oceshi.お節会席.2010

After Hermitage Amsterdam, we came to Okura hotel for a Japanese meal....

Lobby of Okura Hotel Amsterdam, the Japanese flowers display (ikebana) and the entrance to either Sazanka or Yamazato restaurants. We had a reservation at Sazanka but I actually preferred to try the authentic Japanese New Year Ocheshi meal than just a normal Kaiseki menu that you can get any time of the year.... so we switched to Yamazato...

Oceshi お節会席menu for 2010

Osechi - the appetizer set, everything (in bite size) come with a name and meaning behind it. The first row is sweet, second row is salty and the third row is complex taste...

Otoso (おとそ) - a cup of New Year spiced sake for health and happiness

The sweet stuffs....

Kuromame(黒豆) - means Diligence. Mame, ‘bean’ in Japanese, written with different characters means ‘diligent’. People eat this dish wishing to live a ‘diligent’ new year. The glass consists of black soy beans simmered in syrup, serve with gold flakes

Tatsukuri - Bountiful harvests. Tatsukuri, literally ‘making rice fields’ is dried baby sardines that have been simmered in soy sauce. In the Edo period, dried baby sardines were used as fertilizer to enrich the soil and increase the harvest

Kinton - Puree of sweet potato with chestnuts

The savory bites...

Kosode - pink and white cod fish cake

Datemaki (伊達巻き) - Omelet rolls with shrimp paste (left)

Ogawakunsei - smoked king salmon in cuttlefish cake (right)

Karasumi(カラスミ) - Bottarga with the meaning of promotion, progress in life. It is made of the fish egg sac. This fish has different names during it’s growth stages, so its name changes as it grows up, so people eats hoping to progress in life.

Kazunoko (数の子) - Many descendants made of cured herring roe, holds an enormous number of eggs and people eat this hoping to have many descendants.

Unohana (卯の花) - Marinated herring coated in tofu flour

Kobumaki (昆布巻き) - symbolize Happiness and joy...eel wrapped with simmered kelp. Kelp is called kombu, or kobu in Japanese. Kobu is a play on the word yorokobu, which means happiness and joy

Then the typical new year soup, Kamo-zouni (鴨の雑煮) - new year duck soup with sticky mochi

Yaki-sakana - Grilled semi dried salmon and yellow tail with teriyaki sauce

Ryuhi-maki - vinegary brill rolled in Ryuhi kelp and Daikon raddish salad

Tempura - assorted seafood and Japanese vegetables

The sashimi Iwai Mori - consists of lightly seared scallop, blue fin tuna and lobster

Nishime - Lightly simmered Japanese vegetables and prawn in mirin. The dish consists of:

(1) Shin Takenoko Fukumeni 新筍子含煮: Prosperity and growth. Bamboo grows very fast, so people eat this hoping for their family’s prosperity and growth to be like that of bamboo.

(2) Matsukasa Kuwai 松笠慈姑: Auspiciousness. Kuwai bulb produces a large sprout, and this is a symbol of growth and development. The bulb is cut into the shape of a pine cone, the pine tree, in Japanese culture is a majestic and auspicious symbol.

(3) Kurumaebi Tsuyayu 車海老艶湯: Longevity shrimp has long whiskers and their backs are curved, they are associated with elder people. People eat shrimp hoping to live a long life

The Shokuji - which resembles a normal and regular Japanese set menu with rice, pickles, miso soup and the main dish of Nishime and Ryuhi-maki in this case, but from this point onwards I am too stuffed and it is no longer enjoyable, even though the food is nicely presented in a tray...

The dessert, serves in a black lacquer box is called "Mizukashi". It consists of Muskmelon, a sour plum (ume) coated in syrup and gold flakes, a punnet of strawberry. Japanese Ice cream red bean (adzuki) and sake flavors and Kasutera cake with green tea (matcha) flavor and small Kyoto style hard candies...

It's an elaborated meal that took us over three hours to complete the full Monty. It would be really enjoyable and memorable if nothing had happened at the end of last year....

But now looking forward to 2010...