SHOT Magazine

Irises

2010.06.06

カテゴリー: Entertaining, Food, Restaurant

Spent sunny Friday down at beautiful Sankeien, a garden in Yokohama that is definately worth repeated visits. Once upon a time, in another life, I lived not far from this garden and so I know it well in all its seasonal colours. But on this last visit I was accompanied by my sister who is visiting Japan for the first time. And Sankeien didn’t disappoint. One of my favourite summer features is the gorgeous display of irises and they are in their full glory this week. Their lovely purple heads sway delicately on lithe green stems above the water of the lake. Spend a couple of hours taking in the flowers, azalea shrubs and trees, and don’t miss the whispering bamboo that creates a cool dappled avenue up to the pagoda. I also like watching the incredibly talented artists who gather to capture the various moods of the garden and all of whom offer a cheery hello when you stop to admire their work. We ate a platter of iced udon with crispy fried tempura under a red lacquer umbrella and enjoyed the cool breezes. It was a lovely interlude in a busy week. Try it, if only for the irises.

Back to the big smoke on Friday night and I enjoyed my first visit to Birdland, a yakitori restaurant of course! Very inconveniently placed in Ginza (4-2-15, Tsukamoto Sozan Bldg., Ginza) your GPS will have difficulty finding its subterraen location, it is however worth the effort. Admired by international chefs like Joel Robuchon, Birdland takes chicken to a whole other level. We had the Y8,000 course which would feed an army. There were many stand out dishes but my absolute favourites were the chicken with shiso and pickled plum sauce which was devine and the tofu. I don’t often find myself raving about tofu but Birdland serves an incredible tofu dish that has a look and texture of the best mozzarellas. It is also served with a drizzle of balsamic and a sprinkle of sea salt. The taste is sublime. We were lucky enough to have the company of a lady with an encyclopedic knowledge of wine and therefore deferred to her on the wine selection. She choose a 1991 Nikolaihof guner veltliner or green wine. It was a revelation that sealed a really outstanding dinner.
Enjoy your sweet life,
cheers,
Cheryl