An Omakase Menu at a Japanese restaurant means the chef has decided on the ingredients and presentation of the menu based on the quality of seasonal produce available. You entrust the chef to make the best decision to showcase the ingredients.
We were pleased to get a booking at Marumo, a local Japanese restaurant where the bookings open quarterly in three month blocks for a one night booking in the 28 seat venue at 7pm for four nights a week. Our seven course menu, plus two amuse bouche, was based on winter ingredients and featured a lot of seafood.
Our dinner began with an Amuse Bouche, Pickled Squid, a good indication of the flavours and tastes to follow.
First course: Shokoku Buri ( yellowtail) Looked enticing, tasted very good.
Second Course: Shark Bay Amaebi.
Third Course: Duck, Mushroom and Miso Egg Yolk, delicious and surprising textures and colours.
Fourth Course: Chef’s Selection of Sashimi. Wonderful clean fresh flavours.
Fifth Course: Tasmanian Salmon Belly Sushi, with a lovely range of textures.
Sixth Course: Yearling Beef, Onion and Puffed Rice, the only beef course and the only one I forgot to photograph. It was beautiful to look at and beautiful to eat.
Amuse Bouche: A yuzu sorbet, made from a tart but aromatic citrus fruit not commonly available locally, but delicious.
Seventh Course: Shio Koji, Popcorn and Chestnut. A grand finale!
This was a special night for us. We really enjoyed the carefully chosen and beautifully presented food.
Yesterday was SEWING MACHINE DAY. A sewing machine, capable of stitching saddles and canvas sails was invented in 1755. The more familiar style of sewing machine was invented in 1842.
Most of the clothes we wear today were stitched on a sewing machine. This means people have more clothes as hand sewing is slower and more expensive and machine sewing is fast and cheap.
I have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine, so when it is working smoothly and the bobbin is full and the needle doesn’t become unthreaded, I love it, but when those things happen, I hate it! These things, of course, are all the fault of the machine.