Morimoto doesn't dissappoint

Ah - the best part of the New York leg of our Honeymoon was eating at Morimoto's. Despite all the wavering reviews, we actually had a good time and had great food! We signed up ahead of time for the Chef's Omakase at the bar hoping to get an up close and personal glimpse of Morimoto himself. It's never a guarantee that you will be served by him or even SEE him and so you can understand my dissappointment when we were seated and he wasn't even in the kitchen. I thought to myself that "it's probably too early"...and sure enough, later in the night, the master himself showed up and I was embarrassingly star struck.

I could have been baised toward the food now that the Celebrity Chef was there and pretty much satisfied my entire goal for the night...but my husband's blunt and honest opinions toward food always keeps me in check so I think I can safely say, the food was great and the presentation was excellent!

Since so much time that has passed since that dinner, I may have trouble recalling it all so I can only talk to the pictures we took.


The caviar course was incredible. It was a rainbow of flavor! I fell in love with the presentation and naturally, the taste of each different type of egg just blew me away. The bottom row of "sauces" accompanied the course, but I couldn't bear to ruin the taste - I had each caviar just as they were.


The fish dish - I thought for the price he might use a different type of fish...but soon realized that maybe it was done on purpose. The fish was served with a foie gras topping and if the fish had been more "buttery", the foie gras would've either been too much or dissappear completely. I don't know, I'm not a chef - but that was our theory. It was a very good pairing, even my husband thought so who is pickier than me sometimes!


The kobe shabu shabu was EXCELLENT! And I mean excellent in every way. The presentation began with the waitress bringing over a bucket/well of water and setting it in front of us. Not sure if the water was hot or not, but if it wasn't, it sure was after they put this steaming hot rock in it! The water sizzled as the rock went in and the water continued to boil around it. For ambiance, I gave this two thumbs and two big toes UP. :) To add to the enjoyment was the superb texture and flavor that the kobe beef provided. Now - I've ordered Kobe beef before and have been very dissappointed. Also - some past reviewers of Morimoto had murdered the restaurant on it's assumed use of American Kobe Beef (they assumed it was American since they thought it was so bad that it couldn't possibly be from Japan). But on this night...not sure if the beef this time came from Japan or if the beef was American bred and just really good...but it was the best darn piece of shabu meat I have EVER had in my ENTIRE LIFE. The marbleing of the beef was EVERYWHERE in each piece and I can think of no better way than to eat that beef shabu shabu style. I wish two courses had consisted of Kobe Beef Shabu Shabu.

Here's a few more pics...