After making reservations through OpenTable, my boyfriend and I went to Oishii for lunch on Friday. The atmosphere at noon was relaxed but still romantic and sophisticated. Our waiter was also knowledgeable and attentive. And…it was Restaurant Week!
The miso soup was the best I’ve had anywhere in a restaurant. It was served in tall teacup-like bowls with a tiny soup spoon that forced us to enjoy the soup very slowly! It was delicate but hearty, which is a theme that carried throughout my entire meal. My favorite part of the soup were the nameko mushrooms. They were like little juicy, unexpected presents.
Then my Kaiseki Lunch arrived (left to right in image below). There was hot somen noodle soup, grilled miso black cod, steamed broccolini with sesame dressing, seaweed salad, salmon avocado maki, spicy tuna tempura maki, fried tofu, and shrimp and asparagus tempura with dipping sauce. My boyfriend ordered the grilled chicken donburi with teriyaki sauce. I tried some vegetables and rice and thought it was too sweet, he said the chicken was a bit dry. He enjoyed it, but I was glad to have the variety of my choice…
my delicious (mini) eight-plate lunch
Everything about the soup was great and it was delicate like the miso soup. The noodles were rich and silky and the broth slightly sweet and salty.
The cod felt apart in my mouth, had an absolutely delicious taste, and was cooked perfectly.
The broccolini dish was mild, nothing too impressive. The sesame dressing tasted like textured tahini sauce, but it was nice to have some dark green veggies in the meal.
Seaweed salad was just the standard (boring) seaweed salad. I expected something a bit more creative here.
The salmon avocado maki was simple, but great. The fish was fresh, the avocado melted in mouth, and the rice was delicious (it tasted like a blend of white sushi rice and brown rice).
One of my favorite basic sushi rolls is spicy tuna. It’s difficult to see in the picture, but there was no rice in the role, only tuna and nori. It could have been much spicier, but the taste was delicious. Plus, the roll was lightly battered in tempura and lightly fried. It tasted like it was a little bad for me, but it was so good.
The fried tofu with bonito flakes wasn’t exceptional, but it was good as a mild dish. As I enjoy the super soft tofu texture (think tofu fa as dessert for dim sum), thought it was a sweet little dish.
The shrimp and asparagus tempura was a bit too oily (I wish I hadn’t saved for last!). The sauce was great though, very fresh, which redeemed the tempura a bit.
For dessert we had cookies with sweet yuau tea (citrus flavored with orange zest on the bottom). The tea was delicious, although there was too much sugar that collected in the base, which I drank a little of by mistake (way too thick and sweet) and cookies were a bit too sweet to be with the sweet tea. Perhaps because the lunch was so evenly balanced in flavor that the extreme sweetness of the dessert was out of place.
Overall, lunch was absolutely wonderful. I’m critical, as this is a review, but I left the restaurant feeling 100% content and happy. Plus, for $20.10 (Restaurant Week menu), it’s easy on the wallet as well!
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