Higoi
I remember when Higoi first opened my thoughts ran as follows: A classy Japanese restaurant in the heart of Studentland? - I give them a month, tops. Tonight, twenty years later, I decided to go back and find out why they are still there.
The Japanese are masters of miniturisation and in the compact Higoi we were served a multitude of tiny dishes by a very small waitress. We went for the Kaiseki set meal at £27/head which seemed to cover a fair ammount of ground from the a-la-carte. The menu is somewhat cryptic, offering dishes such as "steamed food", "simmered food" and even "vinegar food." At our asking the waitress did attempt to elaborate, but sadly all the Japanese I learnt by watching Shogun could not help me.
The food is beautiful to look at, as you would expect. It's more interesting than the standard conveyor-belt, shopping-mall sushi that has become ubiquitous. But it's just too damn small. I saw a television programme recently which attempted to explain how to live to 100 years old. Apparently the Japanese have a tradition that one should "eat until you are 80% full" which accounts for their extraordinary longevity. Anyone who ate at the Higoi every night would probably live to 200, or perhaps it would just seem like it.
The vegetable tempura with the main course was probably the highlight, though the main dish itself was a thumbnail-sized piece of salmon. Dessert was fresh fruit and ice-cream, vanilla ice-cream. I mean, they could at least have gone for green-tea flavour or something a little bit different, but no...
£27/head was shockingly bad value for money. I am at a loss to explain their success.
The Japanese are masters of miniturisation and in the compact Higoi we were served a multitude of tiny dishes by a very small waitress. We went for the Kaiseki set meal at £27/head which seemed to cover a fair ammount of ground from the a-la-carte. The menu is somewhat cryptic, offering dishes such as "steamed food", "simmered food" and even "vinegar food." At our asking the waitress did attempt to elaborate, but sadly all the Japanese I learnt by watching Shogun could not help me.
The food is beautiful to look at, as you would expect. It's more interesting than the standard conveyor-belt, shopping-mall sushi that has become ubiquitous. But it's just too damn small. I saw a television programme recently which attempted to explain how to live to 100 years old. Apparently the Japanese have a tradition that one should "eat until you are 80% full" which accounts for their extraordinary longevity. Anyone who ate at the Higoi every night would probably live to 200, or perhaps it would just seem like it.
The vegetable tempura with the main course was probably the highlight, though the main dish itself was a thumbnail-sized piece of salmon. Dessert was fresh fruit and ice-cream, vanilla ice-cream. I mean, they could at least have gone for green-tea flavour or something a little bit different, but no...
£27/head was shockingly bad value for money. I am at a loss to explain their success.
posted by Nottingham Diner | 9:53 AM
1 Comments:
I think you've totally missed the point of Japanese food here - its nothing to do with quantity, its more about preserving and presenting the freshness of the ingredients, and combining flavours subtly rather than bullish, over-the-topness that a load of Western Food lends itself too. Whilst £27 may be a fair old whack to pay, part of what you are paying for is experiencing the approach the Japanese take to food, and Higoi is pretty good at that - especially as Nottingham isn't exactly swimming in proper Japanese resturants. You might not like it so much, but I think to disregard it in such a way is, well, quite naive, especially considering you're confidence when it coming to having such a discerning palate.
Bye!
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