Sushi Mizutani*** Tokyo JAN 2011

On a recent trip to Japan i managed to get a seat for lunch at the 3 star Mizutani sushi bar. The restaurant has only 12 seats, a sushi bar and 4 staff members.
I was very excited prior to my visit but NO pictures were allowed inside the restaurant which was very very disappointing. The sushi was amazing and the whole experience was over in less than an hour. I would gladly have stayed for hours.. It was a great experience to watch one of the best sushi masters in the world at work. Even though he gave me some constructive feedback in how I eat sushi with chopsticks.

The lunch was priced at 18.000 JPY but can´t remember how many pieces of sushi was served. Lesson learned is that next time I´m in Tokyo I will make sure to ask if pictures are allowed when booking.

K17 Helsinki Decmber 2010

K17 is a newly opened restaurant and cocktail bar located in the heart of Helsinki. Their speciality is that in stead of offering a wine pairing with the menu they offer a cocktail pairing. So you will have a different mini cocktail with every course. For dinner they offer a 6 course Signature menu. On my visit they had a Christmas influenced menu.

"Fish and chips" Amuse bouche

"Rosolli" A traditional Finnish herring salad

Salmon

Norwegian Lutefisk

Pork with foie gras

"Kiisseli"

Creme caramel

Reflets par Pierre Gagnaire, revisited for lunch November 2010

I´ve visited Reflets once before but for dinner. This time I wanted to try their lunch. They offer a 3 course lunch menu for 180AED(36€).
I missed the great chef Pierre Gagnaire´s latest visit at this outlet a couple of weeks ago but next time he is in town I will definitely be there..

Some delicious french bread

Amuse Bouche:

Purple raviole of capers La Nicchia and green olives from Nyons...
Marinated anchovies, braised oxtail…
Tartar of Balik salmon, organic salmon eggs…
White beetroot ice cream, acidic red beetroot and glazed eel…

Purple radish and beetroots; frozen bavaroise of Mozzarella, square of skate wing with lovage, salad of cherry tomatoes.

Pavé of cod poached in a flavoured butter. Ragout of winter roots and leeks. Béarnaise sauce and Darphin potatoes.

Les Desserts de Pierre Gagnaire

Mignardises

Espresso and petit fours

Lunch at Cafe Chic Dubai October 2010

Cafe Chic is a french restaurant located in Le Meridian Airport Hotel in Dubai. I´ve wanted to visit this restaurant for a long time now. I wanted to try the lunch first before deciding whether I´ll go back for dinner one day. Lunch included 3 courses from a Lunch a la carte menu and coffee or tea for 170AED(34€).

Canapés: croutons and olive paste

"Chic Summer salad"

"Snail stew"

Roasted Sea bream

Pan-fried scallops

Apple gala tatin, vanilla ice-cream

Chocolate moelleux, mint ice cream

Luomo* Helsinki August 2010

Luomo is a small fine dining restaurant in the Kruununhaka area in Helsinki. It opened less than 2 years ago and was awarded it´s first Michelin star about a year ago. It´s very unusual for a restaurant to get it´s first Michel star that fast so they must have done something right from the beginning.
They offer a set menu which changes about every 6 weeks. You can choose between 3, 5, or 7 courses. Additionally you can order a cheese plate which will be charged extra. We chose the 7 courses, cheese plus wine pairings. I can highly recommend this restaurant but make sure you book your table way in advance due to the popularity and the small amount of seats.

Amuse-bouche "Helan går"

Cray fish, cray fish ice-cream and Akvavit jelly

Mushroom stuffed bread

Forest mushroom and potatoes

Perch "summer soup"

A great thing with Luomo is that apart from the waiters serving you the chefs serve you at the table as well.

Pigeon & Pinot noir

Salmon Thai style

A palate"refresher"

Basil x 2

Pork from Okinawa

"Lentävä lehmä" cheese plate

When we ordered the food we asked the waiter if we could have 1 cheese plate for 5 people. What we meant was if they could bring us only one plate but they were so great that they divided the cheese for one person into 5 plates.

Self made organic Cola drink as a pre-dessert

Blueberry forest

Tiramisu

I´ve had very good and also very bad Tiramisu experiences when travelling around the world but this one was one of the best ones.

Chocolate and espresso to end a great meal