[WEB ARTICLE] Kimata Syoya (JO1) - Elle Gourmet (5 August 2022) regular column (Part 2)

[dreamweavernyx]

And here's the rest of the sushi column!

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[Photo 15]

Side dishes known as “pickoffs” - three in a row!

Chef: This is a nigiri sushi course, but you can add on side dishes as an additional order. Since the concept of this restaurant is baseball-themed, we’ve named the side dishes “pickoffs”*.

[T/N: A pickoff is where the pitcher throws a ball to a team member in the field so they can tag out one of the base runners. It can be used to prevent a base from being stolen.]

Mamehara: Pickoffs?! (laughs)

Kimata: As expected of someone who used to be in the baseball club; you picked up on that fast!

[Photo 16]

Mamehara: I played baseball all the way until high school, you know. Ah, that’s why this store is named “Bullpen”!* I just noticed (laughs).

[T/N: The bullpen is an area where the relief pitchers warm up before a baseball game.]

Kimata: Since there’s three types of “pickoffs” on the menu, since it’s a rare opportunity, let’s try all three! First is a “cured early-season skipjack tuna (hatsu-gatsuo)”.

Chef: Our head chef’s house has an orange farm, so we make a sauce out of the orange juice from there along with new onions, and drizzle it on the top. It matches the tartness of the cured fish.

Kimata: It sounds so delicious just from your description of it.

[Photo 17]

Chef: Order up, here’s your pickoff!

Mamehara: It’s here, the first one!

[Photo 18]

Kimata: It’s yummy! Out~!

Mamehara: Out? Shouldn’t it be a hit? (laughs)

Kimata: Ah, I was from the soccer club, so I don’t really know baseball terms. It’s not an out, it’s a hit, a hit!

[Photo 19]

Mamehara: Man, this is so yummy, the base-stealing was a success!

Kimata: Out, out! Yum!

Mamehara: I told you, it’s not “out”! (laughs)

Kimata: There was once when I was young, where I got hit in the face with the ball while playing baseball, and ever since then I’ve been too scared to play it. So, I’m sorry! (laughs)

[Photo 20]

Chef: Here’s the second “pickoff”! It’s seared squid tentacles. Please enjoy it with soy sauce.

Kimata: I love tentacle-chans! I’ll always order them when I go to a sushi place.

Mamehara: This will definitely be good. Let’s cleanse our palates with the picked ginger and go for the third “pickoff”!

[Photo 21]

Kimata: “Rock oyster” - it’s here! You tend to associate oysters with the cooler seasons, but rock oysters are in season right now, aren’t they?

Chef: That’s right. The season for them begins around this time. Please remember that as you leave, today.

Kimata: From now on, I’ll try saying “you’ve got to have rock oysters in the summer!” and see how that goes (laughs). I really love oysters as well. I tend to like things that have a slightly funky taste. I’m also hooked on ordering horumon* through delivery and having it alongside some alcohol for dinner.

[T/N: Horumon is cow/pig entrails.]

[Photo 22]

Mamehara: The jelly on top of this oyster is so good, I can’t take it! Amazing, that might have been my first time eating an oyster.

Kimata: It really is a splendid oyster, shell and all! The flesh is really bouncy and pretty substantial, and the taste is creamy and melts in your mouth.

[Photo 23]

Mamehara: The soup has arrived, I see.

Kimata: The shijimi clams* are really tasty…

[T/N: A type of freshwater, small-shelled clam.]

Chef: The stock for the soup is made by cooking down the bones of the fish. The miso paste we use is from Shinshu.*

[T/N: An old province of Japan, it was located where Nagano prefecture is presently.]

Kimata: I want to make this at home~~~. The nameko mushrooms really warm you up, too.

Mamehara: Well, it’s the middle of summer though (laughs).

[Photo 24]

Mamehara: Also, sorry to ask - there’s something called a “hidden ball” on the menu, and I’m really curious about that.

Kimata: Is that something like a secret menu item?

Chef: Yes, the fish we use for items outside of our usual omakase course are referred to as “hidden balls”. Our recommended item for today is baby white shrimp (shiro-ebi), would you like to try it?

Kimata: I’d definitely like to try it.

Chef: The baby white shrimp has been cured with shaved konbu kelp.

Kimata: Munch! (Breaks out into applause after only a few seconds)

Mamehara: He’s even clapping his hands… I want to try it too. Delicious!

Kimata: Man, that was a great bite. The wasabi had a nice kick, so it was really refreshing.

[Photo 25]

When the Koshien Stadium* siren plays, we’ll go into Additional Orders time!

[T/N: A very famous baseball stadium in Osaka.]

(Woop~ woop~ woop~ A siren rings out, and the Koshien Stadium theme song begins to play)

Mamehara: Woah, here we go! Koshien Stadium!

Chef: When we reach the last stage of the meal, the siren will ring, and we’ll go into the last spurt.

Kimata: Dum dee dum~ Woop~ (imitates the song and siren sound)

Chef: The last 2 pieces of sushi are a “Serious Onion Salmon Mayo”, and a freshwater eel (anago)!

(The BGM changes to Queen’s “We Will Rock You”)

Mamehara: Both of them look really good~ (dances along to the music)

Kimata: I’ll eat the freshwater eel last while dancing along, and end this match!

~After this, the two of them tried many other kinds of sushi they were interested in, and enjoyed themselves till the very last second~

[Photo 26]

Kimata Syoya was moved by this piece of sushi!

It’s squid and sea urchin. I drowned in the sea urchin, and then was taken by surprise by the texture of the squid. I was also struck by other sushi items such as the juicy botan-ebi shrimp* seared over a charcoal brazier, and the tuna belly that we were served right at the beginning!

[T/N: Botan-ebi, or botan shrimp, is a fairly large variety of shrimp. Can be eaten raw.]

[Photo 27]

The fatty tuna belly from Shiogama.

[Photo 28]

The seared botan-ebi shrimp.

[Photo 29]

Mamehara Issei was moved by this piece of sushi!

Everything was super delicious, but if I had to pick one, I really like hikari-mono fish so I’d say the gizzard shad (kohada). I did a sushi cheers with Syoya-kun without even thinking about it. Also, the one that had squid with sea urchin on top, and the crunchy pen-shell (taira-gai)*.... There were many sushi toppings that I will never forget.

[T/N: Taira-gai is a kind of shellfish; its shell can grow up to one foot in length.]

[Photo 30]

The taira-gai.

[Photo 31]

Bullpen

The store “Bullpen” that the two of them visited today is a standing sushi restaurant opened by the former head chef of the Meguro sushi restaurants “Linda” and “Rinmaru”. It provides top-quality fish that you would find in a fancy restaurant, at reasonable prices. The lunch seating is called a “day game”, and the dinner seating a “nighter”, and dining times for both are restricted to an hour. Included in the course are 11 pieces of sushi and a soup, and you may also add on other items as long as you are still within the time limit. The courses are priced at 4,000 yen (lunch only) and 7,000 yen, and the fish used will change depending on the season. The course that the two of them ate today was the 7,000 yen course.