I don't know how it happened, I don't know how it is, but the pictures from my dinner here at Irodori this evening don't look as good as I wish they did.
For some reason, they've turned out all to have a hint of glow, a wash of orange, and odd shadows here and there.
Might it have been that we were seated in a slightly different area this time?
Might it have been that the lights above were tilted to a different angle compared to last time?
Or might it have been the heart?
Nevertheless, I'm glad for this dinner.
In fact, I'm thankful for it.
At the same time, though, I wished- in my heart of hearts- that I were in the right frame of mind to relish it a little bit more.
Still, a chance to have good food at good prices is not a time to be wasted, so no sooner that we sat down that we began our orders.
The evening began with one of our all-time favorites: salmon.
No question that salmon is one of the favorites that we always go for when we come to buffets like these.
It doesn't matter how it's prepared, whether it comes in the form of a sashimi, in the form of a salmon belly deep fried, or just deep fried with teriyaki sauce. It all tastes good to me.
One thing I like about coming here to Irodori is how well the food is prepared.
Even if it be an ala carte sort of buffet, the kitchen makes no shortcuts to the freshness, the quality, the preparation.
The sashimi here had thick cuts, the pieces were warm and soft and the skin still retained that bit of crisp crunch, and the salmon belly (with fin) was fried to perfection- no aftertaste of oil and none of it hot oil bursting out when you least expected it.
I didn't even need to squeeze the lemon onto the fish.
Rather, I dunked it into the hot green tea.
A few plates of specially selected deep fried foods came after.
There was ebi tempura, then there was what I think sweet potato.
You know what's funny?
Which vegetable it was, I might not remember- it could have been eggplant, it could have been sweet potato, it could have been something else even- but one thing I can certainly remember is the taste, the crunch and the lightness of the batter.
That's the significant part.
Especially since theirs was the kind of batter that felt doughy, yet not limp, and whilst crunchy, didn't have so hard the bits that the batter hurt the teeth.
It was a conscious decision not to have too much fried food this time, even though, I must say, there was a lot to be had and anyone who likes fried food Japanese style would appreciate having more.
After the tempuras came a special dish courtesy of the restaurant.
Okay, so maybe the picture might not look very appetizing (I really ought to have turned the plate) but this one piece of a grilled (baked?) baby lobster cut into half had its flesh soft and tasty with a nice chew, there was enough meat, and they were generous with the Mentaiko.
There was a bit of a hard time trying my chopsticks to get the flesh out from the shell- not skilled at that- so I simply gave up and, so, lobster eye or no eye, just peeled the whole thing off using my hands instead.
On hindsight, I ought to have saved some of the Mentaiko for other dishes; they would have made an interesting dip to some of the sushi that I ordered after (it looked like I'd ordered scotch eggs and some salmon California maki), and it would have tasted fantastic even with the grilled salmon belly that we ordered a second round.
You know, now that I think about it, this meal was really all about the salmons.
At least that's how it was to me.
It might have been a meal where there was soft shell crab handroll on the table, or a pot of very nice, warm, tasty, heartwarming soup, or even ice cream lollies for dessert, but these kind of slip away into the vague parts of memory and all I can remember now= months later- is the smooth, ice-cold salmon sashimi, the distinct taste of the tuna, and the lovely bite of the fish.
