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mottoyomitaiAs usual, if you'd like to follow along and see the photos of the tasty food, original article is here~
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(Part 1) JO1’s Kimata Syoya goes for a luxurious sushi pairing with Sato Keigo | Real Thoughts with Kimata Sushi
A collaboration between sushi and drinks!
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[Photo 1]
Writeup
This is the regular food column “Real Thoughts with Kimata Sushi”, by Kimata Syoya of the 11-member global boys’ group, JO1. Kimata, who loves and lives for sushi, will select a sushi restaurant suited to the character of the other members, and bring them there, in each issue.
The guest for this issue is the long-awaited Sato Keigo, who hails from the same hometown of Nagoya. In addition to their closeness due to sharing the same hometown, the both of them are also the group’s moodmakers, who will take the initiative to brighten up the mood of any venue. Our expectations are high for the heart to heart talk between these two, who have a lot in common.
[Photo 2]
Headed to a hidden-away spot, the stylish sushi restaurant “sushi m”!
The place we brought Sato Keigo, who is known as JO1’s fashion leader, to, is a stylish sushi restaurant tucked away in Aoyama, “sushi m”.
In recent years, there’s been a new wave of sushi restaurants that use katakana* or English words in their names, and this one is no exception. Named “m”, a name which does not evoke the image of a sushi restaurant, it also features dimmed lighting which lends it a chic feel, and it’s a hot topic among fashionistas with a gourmet palate. The owner is Kimura Yoshinobu-san, who worked as the head sommelier of NARISAWA** for many years. The name “m” derives from “mariage”, and its concept features high-quality Edomae sushi paired with drinks.
[ T/N 1: Katakana is the Japanese alphabet used for words borrowed from foreign languages. ]
[ T/N 2: NARISAWA is a 2 Michelin star restaurant in Tokyo. ]
Lined up in their specially order-made cellar are more than 600 bottles of wine. Their sake collection comprises a wide variety of unfiltered raw sake.
This is a high-class sushi restaurant, featuring only one ¥33,000 course at dinner that includes not just sushi but also French cuisine prepared by a Michelin-starred chef. It’s so popular that it’s nearly impossible to get reservations, and today we’ll be trying their lunchtime nigiri sushi course!
[Photo 3]
Cross-talk
We’re with Sato Keigo, who’s discerning about delicious food…
Kimata: Keigo-kun seems like he’s been eating high-class sushi ever since he was young and living in Nagoya, so I did my best to find a place with a luxurious atmosphere!
Sato: That’s not true at all. (laughs) But it’s true that my parents like to eat delicious food at restaurants, and I might have been brought (by them) to these types of “non-conveyor sushi”* all the way from my elementary school days…!
[ T/N: Meaning fancy, countertop sushi rather than a conveyor belt sushi place. ]
Kimata: Keigo-kun, you’ve got a pretty discerning palate, after all.
Sato: Honestly, most of the meals I have are with everyone else in a boisterous setting, so normally I don’t come to this kind of grown-up, high-class restaurant. But I want to have delicious food at every meal, and so I make it a point not to choose my meals half-heartedly. No matter how tired I am, I’ll make sure I purposely go to a store I like to eat; stuff like that. I mean, wouldn’t it be a waste otherwise? When you’re hungry, you’d want to eat delicious things, right?
[Photo 4]
Kimata: Keigo-kun, you’re pretty well-versed in restaurants, aren’t you!
Sato: Recently, I went to the gym to do muscle training with you, Syoya, and we went to eat barbeque after that, right?
Kimata: Oh yeah,Keigo-kun, you love barbeque, don’t you. Are you more of a meat lover than a fish lover?
Sato: I love sushi too! I mean, Syoya, you love sushi and barbeque about the same amount, don’t you?
Kimata: Eh… I’m a man who loves all foods, so… But if you were to ask me what food I could eat for eternity, it would have to be sushi. At barbeque I end up eating nothing but beef tongue, you know. (laughs)
Sato: I try to make it a point not to eat stuff that’s too fatty, like kalbi (shortribs), after doing muscle training… But honestly speaking, I don’t particularly have any restrictions on my diet or anything. I don’t try to at less, and when I cook on my own I’ll end up cooking two portions of rice and eat all of it, stuff like that.
