The Hitsuji Club (65 Circular Road, tel : +65 6221 3789) opened about 5 years or so ago and remains one of a few true lamb specialist on this island. They're from Hokkaido and serve Hokkaido styled Jingiskan/Jingisukan yakiniku which is their take on the Mongolian styled grill.
Suntory draft is available. Something I nursed while keeping our mouths busy with their otsumami while waiting for the real eating to begin.
We ordered their premium Jingiskan with lamb chop set.
Otsumami included lamb sashimi. This was the fillet which was served with shoyu and a sesame oil with salt dip. Those raw lamb fillet had texture that was akin to a chewier tuna (akami). Didn't taste like tuna though. Tasted like red meat to me but I couldn't quite positively identify them as lamb.
This was the iburigakko with cream cheese. Smoked radish. These were made in a process involving smoking the vegetable before the actual pickling. A style of making pickles from the northern Akita prefecture because of the cold climate. Tasted like a smoky takuan.
The table side grill was prepared by the server using rendered fat from lamb as the oil. We basically just ate what was ready as it was doled out.
Servings of the lamb rotated between the tender fillet...
...and the loin. And the vegetables in between and along the way. The eringi and the pumpkin were my favourite since they were the ones that managed to retain a nice balance from the flavour of the lamb fat and its own.
The more exiting part of the grill involved the lamb chops. The meat was partially cooked before the fatty outer layer was sliced out. That slice of fat was later cubed and then cooked till it was crispy like fried pork lard. This sure was heavy. Deliciously heavy.
The server grilling our meats got a nice char on those chops which were pretty good. Believe it or not, we got lamb-ed out from this dinner. As much as we enjoyed it, we were stuffed in the end and to the point that we'd be staying off any lamb for a while. Just a while.
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