Nadaman (なだ万) – ♕♕♕ 1/2

 

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Japanese New Years Kaiseki
御節料理

The Tokyo branch of なだ万 at New Otani Hotel has been awarded the prestigious 2 Michelin Stars, which is  well known for its traditional Kansai style 懐石料理 (Kaiseki Ryouri)! Carrying this knowledge in mind, I was hoping to give 1 of its 2 Hong Kong outlets a try.  We arrived here during early January 2010, as after a few calls around I found out that the Hong Kong side of Nadaman serves a full Japanese New Year’s 御節料理 Course during their lunch session, whereas the Kowloon branch of Nadaman surprisingly does only a breakfast session costing around $200 cheaper per person (Update – in 2011 Kowloon branch will also offer an additional Dinner New Years Course).  So ensure you book at the right outlet depending on what you’re after and its only served in early January.



御節料理 (おせちりょうり) in Japan is normally served as a multiple layered bento boz,  bought as take-away in a 重箱.  The original idea goes that everyone including house-wives should finally deserve a break from cooking during that important January 1st to 5th holiday period, and so they shall prepare this Bento Banquet a couple of days in advance.   Its quite a sophisticated new years cuisine and probably shares linkage to the famous Chinese 盤菜, and similarly the upper-end Japanese versions are more extravagant, which top grade Bento’s often include delicacies such as Abalone, Prawns and Lobster from Ise.    
In Nadaman’s instance, this New Year’s feast has been converted from a sophisticated Take-Away Bento Box, into a Multiple-Course 懐石料理 dine-in meal instead for lunch session only.

Remember to book the Sofa’s



The Starting Three Courses of 祝肴 (いわいざかな)  :
The prerequisite course in any New Years Osechi meal,
this has also replaced the usual 先付 starter in a normal 懐石料理.



胡麻豆腐、生雲丹、べっこう飴、山葵 -
House made Sesame tofu with sea urchin, a special sugar sauce and wasabi -
7/10


紅白膾、イクラ、結び昆布 -
This has the lucky Red and White colours, with the shaved veggies, Ikura roes and ribboned konbu ~ 6/10


サーモン奉書卷、黒豆松葉刺し
数の子、車えび酒盜燒、
鯖小袖ずし、伊達巻、紅白蒲鉾 -
Salmon scroll, Black sweetened beans, etc. These all have associated meanings in terms of work, prosperity, luck, study and love, when pronounced in Japanese ~ 9/10



御椀 Bowl Course - 雑煮椀: 
熨斗餅、鳥塩焼、亀甲椎茸、鶴菜、日の出人參、柚子、金箔
The ingredients down to the amazingly orange carrot is imported from Osaka or elsewhere.
This is a soup with mochi which is also always eaten in New Years Meal ~
7/10



御造り Course :
寒鰤、本鮪、鯛
Sashimi consisted of Winter Buri, Honmaguro Tuna, Snapper.
The あしらい visual balance has been carefully contructed to be appealing. apart from the fish the use of certain edible plants such as 金魚草, Konbu, pickled ginger, raw wasabi, etc is equally important.  As is normal in Kaiseki courses these fishes are NOT very fatty deliberately. The tuna especially is the leanest part with a metallic/acidic taste, but this happens in Kyoto as well, where Toro is not given out. So one cannot compare the fish to those in a Sushi shop ~  8/10



多喜合 Course :
甘鯛豐年蒸し、べっこう飴、山葵
Steamed Tile-Fish on glutinous rice was the highlight of this Course,
which kind of went downhill from here.  This was amazingly sweet and velvety,
very balanced and visually stunning, I would come back just to eat this ~ 10/10
 


家喜物 Course :
銀鱈西京焼、千枚蕪、海老芋田楽、青唐
This was just super fishy and the texture wasn’t velvety, something one’d normally expect from this traditional Saikyo-miso marinated Cod fish. It makes Nobu seem like God!  And there was also none of the advertised pickled 千枚蕪 slices, although the usual pairing with red ginger はじかみ is there. The Prawn and taro croquette was boring too, there’s not much taste in it ~ 3/10



食事 Course :
鮭五目炊き込み、赤出し、香の物
The carbs course is always the last savoury course, but I had a lot of trouble understanding why they give you 2 rice dishes. I liked the above Steamed 多喜合 Course with the glutinous rice, but here came a another fish based Salmon rice.  The chef designing the menu here just didn’t give it much thoughts, especially for a Kaiseki Course, which needs to be balanced from 1st course to the last.  In this regards, and with some of the lack of ingenuity or perfect executions, NADAMAN Hong Kong,  really loses out to the many Kaiseki restaurants within Japan ~  4/10


This was served cold to me… hmmm.
And it tasted like its been reheated.



デザート Course  :
黒胡麻プリン、バニラアイス
Dessert finished without even a slice of Orange or Japanese fruits given, which is disappointing as its required to balance out the meal. Although this Japanese-Western slice of Black sesame pudding with Vanilla ice cream looked good, with its raspberries, this was set so solid the edge was curled up and hard. The vanilla ice cream didn’t even have vanilla seeds either ~ 4/10



煎茶 – Green Tea
The most traditional way of eating (Traditional Kaiseki) 懐石料理, is to pair it with Tea, as the monks who invented it are not allowed to drink.  It destroys the delicate taste of the food usually. The similarly English named (Kaiseki) 会席料理 can sometimes be confusing, but that’s more of a semi-formal way or corporate way of eating pretty much similar food – and with that, you can choose to pair it with some mighty fine alcohol. 

Price: $520 + 10% Per Person
Score: ★★★☆☆☆
Opening Hours:
Mon to Sun -      12:00 – 22:30pm

Address:  金鐘金鐘道88號太古廣場2座港島香格里拉酒店7樓
(7/F, Island Shangri-La Hong Kong, Pacific Place, 88 Queensway, Admiralty)
Ph: 2820 8570


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