Sumo and Sake

Priority number one yesterday was to head to Ryōgoku get tickets for the Sumo Basho. There was a promo on, with sumo-related souvenirs, and of course R. took mine.


And then across town to have lunch with M.-san, my father's former colleague and my long-time mentor on Japanese food, sake, and literature. He really does know the best places to eat, and never fails to account for R.'s vegetarianism.


By now, R. is getting to be a complete expert, even sumo-otaku. Instead of going for the box seats, she insists that the second tier terrace seats are the best. Her man Ama (the wrestler to the top of the picture) didn't have a great day against Asashoryu. My guy, Takamisakari put in his usual emotional performance. Well, stung by today's sumo fortunes, there was clearly only one remedy. We headed down to Ginza to meet N. and A., bypassed formalities such as dinner, and prepared to fortify ourselves for the oncoming typhoon (heavy rain and howling winds as I write this).


The venue was "Japanese Sake Dining" simply named, straight to the point. 180 sakes available, and a resident sake sommelier (a young woman, really knew her stuff, we learned a lot). We had a private cubicle set up for the four of us and armed with the huge sake menu, we set to work.


Sogen junmai namazake from Ishikawa Prefecture. Very perfumed, fruity (musk melons), and noticeably amakuchi (sweet). Almost pale yellow in colour, hints of copper even. Very little of the live character of typical unpasteurised sake. However, we were also told that this is a "double fermented" sake. I have no idea what that means.


Gazanryu from Yamagata Prefecture. I believe this was also a junmai namazake. Served cool, this was much less perfumed than the Sogen. The attack was very much amakuchi in style, but it dried out quickly on the palate and finished refreshingly crisp, with a bit of zing... now this is namazake! I liked this very much. SOTN (sake of the night). More of a honeydew thing going on initially, with soft grassy notes to finish.


Ichiyarai Kokuryo (Black Dragon) from Fukui Prefecture. Certainly not very much in the nose. This is drier still, very clean on the attack and mid-palate. Alcohol was lacking a bit of integration, but the dry, herbal finish (a bit of lemongrass) was nice. I should note that I was beginning to feel like the way my friend here looks, i.e., "I can't feel my legs, I guess we'll have to stay then." I may have proposed to the sommelier during the selection of this item. R. confirms that I sought her permission before asking. Perhaps not coincidentally, we had a new server after this.


Moshya from the island of Shikoku. This is the house special sake, in that it is brewed specially for the restaurant. The meaning of the name has something to do with dreaming. This was witheringly dry, almost no suggestion of fruit. Herbal, grassy, sharp. Really good stuff, but I still gave the nod to the Gazanryu.


After the Moshya, our replacement server tried to lure us into trying a sake that was made with a koji (mold) that was grown on a space mission. Ok, we were slipping, but not that badly. It was time to call it a night, meaning we needed some ramen. Sadly, Ginza is not the best place to find a cheap steaming bowl of noodly goodness, but after a couple of taxi rides we managed to find a place with exceptional business hours.


Tantenmen - black sesame and pork ramen, fiery stuff, and just the thing to bring balance back to my world. Whenever I wake up, I should be plenty ready for another day of sumo and sake.