Mashiko

About a year ago, I read somewhere online that there was a Japanese restaurant in West Seattle that offered Kaiseki. I was thrilled, but also depressed since I didn't know anyone who'd enjoy and be willing to pay for a Kaiseki meal with me. Since I met J, I found out that she was just as excited about Kaiseki as I was. So we arranged to have our hubbies taking care of the kids, and took an evening off to try this place out. Yay!

We arrived at Mashiko on time, and were surprised to found all the wait staff to be Caucasians. Don't get me wrong, I am not a racist or anything. However, in the past, I have never been to an authentic Asian restaurant that hired only non-Asian staff. So, while I hoped this prove to be an exception, it did put a question mark in my mind. We decided to try the course meal for two for our first visit, and if that proved to be a good choice, we'd move on to Omakase next time, and Kaiseki the one after. This turned out to be a wise choice, unfortunately not in the way we'd hoped.

The first appetizer was an Ono poke salad with onions and wakame in a garlic soy vinegar dressing, sprinkled with some sesame seeds. The dressing had a very nice flavor. The marinated onion lost all the pungency of a raw onion. This had so much potential to be a great salad if the lead of the salad - the fish - was fresh.

Next was a sushi platter with one asparagus tempura roll topped with sockeye salmon and lemon aioli sauce, and 6 pieces of nigiri, 2 pieces each of tuna, black cod, and rainbow trout. The asparagus tempura was nice and crispy. But again, none of the fish was fresh, especially the cod, it was almost inedible. What a disappointment!

When the server brought the halibut cheek, I didn't know what to expect anymore. But this dish put the smile back on our faces. The fish was wonderfully tender, juicy and savory. It would have been perfect if it was seasoned more evenly. Another intriguing thing was that I grew up as a devoted lover of carrots, and never cared for ginger, but this time everything was flipped, I really liked the pickled ginger, but not the pickled carrots served on the side of the halibut.

Unfortunately that joy was short lived. Our second main dish was clams in uni butter. The broth was a little too salty, the uni taste was undetectable. And the most puzzling thing was that even though all the clams opened up, a lot of them were undercooked! It was gross, for lack of a better word. I couldn't understand why, and kept on trying, but eventually gave up after biting into sand and pieces of shells repeatedly.

The meal ended on a sour note too. The dessert was a Jasmine pearl creme brulee. The creme was infused with a strong Jasmine flavor, but it was undercooked and runny, topped with some super thick and hard sugar.

Maybe my expectation was too high. I always assumed a place that would offer Kaiseki must be capable of consistently delivering quality dishes. This put an end to my search of Kaiseki in the Seattle area. I guess I need to learn to be content with simpler things.

Mashiko Japanese Restaurant
4725 California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98116
(206)935-4339