Seian -Kaiseki@Numazu- Izu Gourmet Guide

Seiyan is a Kaiseki (Japanese traditional) restaurant situated in the Hotel West on the North side of Numazu station.
If you are a hotel guest you get a 10% discount and it is quite strict in that it doesn't allow smoking or childeren under 12 years old.








The decor is modern Japanese style and offers romantic views of the outside through oval windows.
There are 3 menus for dinner and as is often the case in Kaiseki restaurants they are called the snow, the moon and the flower.
The snow is 10,000 yen, the moon is 7,000 yen and the flower is 5,000 yen and we ordered the moon.






The drink menu had many famous and high class Japanese rice wines and of particular interest was the Emperor's choice "Ishidaya" which is 6,000 a glass. We ordered tea.







The first dish was semi-dried sea bream with spring onion like vegetables and wild mountain vegetables. It had a fresh and delicate taste.
Next that was sea urchin "chawan mushi" which is a steamed egg dish which also had soft fish roe in it. It was very creamy and didn't have the strong smell often associated with sea urchin.

Next was lightly roasted bonito, raw blow fish beatifully presented with some special spice for the fugu.
It was excellent but made me really want to drink sake but I tried to resist the urge.
After that was teriyaki yellow tail with pickled white radish.
The fish was deliciously fatty and made further resistance of drinking sake impossible so we ordered a small glass of the Emperor's choice sake.
The "ishidaya" sake was every bit as good as I expected it to be and made me wish I could afford to drink it more.

The next dish was conger eel and a special potatoes from Kyoto known as "ebiimo". They were both boiled and served with rose blossom petals and had a unique delicious flavour that made us wish we had more sake.
Sushi was served next and consisted of tuna, alfonsino, horse mackeral, and egg amongst others.
We were really impressed with the taste and texture of the sushi and the rice base was particulary good.
Dessert was salted icecream which was sound strange but is popular in Japan as the salt brings out the sweetness in the icecream.
It was a simple dish but a nice way to finish an excellent meal.

In conclusion Seiyan offers very comfortable surroundings, excellent and knowledgable service, interesting and tastey food so I would recommend you try it.

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Seiyan
Address:5-11,Hotel WEST,Takashima-cho, Numazu
Tel:+81-55-922-7110
http://www.numazu-seian.jp/
Budget:Lunch 3,000 yen Dinner 8,000 yen
Open:12：00pm～2：00pm,5：00pm～10：00pm
Closed:Sun.
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Sushi Den -Kaiseki@Numazu- Izu Gourmet Guide

Sushi Den is about 5 minutes walk from the North Side of Numazu station and is in a traditional old style Japanese building.
We went on a Wednesday at 7:00 pm and were surprised to see that the carpark was full. Unlike many other restaurants that are struggling economically at the moment Sushi Den is booming and this is reflected in the prices of their set menus which start at 7,000 yen.
We were led to traditional tatami room which had a heated pit under the table for extra comfort and relaxation and a beatiful view of a small Japanese garden.

I ordered the 7,000 yen course which you need to specify when you make your reservation.

My first dish was tuna rolled in Japanese radish in a similar way that sea weed is used for sushi rolls.
It was flavored with sesame oil and presented beatifully with watercress and spring onions. The sesame oil had a slightly Chinese taste and the radish was deliciously soft. As the watercress can only be picked in the spring from cold mountain streams it seemed even more special than the tuna which was also very good.

Next was toro or fatty tuna,normal tuna, shrimp, octopus, seabream, baby abalone and sea toad liver sashimi.
My favorites were the shrimp which had a crunchy cooked head and a contrasting soft raw body and the sea toad liver which was meltingly delicious with ponzu (a citrus type of soy sauce) and sea weed.
All the plates are original designs made by the head chef which adds a touch of extra class to the otherwise brilliant presentation and I found my self looking forward to seeing the design of the next course's plates.
The next course was a kind of taro that had been washed, formed into a ball and stuffed with minced chicken, mushrooms and bamboo shoots with citrus on the top. It was served in a sweat sauce a tasted a bit like manju which is sweat bean paste in dough and was more like a dessert than anything else.
After that was roasted amberjack with not only the normal meat but also the jaw muscle which was served with roasted broad bean, sweet patatos, ginger and bamboo shoots.
I squeezed lemon over it all which brought out the sweetness of the fish and balanced the fattiness of amberjack in the spring.
Next was Japanese spring herb and conga, tempra that was interestingly presented with its bone coiled on the plate.
It was the first time I had tried conga tempra and it was quite salty and the crunchiness of the bone was very pleasant.

