12 August 2012

SAKE AT COCORO

I had tried sake before, usually warmed and proabably very ordinary, but last night sake came alive for me. Mr Daisuke Kinoshita flew in from his family's Amabuki Shuzo sake brewery in Saga, Japan to share his sake over a degustation dinner at Cocoro.

Cocoro's Chef Makoto is a brilliant and inventive master of degustation meals. He may be one of our city's best chefs, and we're lucky Cocoro's owner Ricky Lee has set him such a stylish and sleek space to showcase such amazingly inventive food.

We had seven courses through the evening, each masterfully matched to different sakes. Now I know much more; The Amabuki sakes, brewed from specially grown sake rice and made with flower yeasts, range in flavour and colour from bone dry, crisp clear light styles to warming, mouth filling rich flavours, and can be crystal clear liquids with not a hint of colour, through to pinky hues that are pretty in the glass.

Chef Makoto's food was outstanding. Pre dinner, to accompany a surprising sparkling sake Mr Kinoshita had brought with him that very day, there were Bluff oysters bathed in ponzu, some crisp light seasonal vegies in frothy tempura, and the masterpiece, cubes of sweet jumbo tiger prawn in light-as-air spun filo pastry.

The presentation of Cocoro's food is always startingly good, with tastes and flavours that live up to the promise of the plate. I loved the little chawanmushi with whitebait, salmon caviar and baby paua served as our starter, which was followed by a seafood 'box' of sashimi and sushi. The box is like magic, opening out to a feast for both the eyes and mouth. Especially wonderful were the crisp Northland ocotpus slices, and the best tuna nigiri I have ever tasted. Sliced from the belly of the farmed blue fin tuna pictured above, it had been specially flown in from Osaka and was totally delicious and delicate. (Freshly grated wasabi from Canterbury with this course was spicy and really fresh.)

We also dined on grilled miso marinated toothfish and Akaroa salmon that had been cooked confit style and accompanied by a special umami booster of miso, sake and shoyu, matched with a clear "Marigold' sake with warm tones. The spicy grilled crayfish tail was slightly crunchy, rich, perfectly cooked and matched to a super-dry style of sake that totally enhanced the experience.

Next, a meltingly tasty duck breast, slow roasted, finished over charcoal with a sweeter sake that had hints of strawberry flowers. To round the evening's feast, a garden turned up on my dessert plate. I love the way Japanese chefs extol the seasons, and Makoto did exactly this with a winter garden of fruit with spiced Valrhona chocolate fondue, juxtaposed with the clean flavours of green tea icecream, and another wonderful Amabuki extraordinary rich sake made from 55% polished rice. A wonderful night!

Cocoro, 56 Brown St, Ponsonby T 09 360 0927