Like Hajime, Fujiya 1935 is tucked away in a quiet neighborhood in Osaka. The history of the restaurant goes way back, as the name would suggest - year 1935. It's a bit difficult to imagine this but the restaurant was originally an udon noodle cafe back then but somewhere along the line, they changed to serving western food. What a wise decision it was!
Current owner-chef Tetsuya Fujiwara is the fourth generation of the family to run this storied restaurant. Having trained overseas in Spain and Italy, there are certainly a lot of modern European influence in his cuisine but the Japanese roots are not forgotten.
After a cup of warm yuzu tea at the waiting area, we were finally being escorted to the restaurant on the second floor. On our way up to the dining area, we passed by the open kitchen where Chef Tetsuya Fujiwara was seen working diligently.
The dining area, a simple 5-6 table setup, is predominantly decorated with wood. Don't be fooled by the picture which was taken after our meal. The place was packed.
The best part about dinner here - there is only one dinner set served so our brain cells got a well deserved night off.
The first amuse bouche, as indicated in the menu was a "natural hen of the woods battered wild mushroom". Unfortunately, the aroma of wood was not as apparent as we all hoped.
Amuse bouche continued with their signature truffle sponge bread. These were olive-flavored sponge bread with truffle cream in the middle. The texture was very fluffy and airy inducing pleasure in every single bite.
The pistaccio marshmallows were very soft and melted in our mouths even before we started chewing.
The final nibble of the night, a "Yellow paper" that tasted like a thin slice of cheese.
Finally our bread of marron arrived in a nice wooden box with pre-heated hot stones underneath to keep the bread warm. That was really clever.
After a deep collection of amuse bouche which we found very entertaining but less successful in actual flavors, we were finally offered our very first starter - fresh oyster grilled with straw.
When the basket of oysters arrived, the straws were still burning giving the fresh oysters grilling effects.
I personally liked this dish a lot - freshly grilled oysters with the aroma of wood (7/10).
This was probably my first time having foie gras along with sweet potato and it was an interesting experience.
The smoked foie gras which was still more than half raw, was served with sweet potato and ginger. I liked the delicate sweetness from the sweet potato but found the texture of the foie gras a bit too soft for my liking (5/10).
Next up was another innovative dish of caviar and pumpkin arriving on a pool of butternut squash. Very sweet (6/10).
Our main courses were due to arrive first with a seaperch with chrysanthemum and herb essence. There was a smell of "fall" in the air (6/10).
The swimming crab with black beans pasta fedelini was next. The fedelini was done to near perfection but the crab meat failed to provide the sweet taste to infuse this ocean themed dish (5/10).
The last main course was a slab of roasted duck with mushroom that was neatly done (6/10).
Blue apple meringue was our first refreshment following dinner and it was indeed refreshing and cleansing for our taste buds (6/10).
More impressive was the poached French pear (Komisu) served with a vanilla gelato (7/10).
More marron to come since it's autumn. This was a marron pudding with rum flavored coffee jelly served in a glass (like a drink). It was accompanied by a small sidedish of chestnuts in a bush of burning wood. That was surprisingly good (8/10).
I thought dinner was served at a consistently good standard displaying sound technical skills all around but unfortunately there was not a single (or a few) dish that really stood out with that wow feeling.
I hope I wasn't being too harsh here but apart of the innovative aspect, something seemed to be missing from this meal.
Food Rating: 7.5/10
Address: 2-4-14, Yariyamachi Chuo-ku, Osaka 540-0027 Japan
Closest Metro Station: Sakaisujihonmachi / Tanimachi 4-chome
Tel: +81 6-6941-2483
Website: fujiya1935.com/
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