurant or bar keeps it, with your name literally written on the side, for you).
The food for frying arrives shortly, beginning with pre-fried asparagus shoots wrapped in bacon and squid bits. Onna stick. I loathe asparagus: see Line 1 and add bacon. I love squid anyway, this was yummy. Once we’d devoured these, the oil was at a full boil – whenever I think of hot oil, a voice in the back of my head always says “boil’em in oil!” in a pirate accent, but I have no idea why – and other battered bits of food were laid out before us. Onna stick.
There was so much and I have no idea what much of it was, but it was all really good and yes, Onna stick. We had fish (basic, relatively light, but tasty), chicken with peppers, and bacon-wrapped leeks (really delicious). There were ridiculously tender pork cutlet bits, and probably my favorite, a ham-wrapped scallop with texture like it’d been raised in a sea of butter. Onna stick. There were big, flavorful shitake mushrooms. The grand finale was a giant, scallion-covered king crab claw (one for each of us). Onna stick.
Dessert came in the form of a surprisingly refreshing banana ice cream (not at all overpowering, as banana flavor things tend to be) and a rectangle of wine-flavored gelatin. Why doesn’t Jell-O make that kind?!?! Along with two pints of beer and one lemon-enhanced serving of shochu, the bill came to about 3200 Yen a piece – not bad for so much delicious stuff! Onna stick.
(This all happened back in March, during my trip to Japan.)