After the tempura was spotted shad, fatty tuna, amberjack, tamago yaki and a sushi roll filled with conga, squid, crab and egg.
The fatty tuna and spolted shad were the best and the sushi roll was somewhat disappointing.
Next was a Japanese style scallop soup that tasted fresh with a dried bonito flavour.
Dessert was vanilla icecream with black honey molasses dew sprinkled with crunchy soba balls.

The molasses was very sweet and went well with the icecream and the crunchiness of the soba balls.

The course was 7,000 yen but I think it is worth at least 10,000 yen so it is excellent value for money. While I was at the restaurant for rearly 3 hours it didn't seen like a long time as the food was so good, the surroundings pleasant and the service superb.

I think this is the best Kaiseki style restaurant in Numazu and hope to go there again many times.

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Sushi Den
Address:6-3,Takazawa-cho, Numazu
Tel:+81-55-925-4000
http://www.sushiden.jp/
Budget: 8,000 yen
Open:11：30am～1：30pm,5：00pm～11：00pm
Closed:Sun.
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Please see a page here about detailed information on WIREDiCON.

Shimazu -Kaiseki@Numazu- Izu Gourmet Guide

We went to Shimazu in March which is a high class sushi restaurant overlooking Suruga Bay in Numazu.
The carpark was full of high class expensive cars which was an indication of the type of people who eat at this restaurant.
Upon entering a chorus of "Hai, Irasshai!" welcomes you and makes you feel energetic and enthusiatic about the meal to follow.
When we were shown to our a table I became quite excited as it offered a view of senbon beach and the table was huge and looked to be made of marble.
Due to the popularity of this restaurant I had to change my reservation even though we went on a Sunday night.


I noticed on the winelist a very rare rice wine called "Jyuyondai" but because of its high price I ordered a less expensive option called "Isojiman".









We ordered the 6,000 yen course and the first dish was shirasu or raw baby sardines with raw seaweed and shiso.
The baby sardines melted in the mouth and were fresh delicious.

We were served the rice wine at the same time and its mild flavour matched the shirasu perfectlly.










Next we were served sesame tofu which was fried and accompanied by grated white radish and uzu or citrus rind.
It tasted quite different from normal fried tofu in that it was slightly sweet and was very delicious.
After that was sashimi which consisted of toro (fatty tuna), shrimp, arch shell, sea bream and normal tuna.
It was all excellent.
Next was another tofu dish but was a different type to the one served before.
It is called "Karakusa tofu" which is made with egg and seaweed.
it was served in a soup flavoured with bonito stock.
Our next dish was grilled spanish mackral flavoured with miso, boiled burdock root in liqueur, and blow fish skin jelly.
The spanish mackeral was very good with a slightly sweet miso flavour.
The boiled burdock root had a mild and refreshing taste and the blowfish jelly was nice although the fish flavour was overpowered by the citrus that was added.
This was followed by boiled fish that was "Kinmedai" or alfonsin with shrimp, Japanese mushroom, and beans grated and formed into dumpings.
It was covered in a sweet dressing and the dumpling was soft and easily mixed with the dressing so it was very nice.
After that we were served tempura which we ate with salt mixed with uzu or citrus.
The first piece I had was white fish wrapped in dried sea weed and it had an interesting and unusual texture but was very good.
The next was a mountain vegetable known as butterbur sprout which had a slightly acrid or bitter taste that made me think that spring had come as this is when they are usually picked.

My next piece of tempura was a kind of broccoli but a bit more leafy than spinach.
It was soft and delicious.
The last piece I ate was Japanese mushroom which was also soft and pleasant.
All the tempura were good and left me wanting more.
The next dish was sushi which was chu-toro(medium fatty tuna), shrimp, Japanese cockle, salmon eggs, dipped in soysauce, tamagoyaki and sushi rolls with cucumber and shell fish.

My favorite was the cucumber and shellfish sushi rolls as the chewy texture of the shellfish contrasted with the crunchness of the cucumber making it very enjoyable to eat.
All the sushi was excellent and I was impressed by the level of service displayed by the way that my female companion was served two smaller sized salmon egg sushi while I was given one large one.
The presentation was excellent and the sushi was served on an unusual raised platter and all the dishes were presented on carefully selected and interesting dishes.

Finally we were given a piece of orange a strawberry and vanilla icecream for dessert with a choice of tea or coffee.
We were also given hojicha which is roasted green tea to drink with dessert.
Overall this restaurant offers excellent service, beautifully presented and delicious food, great value for money and a nice location with good atmosphere so I would recommend it highly.

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Shimazu
Address:1907-155, Senbon-gorin, Numazu
Tel:+81-55-963-6760
http://www.sushishimazu.com/
Budget:Lunch 3,000 yen Dinner 6,000 yen
Open:Weekday:11:30am～2:00pm,4:30pm～10:00pm
Closed:Mon.
Overall evaluation:
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Please see a page here about detailed information on WIREDiCON.