Austin 2012: Pre-birthday celebration at Uchiko
We spent my birthday week in Austin for the second year. The agenda was pretty much the same but we scored much more in terms of checking out good restaurants. Hooray!
As a pre-birthday treat, my sweet husband took me to Uchiko, one of the top restaurants in Austin. We were particularly keen to check out the food there because this season's Top Chef winner, Paul Qui is the executive chef there. So thrilled that we scored a reservation and it was such a phenomenal and delightful 11-course meal!
Kumomoto oysters with apple sorbet, which set the tone for the rest of the meal. It was refreshing, tasty and plain good!
Japanese sea bream with shiso, meyer lemon zest and olive oil. Fish was fresh and the flavour combined beautifully.
Uchi salad - hydroponic baby romaine, jalapeno and edamame dip. Visually it's pretty and I give them credit for creativity. You eat by dipping the romaine in the dip. Interesting. Not our favourite though.
Cobia crudo - black kingfish, with thai pickes, lime juice and garlic chips. Love the contrast between the softness of the fish and crunchiness of garlic chips. The rest of the components definitely enhanced the flavour.
Nigiri - albacore and bonito. Good! Appreciate the freshness of the fish and the perfect proportion of rice and fish.
Hake with pickled hedgehogs, black olive, and parsnip milk. First time eating hake which tasted like cod to me. Perfectly cooked fish that is tender yet firm. Delightful!
Baby cuttlefish, peas and coriander and carrot broth.
Sweetness of the carrot broth married gorgeously with the rest of the component. Again, very refreshing.
Hotate midori - japanese scallops with celery, black trumpets and verjus. Scallops, our favourite were beautifully seared. Didn't care as much for the verjus as it was a tad acidic.
Flash fried, caramelised brussels sprout with thai chili sauce. This was an addition that came highly recommended by our server. He was right! It was the yummiest brussels sprout that we have eaten.
Wagyu shortrib with rhubard, fried beets, harissa and red shiso. This was the clear star of the evening! The shortrib was melt-in-the-mouth good and it's so flavourful. The presentation is beautiful too and i love the beet chips. Excellent!
Happy and satisfied diners with our desserts.
Lemon thyme sorbet, olive oil plate de fruit, cucumber and grains of paradise. Oh how I loved this - light, refreshing and the grains of paradise tasted so so delicious!
Complimentary and extraordinary dessert. When asked if we wanted a moderate or "out there" kind of a dessert we opted for the latter. Here, the dessert is created to mimic the experience of smoking cigar and drinking scotch! Okay, I have never smoked a cigar so I wouldn't know. However, we could taste the smokiness in the dessert for sure. Candied pecans were good and the dark chocolate ice-cream decadent. Definitely a memorable dessert!
We honestly feel that Uchiko is deserving of at least one or two Michelin Stars and the quality of the food here is comparable if not better than those that we had been. The whole experience was so pleasant and delightful! We appreciated the helpfulness of the server and his recommendation and the food was certainly the star of this restaurant. Uchiko more than earned our stamp of approval and we have full faith that the restaurant will continue to excel.
As a pre-birthday treat, my sweet husband took me to Uchiko, one of the top restaurants in Austin. We were particularly keen to check out the food there because this season's Top Chef winner, Paul Qui is the executive chef there. So thrilled that we scored a reservation and it was such a phenomenal and delightful 11-course meal!
Kumomoto oysters with apple sorbet, which set the tone for the rest of the meal. It was refreshing, tasty and plain good!
Japanese sea bream with shiso, meyer lemon zest and olive oil. Fish was fresh and the flavour combined beautifully.
Uchi salad - hydroponic baby romaine, jalapeno and edamame dip. Visually it's pretty and I give them credit for creativity. You eat by dipping the romaine in the dip. Interesting. Not our favourite though.
Cobia crudo - black kingfish, with thai pickes, lime juice and garlic chips. Love the contrast between the softness of the fish and crunchiness of garlic chips. The rest of the components definitely enhanced the flavour.
Nigiri - albacore and bonito. Good! Appreciate the freshness of the fish and the perfect proportion of rice and fish.
Hake with pickled hedgehogs, black olive, and parsnip milk. First time eating hake which tasted like cod to me. Perfectly cooked fish that is tender yet firm. Delightful!
Baby cuttlefish, peas and coriander and carrot broth.
Sweetness of the carrot broth married gorgeously with the rest of the component. Again, very refreshing.
Hotate midori - japanese scallops with celery, black trumpets and verjus. Scallops, our favourite were beautifully seared. Didn't care as much for the verjus as it was a tad acidic.
Flash fried, caramelised brussels sprout with thai chili sauce. This was an addition that came highly recommended by our server. He was right! It was the yummiest brussels sprout that we have eaten.
Wagyu shortrib with rhubard, fried beets, harissa and red shiso. This was the clear star of the evening! The shortrib was melt-in-the-mouth good and it's so flavourful. The presentation is beautiful too and i love the beet chips. Excellent!
Happy and satisfied diners with our desserts.
Lemon thyme sorbet, olive oil plate de fruit, cucumber and grains of paradise. Oh how I loved this - light, refreshing and the grains of paradise tasted so so delicious!
Complimentary and extraordinary dessert. When asked if we wanted a moderate or "out there" kind of a dessert we opted for the latter. Here, the dessert is created to mimic the experience of smoking cigar and drinking scotch! Okay, I have never smoked a cigar so I wouldn't know. However, we could taste the smokiness in the dessert for sure. Candied pecans were good and the dark chocolate ice-cream decadent. Definitely a memorable dessert!
We honestly feel that Uchiko is deserving of at least one or two Michelin Stars and the quality of the food here is comparable if not better than those that we had been. The whole experience was so pleasant and delightful! We appreciated the helpfulness of the server and his recommendation and the food was certainly the star of this restaurant. Uchiko more than earned our stamp of approval and we have full faith that the restaurant will continue to excel.