I can’t figure out why trying to post, either my pictures get dropped or my text gets dropped and I can’t go back and edit. In any case pictures in the main post, and text here in the comments:
This was our 3rd visit here. First time was in 2019 for the winter menu, a few months after they first received their 3rd star. Second time was last May when we had the Spring menu and was one of the best dining experiences we’ve ever had. This time was the summer menu.
We did the tour of the farm in the morning. It was nice to taste some of the tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, and some of the various herbs. It’s a farm, so things are relatively humble, but that makes it all the more amazing to know how they transform all of this for the meal in the restaurant.
They also have a farm shop with just a little bit of produce and other items for sale. I have to admit I had a bit of knife envy at the damascus chef’s knife and the pair of protein knives they had for sale.
By the time we were seated for a 5:15pm reservation, the restaurant was pretty much full. We opted to do two different pairings, the regular pairing and the reserve pairing so we could try a the variety of wines. They do also have their $1500 pairing, but we definitely weren’t inclined to spend that much. We found we sometimes preferred were sometimes the reserve and sometimes the regular pairing (e.g. the Loupiac in the regular pairing was much better than the d’Yquem in the reserve pairing)
In any case, the first course is always a spectacle with the myriad of dishes including a caviar dish and a wagyu one for good measure. Of the other courses, we really like the duck liver course with apricot and greens, the cucumber course which tasted like sunomono, but with the flavors each so delicious and layered that i probably ruined regular sunomono for me, and also the wagyus.
I had done one upgrade on the wagyu so we had the American Wagyu and the A5 wagyu from the Miyazaki prefecture. The American Wagyu was a delicious American steak flavor (and I mostly disappointed whenever I have steak at a restaurant wheras the A5 seemed to have the fat more integrated and balanced with the flavor of the meat. I did actually like them both and was glad to try them both.
We decided to take our final dessert upstairs, but the weather had become quite chilly and the heater was broken where they seated us (and no other heated location available, but they did have some comfy and warm blankets. We weren’t offered a drink menu, but instead were given the bill relatively quickly and were verbally reminded that we hadn’t tipped on our initial payment on Tock and they also underlined the total amount (Tock deposit plus the charge for the wine pairings) on the bill. it was just a slightly abrupt end to the experience.
Overall service was prompt albeit a bit perfunctory. The somm was a bit more engaging than most of the other staff. Overall, it was an enjoyable time for us and we’ll be back (still have to try the fall menu…), but fell just a touch short of one of the best meals we’ve had.
carcassus
Lovely pictures! Thanks!
Really_Cool_Dad
I’ll be there next week.
Confident_Republic57
Great pictures!
miked3
Great photos. One of my favorites (haven’t been in years though). Are these taken with a phone or camera?
5 Comments
I can’t figure out why trying to post, either my pictures get dropped or my text gets dropped and I can’t go back and edit. In any case pictures in the main post, and text here in the comments:
This was our 3rd visit here. First time was in 2019 for the winter menu, a few months after they first received their 3rd star. Second time was last May when we had the Spring menu and was one of the best dining experiences we’ve ever had. This time was the summer menu.
We did the tour of the farm in the morning. It was nice to taste some of the tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, and some of the various herbs. It’s a farm, so things are relatively humble, but that makes it all the more amazing to know how they transform all of this for the meal in the restaurant.
They also have a farm shop with just a little bit of produce and other items for sale. I have to admit I had a bit of knife envy at the damascus chef’s knife and the pair of protein knives they had for sale.
By the time we were seated for a 5:15pm reservation, the restaurant was pretty much full. We opted to do two different pairings, the regular pairing and the reserve pairing so we could try a the variety of wines. They do also have their $1500 pairing, but we definitely weren’t inclined to spend that much. We found we sometimes preferred were sometimes the reserve and sometimes the regular pairing (e.g. the Loupiac in the regular pairing was much better than the d’Yquem in the reserve pairing)
In any case, the first course is always a spectacle with the myriad of dishes including a caviar dish and a wagyu one for good measure. Of the other courses, we really like the duck liver course with apricot and greens, the cucumber course which tasted like sunomono, but with the flavors each so delicious and layered that i probably ruined regular sunomono for me, and also the wagyus.
I had done one upgrade on the wagyu so we had the American Wagyu and the A5 wagyu from the Miyazaki prefecture. The American Wagyu was a delicious American steak flavor (and I mostly disappointed whenever I have steak at a restaurant wheras the A5 seemed to have the fat more integrated and balanced with the flavor of the meat. I did actually like them both and was glad to try them both.
We decided to take our final dessert upstairs, but the weather had become quite chilly and the heater was broken where they seated us (and no other heated location available, but they did have some comfy and warm blankets. We weren’t offered a drink menu, but instead were given the bill relatively quickly and were verbally reminded that we hadn’t tipped on our initial payment on Tock and they also underlined the total amount (Tock deposit plus the charge for the wine pairings) on the bill. it was just a slightly abrupt end to the experience.
Overall service was prompt albeit a bit perfunctory. The somm was a bit more engaging than most of the other staff. Overall, it was an enjoyable time for us and we’ll be back (still have to try the fall menu…), but fell just a touch short of one of the best meals we’ve had.
Lovely pictures! Thanks!
I’ll be there next week.
Great pictures!
Great photos. One of my favorites (haven’t been in years though). Are these taken with a phone or camera?