The ongoing food promotion at Taj Mahal Hotel’s Wasabi aims to combine the skill of fine slicing of carpaccio and the skill of fine mincing of tartare. Shrabasti Mallik learns about this side of Japanese cuisine from chef Dolphy lobo
Japanese food is just not about raw fish and maki rolls. There is more to the cuisine than just those. We were introduced to a whole new range of the cuisine at the restaurant Wasabi at the Taj Mahal Hotel.
We seated ourselves at the live sushi counter as Dolphy lobo, chef de cuisine, Wasabi, walked us through their Carpaccio and Tartare promotion. He said that the term carpaccio comes from an Italian artist Vittore Carpaccio, whose trademark colours used to be red and white. “We use red and white meat, usually fishes. So, we have white fish carpaccio, which is fluke fish,” he said, pointing to another chef slicing the fish fillet like an artist.
The menu has been carefully created by the chef and he said that he has tried to make a contemporary fusion with the dishes. He explained with an example, “When we think of Japanese cuisine, the first thing that comes to mind are sushi, maki rolls and Bento boxes. But here, in this menu we have tried to break that conception.” Then he showed us the menu and pointed out a host of vegetarian options. “We have the avocado tartare, lily bulb tartare and the mushroom, white asparagus tartare which are very much vegetarian,” he added.
If you happen to go down there to dine, you might as well ask the chef of the dishes that you are having because he will not only explain to you the dish and how it is made, he will also go that extra mile to show you a few ingredients.
We asked him about the lily bulb tartare and he told us that the dish is prepared with finely chopped lily bulbs and is served with guacamole sauce. Except for a few green vegetables everything is sourced from Japan. From the fishes to the spices and even the condiments. The cuisine uses very less spices. It uses shonsho pepper, which is nothing like the black pepper we use. Chef lobo made us taste the shonsho pepper. The hotness level was almost nil.
Then there is the Fukujinzuke, a pickle made with vegetables — sesame seeds, sisho leaves (a variety of the mint family), brinjal, natamame (beans from the gourd family) shiitake, cucumber and lotus stem. “The sisho leaves are pungent and is brought from Japan,” chef said.
From the main course, we tried the avocado tartare and it looked, and tasted delicious. Usually a tartare is prepared with minced beef or meat but here the basic ingredients were vegetarian — hass avocado, which is of high quality and grown in Mexico. The tartare had a middle layer of green tomato salsa or schiviche, made with jalapenos, coriander, bell peppers and nine condiments like oregano, rosemary, garlic ginger and Japanese togarashi (peppers).
Just not that, the select menu lays a lot of focus on presentation, too, because the plate looked nothing less a work of art. There were droplets of spicy mayo on the side along with droplets of saikyo miso and balsamic reduction of soya (reducing soya to a thick consistency). The top of the avocado mix has chopped red radish (daikon), white sesame seeds, scallions and soya onions. We were told that that the soya onions are prepared by dipping onions in soya sauce for a month and then keeping them in a solution of grapeseed oil mixed with mirin. There were also zucchini timbale. “The dish tastes best of you take a scoop with everything on the plate,” Nilonjoy, manager, Wasabi suggested.
The lobster carpaccio was also a delight. It was presented in the lobster itself. “The lobster is called the omar shrimps. The meat is tender as compared to older lobsters. The meat is cooked in the sous-vide process where the meat is put in a food grade bag the air is sucked out of it and it is cooked in its own juices. It is a slow cooking process and the flavour of meat is spread evenly,” the chef explained. Coupled with beetroots, hints of garlic, ginger, fujiko (sea weeds) and calamari dressing — this dish is a must try.
The dessert, trust us, was a surprise. We can consider a tartare being made with chicken, but imagine if you were told about a sweet dish called the fruity tartare. Yes, chef lobo has actually prepared such a dish.
The tartare is made with strawberries and papaya while the topping is of goma ice cream. Before we could ask the chef what that was he said, “It is sesame ice cream, made from sesame paste. And it is delicious.” We couldn’t agree more. Not only was it delectable but was very smooth. “We make it with sesame paste which we get from Japan. The sesame paste is of high quality and not bitter in taste,” he added.
When the dessert arrived we did not feel like digging in, it looked that beautiful. There was a sea of vanilla cream on which the tartare was placed, topped with the goma ice cream. The side of the plate looked equally appealing with droplets of mint and saffron extracts. There were also two scoops each of watermelon and papaya, along with a glutenous block with a topping of pineapple compote. Chef lobo told us that it is called kanten (China grass from which the gelatin is made).
The promotion is on till February 10 and we suggest that once you are there, do not miss the lobster carpaccio and the dessert, if not anything else. We are glad that we got to see this side of the Japanese cuisine.