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Maguro pepper
Buzzy Gordon

Yakimono at the Hilton unveils a tasting menu

Review: The first and oldest kosher Japanese restaurant in Israel celebrates its 18th birthday by offering its first ever tasting menu, featuring some of Yakimono’s signature dishes.

Avi Cohen was the pioneer who opened Tel Aviv’s first Japanese restaurant 20 years ago; two years afterwards, he approached the Hilton Tel Aviv with the proposal of opening a branch of Yakimono in the luxury hotel. Now his son Alex is launching the restaurant’s first tasting menu, to expose diners to the full range of the kitchen’s creativity.

 

 

“Many people always order the same things at Japanese restaurants: only the dishes they are familiar with,” Cohen says. “The tasting menu is our way of getting them to experience some of our best dishes, which they otherwise would never have even thought to order.”

 

According to Cohen, quality control and using only the finest ingredients is key to Yakimono’s success. “All of our fish goes through double veterinary checks,” he says. “And if a type of fish is not up to our standards, it won’t be on the menu that day.”

 

 

All the condiments are made in-house, including the soy sauce and pickled ginger. Their superiority over the commercial products served in most sushi restaurants is evident from the outset.

 

There are not many specialty cocktails, although we were treated to a delicious blend of sake, choya (plum wine), lemon juice and strawberry syrup. Yakimono stocks a number of premium sakes, including an excellent unfiltered import, the result of tireless efforts to obtain a kashrut seal of approval. The restaurant also serves the Hilton’s house wines, from Barkan. A glass of the house red or white is included in the price of the tasting menu (NIS 250).

 

 

The new degustation menu starts with kushiyaki, sweet pickled vegetables to stimulate the taste buds. The homemade mixture of cabbage, carrot and cucumber, sprinkled with white sesame seeds, indeed whets the appetite.

  

The first fish course is maguro pepper: thin slices of seared tuna and lemon, with a soy and ginger sauce and drizzles of mustard. The freshness of the almost raw tuna is apparent from the first bite, and its pairing with the citrus very successful.

 

 

Next was Yakimono’s dim sum: Hourenson maki mushi—steamed spinach dumplings served on shredded raw cabbage in a bamboo bowl, with miso sauce. The spinach in the translucent rice paper bursts with flavor in the mouth, moistened nicely by the mild miso.

 

 

 

A definite favorite of the evening was the Fish wasabi—grey mullet gently fried in a tempura batter flavored with a very mild wasabi sauce and served on a bed of crispy rice noodles. The pleasant wasabi sauce enhanced the fish without overwhelming it.

 

 

The sushi component of the meal is beautifully presented and consists of exquisite gems of this culinary art. One outstanding example was the Goma sushi mori—fish-wrapped balls of sushi rice in a special Yakimono chef’s sauce: tehina with chili, an interesting departure from what you might expect in a Japanese restaurant.

 

 

Other noteworthy sushi delights were the Gonkan salmon—sashimi salmon wrapped around rice topped with black snapper tempura in a wasabi sauce; Gonkan teri—cucumber wrapped around rice topped with grey mullet in teriyaki; Teak maki—tuna and avocado roll topped with scallions; Kawa shake—a pyramid-shaped roll of crispy salmon skin and vegetables; and Rainbow maki—a roll of salmon and avocado wrapped with raw tuna.

 

The meal culminates with a choice between two entrees: Sakani yakitori—skewer of salmon and sea bass dabbed with teriyaki sauce, or mixed tempura of vegetables and fish. The vegetables lightly fried in the pale tempura batter were Japanese eggplant, carrot, and green pepper.

 

 

Yakimono adheres to the Japanese tradition of not offering desserts. As an optional extra, guests may select from the Western desserts on display in the Hilton lobby. As a free bonus, however, parking in the hotel lot will be validated.

 

Yakimono

Kosher

Hilton, HaYarkon St. 205, Tel Aviv

Tel. (03) 520-2222

 


פרסום ראשון: 09.21.16, 18:59
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