Tag: Michelin

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Tabemono in SF: Really good Modern Edomae Omakase at Kinjo

Sunday, August 6, 2017

One of the tough parts of wanting to eat omakase at really good sushi places in San Francisco is that you can not go at the last minute. Really good places need to be booked days, or even weeks in advance.  Additionally, a couple of my favorite spots, like Sasaki Sushi, are not even open on Sundays.  This was the case for us on this particular Sunday, when we were craving good sushi at the last moment.  However, the last time we went to one spontaneously, we had a disappointing experience at the newly opened Robin (good fish selection but lacks fundamentals), as such we were hesitant to try another new restaurant. However, I had Kinjo on my list of eats since it opened in the beginning of the year.  Since nothing else was available, I checked “Opentable” and noticed they had a lot of time slots available.  I called the restaurant to make sure we could get bar-counter seating, as that is a must have when eating omakase-style sushi.  They confirmed that their 6:30pm and 8:30pm slots were open for the bar counter, and thus started our night of what was of lower expectations. However, this turned out to easily be one of my top 5 sushi recommendations in the not just San Francisco, but all of the Bay Area, California. Continue reading “Tabemono in SF: Really good Modern Edomae Omakase at Kinjo”

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Tabemono Vacation June 2017 Itinerary – 3 weeks in Japan and through the Japan Alps Loop

I have not updated my blog in a long while since I have been planning, preparing, and finally going on our fourth trip to Japan in June 2017.  Like last year’s summer vacation in Hokkaido, we wanted somewhere in Japan relatively cooler as it can get hot and humid in the summers of Japan.  This time we decided to focus our trip on the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route and decided to do a loop, which consists of:

Kanazawa -> Toyama-> Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route -> Matsumoto-> Kamikochi -> Takayama -> Shirakawgo -> Kanazawa

In fact, we did a bigger loop the whole trip as we started in Tokyo, travelled to Karuizawa, then did our loop mentioned above,  and then wrapped up the trip with visits to Kaga Onsen, Nagayo, and back to Tokyo.

Continue reading “Tabemono Vacation June 2017 Itinerary – 3 weeks in Japan and through the Japan Alps Loop”

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Tabemono in SF Bay Area – Kenzo in Napa, Good Kaiseki and Sushi but not Great

February 26, 2017

Kenzo in the Napa Valley is an ambitious opening from Kenzo Estate winery owners Kenzo and Natsuko Tsujimoto.  Interestingly, Kenzo Tsujimoto was the founder of Capcom prior to his ownership of Kenzo Estate winery.  Besides the winery, the husband and wife couple have four restaurants and tasting rooms throughout Japan where they bring the Napa Valley wines to Japan.  Now with Kenzo, they plan to bring an authentic taste and experience of Japan to the Napa Valley area with a focus on kaiseki and sushi. Continue reading “Tabemono in SF Bay Area – Kenzo in Napa, Good Kaiseki and Sushi but not Great”

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Tabemono in SF Bay Area – SingleThread in Healdsburg

SingleThread (actual spelling w/o space) is located in Healdsburg in Sonoma County, California.

December 30th, 2016

SingleThread is not located in San Francisco, but it is about an hour and twenty-minute drive north in the town of Healdsburg in Sonoma County which is part of the SF Bay Area.  Although SingleThread is not a pure Japanese restaurant, it is a heavy fusion of Japanese and California cuisine.  You see the deep appreciation of Japan throughout the restaurant, from the origami crane decorations at the entrance to the proud displays of donabe cookware in the kitchen.  The ambiance and the food throughout the night gave me that nostalgic feel of eating in Japan.  In fact, later that night when we met the chef and owner, Kyle Connaughton,  he shared with us that he had previously worked three years at the Windsor Hotel in Toya, Hokkaido.  Additionally, I read on their website that a lot of their specialized produce and vegetables will be sourced from their own farm and nearby Sonoma farms.  We really looked forward to dinner that night. Continue reading “Tabemono in SF Bay Area – SingleThread in Healdsburg”

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Tabemono Vacation – June/July 2016 Trip to Japan, Hokkaido and Tohoku Itinerary

 

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Hokkaido is the northern island of Japan. We flew from Haneda airport near Tokyo to Asahikawa using the ANA foreigner air tickets which is available only if you purchase before arriving to Japan.

Traveling abroad with a family with four young children is not easy, but Japan is one of the safest countries with a wide variety of attractions and  great food.  This combination makes it a popular destination in my household.  The only challenge is that a family of six is hard to accommodate by Japanese standards.  We need to plan out accommodations and what to do and where to eat carefully as Japan tends to be cater to small groups. In fact most hotels accommodate groups up to 3-4 people unless you know what to look for and book as early as possible to secure the few rooms that can accommodate a large family.

In our previous trips we travelled through the Kanto to Kansai regions of Japan, so this time we really wanted to experience other parts of this beautiful country.  Our selection narrowed down to whether we wanted to spend time in Hokkaido or Kyushu and the choice was further easier to make given that we will be taking the kids during their summer break, which meant hot and humid weather in the Honshu and Kyushu islands.  Thus, the vacation was focused on Hokkaido to avoid the muggy, hot heat the rest of Japan faces during the late June and early July months.  In fact, during our stay, the weather for the most part was great in  Hokkaido, outside of rain for a day or two during the first two days.  We even needed jackets  a couple of times in the mountain areas,  but otherwise experienced very enjoyable weather. Continue reading “Tabemono Vacation – June/July 2016 Trip to Japan, Hokkaido and Tohoku Itinerary”

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