Fatty Eat World: n/naka - Los Angeles, CA

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

n/naka - Los Angeles, CA

I have been wanting to go to n/naka ever since watching Chef's Table on Netflix. It was nearly impossible to book dinner even when they open reservations 3 months prior to the dinning date. We got lucky and finally booked our dinner.

Slave girl didnt know she was paying...

n/naka opens their door at 5:30 pm and the front door is literally locked until 5:30 so we hung out in the front for a good 10 minutes, good things the area didn't look too scary. Inside the restaurant was cozy with dimmed lights. Service was fast and friendly.

We had a 16 course meal that included sushi, sashimi, wagyu, cooked seafood, the signature pasta, and desserts. My favorite was the signature pasta. The flavor was bursting and the texture was spot on. If I had nothing else but a huge bowl of that pasta for the night, I would have been ok. Most interesting thing I had for the night was the lettuce puree. It was bright and surprisingly tasty, especially dipped with the beef. The least favorite was the hailbut from the second course. It was a little overcooked in my opinion and just not very memorable.

Overall I feel the food was good, actually real good, but it just didn't give me the WOAH experience. I have noticed other tables had different dishes from course to course because they were repeated customers. Personally I understand why but still felt a little bit uneasy about seeing it because theirs looked better (and grass is always greener) for the same price. The chances of me returning is going to be unlikely due to the difficult booking process and high price point, but please, try your best to go at least once in life if you are a fan of Japanese food.

Since they don't have a set menu, slave girl was being super sweet and took all the notes for me to share while I stuffed my face. This was what we had:

1. Something unique and something reg.
Santa barb mussel potato puree. Mussel foam. Edible flower. Caviar. Fried onion. Wasabi tasting leaf. Creme fraise.

2. Seasonal Appetizer, Japanese snow crab with radish and truffle. Two japanese mushroom tempura with curry salt. Octopus ceviche with yuzu and ponzu. Halibut panco crusted and yuzu aioli. Pickled Watermelon rind.

Halibut panco crusted and yuzu aioli

Japanese snow crab with radish and truffle

Two japanese mushroom tempura with curry salt

Octopus ceviche with yuzu and ponzu

Pickled Watermelon rind

3. Modern Sashimi . Lightly seared Konpachi/amber jack. Fermented Garlic oil. Beet puree, nori soy sauce, bell pepper dots ... try to use all three sauces together and then dip in ponzu.

4. Soup course. Dashi broth with Rock fish. Brocollini carrot and ginger slivers.

5. Traditional sashimi course: Spiny lobster. Seabream. Toro. Striped jack. Fresh Tuna.

6. Grilled shitake. Unagi. Foie gras. Strawberry. Balsamic and soy sauce glaze.

7. Black cod. Seaweed. Ginger and garlic sauce. Matcha powder. Scallions. Cauliflower Puree.

8. Spaghetti sauce. Truffle. Mentai and cod roe sauce. Abalone. Signature dish.

9. Beef sauce. Wagyu. Grilled Brussels sprout. Beet chip. Yellow squash. Califlower. Lettuce puree. Wasabi aioli. Mashed pumpkin.

10. Refreshing course. Yuzu sake to be taken after oyster. Kumamoto oyster from Washington with flower and ponzu.

11. 6 pcs of nigiri and one hand roll. Golden eye snapper with ponzu. Japanese amberjack with lemon and salt. Chotoro (medium fat tuna) with soy sauce. Sweet shrimp with soy sauce. Japanese scallop with lyuzu and ponzu. Santa Barbara uni. Blue crab handroll.