[Photo 5]
Kimata: Keigo-kun, you get sent some really high-quality meat from home, don’t you!
Sato: That’s right. I generally have good quality meat stocked (in my fridge), so I’ll use that to make steak, keeping in mind to be particular about the doneness of the meat and stuff, and then I’ll eat it together with rice. (laughs)
Kimata: Man, we ended talking about nothing but meat even though this is a sushi place! (laughs) It seems like this regular column’s been spreading around recently, and the catering staff at our shoot venues will sometimes tell me “I saw your sushi column” and prepare sushi for me. I’m really thankful.
Sato: That means you’re not allowed to eat anything other than sushi ever again, Syoya.
Kimata: I think I’d totally be able to live eating nothing but sushi. (laughs)
[Photo 6]
A pairing of non-alcoholic drinks with Edomae style sushi
Kimata: This restaurant’s key selling point is the drinks chosen by the sommelier that get served alongside the sushi. It’s called a “pairing”.
Sommelier: Today, we will serve 4 types of non-alcoholic drinks to accompany the sushi. All of them use tea as a base, but each has been arranged in a unique fashion so please enjoy it.
Sato: The first drink’s arrived. Woah, it smells amazing!
[Photo 7]
Kimata: It’s got something inside. Chinese herbs…?
Sommelier: That is the peel of a Mandarin orange. It uses a type of preserved Mandarin orange peel known as “chen pi”*, which forms the base of the Taiwanese tea “Dong Fang Mei Ren”*. It pairs with the sushi made with white fish, so we’ve made sure that it is not too sweet.
[ T/N 1: Literally “orange peel”. Chen pi is a sun-dried Mandarin orange peel (usually aged), that is brewed in hot water and served as a traditional drink. ]
[ T/N 2: Literally “Eastern Beauty”. A type of Taiwanese oolong tea. ]
Sato: The fragrance of the citrus is great. The glass is also wonderful.
[Photo 8]
Kimata: So this drink pairs with the first three pieces of sushi. I’ve gotten to try out many drinks I’ve never tried before through this column. The last time I got to try something called moringa tea.
Chef: First up is cuttlefish.
Sato: Yum! Man, the wasabi tastes so good!
Kimata: We just watched him grate the fresh wasabi for us, too. Cuttlefish is in season now, and the texture is great~ It’s not too tender, so you can properly feel the presence of the cuttlefish (in your mouth).
Sato: But it goes down so smoothly. I can’t put my finger on it, not with just one piece. I’d like a refill, please. (laughs)
Kimata: Keigo-kun and I both have pretty big appetites, huh. But today’s meal is more of eating the sushi one piece at a time together with the drink, so let’s savour the sushi slowly!
[Photo 9]
Chef: Next up is aji (horse mackerel)!
Sato: I’ll go first. It’s soooo gooooood. The thing on top, that’s perilla leaf?
Kimata: That’s right! It’s finely shredded perilla leaf. The rice is warm.
[Photo 10]
Sato: This isn’t regular rice?
Chef: The rice we use is the Tsuyahime varietal from Yamagata prefecture, which carries some sweetness. We use a blend of 3 types of vinegar, with red vinegar as the base. For blue-backed fish*, we add a little wasanbon sugar**, and depending on the fish used we sometimes add a little salt from Christmas Island. The temperature of the rice also depends on the fish used.
[ T/N 1: Ao-zakana, or “blue-backed fish”, refers to fish which have blue skin on their backs and silvery skin on their bellies, such as sardines. This is not a commonly used term for sushi and is more common in markets; the usual term used for sushi fish would be “hikari-mono” (lit. “glittering objects”), a wider category that includes any fish with silvery skin. ]
[ T/N 2: Wasanbon is a traditional type of fine-grained Japanese cane sugar. ]
Kimata: I see~ Sato-san, please go for the next piece of sushi.
