Yesterday, I enjoyed my first meal at Sun Moon Studio in West Oakland. As you've likely heard, the restaurant is a very intimate experience. The staff consists of the two chef-owners and two FOH staffers, and there are only 12 seats at four tables and two services (which explains in part why this reso remains so difficult).
The service is is as warm and friendly as the food is delicious. The flavors are bold and fun, and the technique very refined. The emphasis on procuring the best available produce is obvious. The hype for this restaurant was near peak levels, but damned if they didn't pull it off. This was the best dining experience I've had in quite some time.
- Spot prawns and hodo tofu with its yuba and shao wing. The prawn was delicious, but the silky tofu was the star. I don't recall having tofu of this quality outside Japan.
- Razor clam with pomelo, pepper, and perilla; miyagi with pickled tomato and sansho. The clams were imported from the east coast, and were an interesting and refreshing way to start the meal. I don't tend to see a lot of razor clams on the menu out west. The oyster mignonette was superb.
- Egg custard tart with bonito and trout roe; Taiwanese sausage on steamed brioche. The two classic standouts from every Insta post about this restaurant live up to the hype. The tart's pastry was perfectly flaky, and the savory custard matched the ikura's brininess. The sausage roll was very 5 spice forward, the brioche was superb, and the peanuts and cilantro created definite ban mi vibes. I could and would eat 10 of each of these.
- Maitake tempura with meyer kosho and shrimp powder. One of if not the best preparation of tempura maitake I've had. The bold flavors are really on display now.
- Local black cod with menma and alliums. The fish was cooked perfectly, and the menma surprisingly high quality.
- Duck pasta green garlic and nettles. The pasta was delicious, but the hyper unctuous duck broth was the star on an unseasonably cold night.
- Squab crepinette with rice, morel, and asparagus; pretzel croissant. The squab and morel were very delicious, and the asparagus was cooked impeccably. The pretzel croissant is basically the best case scenario for what you would imagine it to be: crunchy, flaky, and deliciously salty. Some day, I'd like to try the earlier Taiwanese sausage on a croissant pretzel roll.
- Cherimoya sorbet with passionfruit. Prior to this, I was unfamiliar with cherimoya,, but thoroughly enjoyed this pallette cleanser.
- Strawberry rhubarb cake with yosemite gold mandarin. The final dessert course certainly follows the eastern axiom of "not too sweet," but is not overly restrained. The fluffiness of the cake and the quality of the strawberries was excellent. Likewise, the oranges were of the quality one typically expects from high end kaiseki in Japan.
- "Golden nuggets." I now believe every multi-course dinner should end with fries and ketchup.
by Glittering-Ad-8601