Taste of autumn at Kampachi

JAPANESE fine dining restaurant Kampachi, located at Plaza33 in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, is offering diners a taste of autumn featuring the exquisite creations of Chef Yusuke Ishigami.

Chef Ishigami is an executive chef at Kampachi, with nine years experience serving food at a kaiseki, or traditional multi-course Japanese dinner restaurant.

His passion for food began at 15 in Niigata City, where he worked as an apprentice chef.

He later underwent years of intensive training, perfecting his cooking skill and knowledge of washoku, which is another term for Japanese cuisine. His cooking style is a reflection of this artform. He is able to combine his creative skills by fusing local with imported delicacies, and combining ingredients to deliver his signature dishes.

The seven-course dinner at Kampachi set starts with five zensai appetizers featuring grilled saury with egg yolk sauce, persimmon with mashed tofu, sliced salmon over vinegar rice, marinated tofu in miso bean paste and served with dried mullet roe, and two types of sweet potato, mashed and rolled into a ball.

This is followed by a suimono (soup) of matsutake mushroom, crab and rice dumpling. The earthly aroma of the mushroom flows out when the cover is removed, revealing a clear soup with two crabmeat dumplings.

Next is the tsukuri (raw fish slice) dish, consisting of slices of tuna belly, sweet prawn and saury. This will appeal to those who love the taste of pike.

The yakimono (grilled) dish features a flavourful stone-grilled autumn season platter of fresh sea bream, prawns, beef and gingko.

The nimono ( simmered dish) is a combo of simmered autumn vegetables, while the shokuji (accompanying rice) is matsutake mushroom rice. There are slices of mushroom and gingko nuts in the rice. The dinner ends with a kanmi (sweet) dessert – a cool, refreshing and juicy Nashi pear from Japan.

More details are available on Kampachi website.