Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 29, 1993 TAG: 9310300269
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOLORES KOSTELNI
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
SAKE HOUSE
As you walk in, the raised dining area to the left catches your attention. These are the tearooms, and each of the tables is partially enclosed by a partition so that you don't see anyone to the sides. The only requirement for sitting at these tables is that you remove your shoes, just as you would if you were at a tearoom in Japan. Instead of sitting in the classic cross-legged position on oversized cushions, an empty space is thoughtfully provided under the table for your legs to hang down so that you sit comfortably, although not for too long because there are no backs to lean on.
Miso soup provides a pleasant opener to either lunch or dinner. Derived from fermented soybeans and combined with dashi, which is edible kelp or seaweed, this miso soup, with its very small cubes of tofu floating about, fortifies and warms.
Lunch specials offer an easy introduction to this lovely Far Eastern cuisine. Ginger pork ($4.50) surprises your palate with its zippy flavor and tenderness. Cut into bite-sized pieces that are suitable for picking up with chopsticks, the abundant heap of tasty pork has not a drop of excess oil, and its sauce marries well with the small bowl of gohan: plain boiled rice.
I love bento box lunches because they remind me of blue plate specials, another favorite. Daily bento box specials ($5.50) are an incredible best
buy. These colorful, lacquered, compartmentalized boxes give a generous tasting of numerous items from the menu. My bento lunch began with miso soup and was quickly followed by the box containing yakitori - two skewers of teriyaki-glazed chicken and vegetables - a mound of Japanese fried rice, three shrimp and pork dumplings and two each of crunchy, lightly fried shrimp and vegetable tempura.
Given the assortment and array of unusual preparations on the menu and the clear idea you get of them from colored photographs, dinner can turn into a real party. For appetizers, you can't go wrong ordering the California and Kappa Maki, the beautiful round stuffed rolls. California roll combines crabmeat and avocado rolled in seaweed and vinegared rice, then sprinkled with delicate golden caviar. Kappa Maki, encased in seaweed, contains cucumber and rice. Small dishes for mixing soy sauce with wasabi, the fiery horseradish paste, are provided. This dip (``Take care,'' our waitress warned) is for seasoning and enhancing the maki before eating.
Try the Kobe beef (reg/$11.95; deluxe/$12.95) to satisfy your craving for red meat. You get a mountain of chopstick-sized filet mignon cooked in a pungent garlic sauce. It's delicious, but you radiate garlic!
Sake Special (reg./$10.95; deluxe/$l1.95) encompasses a wide range of delectable items, including cooked sushi instead of raw, if that's what you prefer. Most spectacular of all the foods on the plate had to be the tempura, with its sheer, crackly batter dramatically and deliciously cloaking long green beans, rounds of sweet and white potatoes, thick onion rings and pieces of white fish.
Desserts were the low point of the evening, but in the line of duty we tried them. All three are prepared tempura-style: banana chunks, chocolate ice cream encased in pound cake, and a gooey sesame seed paste confection that resembled marshmallow.
\ TOKYO
What would a Japanese restaurant be without a sushi bar? In warp time, the sushi chef produces beautiful, fresh creations to order in front of your eyes. It's a small but very adequate bar and it's one of the highlights.
The sushi chef deftly cuts the fish, then carefully weighs whichever of the items you've requested before swabbing with a judicious amount of wasabi, adding vinegared rice, and then rolling tightly so they look like works of art. Sushi entree prices range from $8.50 for a vegetable maki to $15.95 for Su-Sa- Ma, a roll of raw fish, vegetables, rice and daikon, crunchy Japanese radish. An a la carte menu ($3-$5) offers a selection of 20 different compositions, with two pieces per order.
For lunch, four bento boxes at $5.95 each provide tastings of several standard, known dishes such as chicken and beef teriyaki, a seasoned pork and a shrimp tempura. What makes these offerings outstanding are the tiny plump shrimp dumplings clustered in one section. Exquisitely light, beautifully seasoned and delicately small, these are simply wonderful.
A dinner entree, Samurai Boat ($27.95 for two people), presents an enormous quantity in an arranged composition of fried, steamed, wrapped and raw foods in a large lacquered boat-shaped container. The surprise here is that everything is interesting and good: Fried dumplings with pretty pleated dough wrappings come on a bed of shredded Iettuce, lightly battered, deep-fried yet greaseless, and delicate shrimp, fish and vegetable tempura, skewered sesame beef, California rolls, cucumber rolls, plus more than I can remember, but I know it was all excellent.
The appropriate condiments were there, too. Paper-thin shavings of ginger to help cleanse the palate from one taste to the other, soy sauce and the powerful wasabi for dipping the entree foods and for transferring flavors to the plain rice. Everything was beautifully presented, flavorful and satisfying.
Soothing noodle dishes are generously portioned and delightfully seasoned. Yaki Soba is my favorite. Tan buckwheat noodles (soba) are pan-fried, tossed with pork and several magical flavor-bearing ingredients for a pleasantly filling, tasty dish. Udon, another of the various Japanese noodles, is wider than soba and combines beautifully with seafood and fowlin soups and mixed dishes.
Next to the food, the most striking feature at Tokyo is the tranquility that prevails in the dining room. There's Intercom music and conversation, but the pace is methodical and gracious. Tokyo has a definite place on my culinary map.
\ SAKE HOUSE
Lakeside Plaza, Salem 986-1207
HOURS: Monday-Thursday, lunch: 11:30 a. m -3 p. m; dinner, 5 p. m.-10 p. m. Friday, lunch 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.; dinner, 5 p.m.-10:30 p.m.
PRICE RANGE: lunch, $4.50 - $5.50; dinner, $7.95-$l2.95
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED? Yes, especially for the tearooms|
NONSMOKING SECTIONS? Yes
\ TOKYO
Townside Festival Shopping Center 3749 Franklin Road 345-1626
HOURS: Monday through Saturday, lunch: 11:30 a.m.-3 p. m.; dinner, Monday through Thursday: 5 p. m. -10 p. m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m.-11 p.m. Closed Sunday
BEVERAGES: full-service bar including imported Japanese beers and Sake
CREDIT CARDS ACCEPTED? MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Diners Club
PRICE RANGE: lunch, $4.25-$8.50; dinner, $6.25-$27.95 for two
RESERVATIONS REQUIRED? weekends
NO-SMOKING SECTION? yes
by CNB