Koshihikari Echigo Beer

Nouvelle cuisine du Japon!  This was some seriously good food, but certainly not adhering to the traditional methods of preparing sushi - rice-fish-wasabi-soy-ginger.  Add blow torching, cross hatched scoring, ponzu jelly topping, spring onion garnish, shiso petals and wasabi leaves into the mix - and that little list is an indication of what Yashin is doing with its fish.  Yashin looks pretty pretentious from the outside, but stepping up into the restaurant we were welcomed by the classic chant of "Irasshaimase!" from the chefs behind the counter, and the beaming smile of the hostess.  The décor is a mix of technological Tokyo and old school London gentleman's club.  Sounds a bit incongruous, but it kind of works.  I'd booked earlier in the week, and had been assigned a table downstairs, instead of at the high ceilinged main room.  Our coats and bags were taken when we arrived at the table, and we sat at a chesterfield style banquette, one of 6 or 7 tables downstairs.  That vaguely pretentious atmosphere pervaded a little downstairs, with deep house emanating from the B&W speakers in the walls.  But hey, I like a bit of that, so I'm not complaining, just noting for those that hate that kind of thing. Please excuse the awful photos too, because it was a little too dark to expect decent images out of my phone.

Wagyu and wasabi sauce carpaccio

I ordered a Koshihikari Echigo beer, apparenty made with a prestigious brand of rice.  My better half plumped for a regular old Kirin.  We started with Wagyu and wasabi sauce carpaccio.  We think there was maybe a little myoga in the sauce, which was essentially delicious.  The beef itself was seared and topped with cracked black pepper and julienne Shiraga-Negi onion.  As you might expect, the meat melted in the mouth, with the pepper and onion beautifully complementing the beef.  A truly accomplished dish.