Yotsuba (Shunyi Branch)

By Julia Fiedler (bestfoodinchina.net)
Updated: 2009-03-30 15:53

When Mr. Kawabata's sharp knife slides through a piece of deep red tuna it happens with the greatest of precision. Red fish and white fish sushi is lined up on a dish in turn, followed by clam sushi, below them maki, tamago, prawn and eel. Not only taste and consistency are important - colour and presentation play a vital role. Mr. Kawabata has been making sushi for 30 years, and for eight months in Beijing at Yotsuba.

The two restaurants are greatly popular not only through their initial following within the Japanese dining community, but also more and more Chinese and Westerners have discovered their merits. It is not surprising that all the tables at the downtown restaurant are booked out days in advance. My Japanese friend is so overly excited about Yotsuba's food that it makes me curious. We decide to drive to Shunyi, to the second restaurant which the owner Mr. Harada opened eight months ago.

Shunyi's Yotsuba is bigger and has several plain but tastefully decorated private rooms. It's also possible to be seated at an exclusive space opposite Mr. Kawabata's sushi bar. The waitresses are very friendly and attentive and bring us tea and the menu as soon as we take our seat. We peruse the menu but then decide to let Mr. Kawabata's expertise speak for itself and select the best combination of dishes for us.

To begin with, three starters arrive at our table. The young bamboo shoots, sprinkled with lightly salted dried Bonito-fish, are slightly warm, tender and sappy. We then have Chawan Mushi: Gingko-nuts, shrimp and mushrooms enrobed by a warm, steamed egg-custard. The little wooden spoon gently slides in, a perfect silky texture. The third starter is a tasty Miso-soup with Watari-gani crab.

As we watch our sushi being prepared, Mr. Kawabata gives us insight into his seven-year long education to be a master sushi maker. An entire year is devoted solely to making rice, to allow the chef to be perfectly able to cook each of the different types of rice that ripen throughout the year.

After the sushi-platter has been laid in front of us, we begin with the O-toro (40rmb), a pink meat from the particularly fatty belly of the tuna. It is so tender that it melts on the tongue. Another tuna-sushi, Chu-toro (30rmb), also from the belly, is less fatty and has a deliciously juicy, almost fruity flavour. The third tuna on our plate, Maguro, is of a deep red colour and made me realise how great the spectrum of flavours in tuna truly is. Like other ingredients - such as tea, vinegar and rice - Yotsuba imports tuna from Japan to ensure the best quality produce. Mr. Harada himself chooses the fish at Tokyo's famous fish market Tsukiji - with an expert eye: Years ago he sold fish there himself.

The tuna alternated with sushi of white fish, Kampachi (20rmb), Ainame and Akami, followed by clam: Mirugai, Hokkigai and Akagai, all of them tasting very fresh and excellent.

When we got to the maki, our chopsticks picked up simple looking although mouthwatering Negi-toro maki (30rmb), filled with Chu-toro and spring onions. Another treat, the Anago (50rmb) - a whole steamed sea-eel brushed with Tsume, a delicately sweet sauce, was fantastic, just like the Kuruma-ebi (prawn, 25rmb). Only in the end was my attention drawn to the Tamago (10rmb), a cube of egg-sushi, which then emerged as a delicious surprise! It was juicy and fluffy, making for a perfect finale to the meal. As a dessert, we were served a refreshingly summery strawberry mousse.

Mr. Kawabata blends the soy sauce by hand to perfectly complement his sushi, and also makes wasabi sauce from scratch - at Yotsuba, every detail receives equal attention. Mr. Harada has even searched for, and found, a type of water in China with the ideal hardness to cook Japanese sushi rice. Given all this, who could be surprised by the excellent taste?

With the food we drank beer. Yotsuba has a good choice of drinks, one specialty to be recommended is the blowfish sake (fin sake, 60rmb). There are lunch offers for 99rmb and set menus at prices between 150rmb and 300rmb. Kid's set menus start from 80rmb.

The food at Yotsuba comes with no frills, focus lies with the fish. That is, no doubt, their recipe for success. Anyone who eats here will not be able to forget the extraordinary taste of truly well-prepared sushi.

 

Location(s) 2/F, Bldg 8, Lakeview Place Dragon Bay Villa, Huan Lu, Houshay

Tel:010-80422284 Beijing