Although the menu was a bit different, there were still quite a few of our old Tanto favorites here, including the daikon sarada, potato mentaiko, and gyutan shioyaki, and they were all largely prepared just as well as at Tanto (I would have liked the gyutan to be cut a bit thinner, but it was pretty well grilled like Tanto did though). They also had a ribeye with garlic flakes similar to Tanto's gariku suteki and just as tasty, although the meat had a few too many chunks of fat in it. Drinkwise, they had some of my favorite sake, including Oni Goroshi. We also picked up a bottle of Orion, an Okinawan beer, as well as some rice-based beer, which I originally expected to taste more sake-like due to its rice, but it ended up tasting just like most other beers.
So in the end, this place was definitely worth the while, and, as with Tanto, still in many ways better than some places that I've been to in Japan. But if I had to choose between the two, I'd have still stick to Tanto. From what I can remember from four years ago, Tanto did an even better job of many of these already very-well-done dishes. I just hope that they haven't changed since they got more popular (apparently they have expanded to three locations now).
It doesn't sound too great when I describe it in words, especially since it sounds like an identity-crisis-type restaurant that I usually shun. I still can't figure this place out, actually. It is supposedly Teochew-style noodles, but there is a clear Vietnamese influence here (witness the soda chanh - number 40 - I got today), as well as the American-Chinese use of stir-fried broccoli and shrimp on top of the crispy fried noodles. And yes, in typical American-Vietnamese fashion, you order by number here ("I want a large number 2 and a number 40"), and then you pay up after you're finished by walking up to the counter and citing your table number (cash only, mind you, and with a "tips" jar conveniently placed there).
What the heck happened to this place? Maybe it was just our chef, but this food was so bland and boring that it only reinforced my dislike for localized Taiwanese food rather than debunking it. Yuck. At least the ribeye was tender, but even the bean sprouts were boring. (On a quick side note, I heard that Kingswood in Cupertino has shut down.)
I also love the fresh radish, lime, and jalapeno garnishes at your disposal too, as well as the orchata rice drink. Mmm...this sure beats what we can get back in Singapore.
A little Danish blue and gouda cheese to close the meal never hurt either. I also grabbed a bowl of instant "Chinese Noodles" later for a snack; they were a bit bland, but adding a little chili sauce helped.
And in case anyone back in California is wondering how different Pho Hoa is out here, the broth is pretty much the same great taste we've come to love. They also apparently use the same marketing logos and bowls. The only differences are subtle: instead of California jalapenos, they give bits of a local red chili pepper (in addition to the lemongrass chili oil, which I believe is a bit unique to this shop in Holland V). I'm also having trouble finding soda chanh here (which I do miss), as they tend to provide the local lime juice so common across Singapore instead. But otherwise, Pho Hoa seems pretty consistent - broth-wise, anyway.
Shiro is a reservations-only place at 24 Greenwood Avenue (6462-2774), where ringing the doorbell is required for them to open the door from the inside for you (after which, they check your name at the door a bit akin to an A-list bouncer). I had never been here before, so I wasn't too sure if the food was going to be any good, but the mystique alone certainly piqued the curiosity enough to want to try it. Fortunately, the food pulled through in almost every way.
They had prix fixe kaiseki deals here, but we went a la carte tonight, as there were quite a few things on the menu that looked really good. One was the kamo rosu-ni sliced duck, which is apparently a house special, and was done in thin tender slices with a nice mustard sauce to complement. The gyu tataki was done with wagyu beef, which of course made these thin slices of seared delight very tender (the wasabi and light dipping sauce went well with it too). The scoops of nasu dengaku eggplant with its delicately sweet miso was better done than at Nanjya Monjya. I was also impressed with the furufuki daikon, which was simply a stewed turnip vertically topped with a citrus sauce (and some sort of a greyish seaweed that looked almost like mold but was nearly tasteless). Then again, I'm a sucker for daikon of any kind; raw, stewed, what have you.
The highlight of the meal for me though was the gyutan, which was full of the richness that grilled tongue usually provides, despite not exhibiting any grill marks like shioyaki should. But they go the extra mile here with mushrooms to be wrapped in the thin slices of gyutan and a pinch of ginger for a little extra kick. My eyes also lit up at the tastiness and freshness of the scallops in the sashimi moriwase.
Was there anything not to like? The shrimp used in the ebi tempura weren't as fresh as they could have been. The batter was very delicate though (as any top-notch place should make it), thus making this leagues beyond most places' tempura. But it still falls a bit short of Tenshin Tempura at the Regent. In addition, the broth in the nyu-men was a bit boring to me, but at least the thin flat noodles were tasty.
In a room so small with only a limited number of reservations-only tables, the service was impeccable, with plates being replaced constantly and instant attention at your beck-and-call. Of course, it's at kaiseki-like prices, so it's something one can only do a limited number of times in a lifetime, but it is worth it. This was indeed a really good meal.
