Area: Lucent Tower 2F, about 500m north of Nagoya Station, ルーセントタワー
Restaurant: Nagoya Oyster Bar ナゴヤオイスターバー
Website and Map: http://tyu.co.jp/shop2/
Hours: 11am-11pm (LO 10:30), Lunch serverd until 3pm
This is the first Oyster bar I've been to in Nagoya. The nice part about it is that it's open through the late afternoon and early evening hours. They also don't charge a sitting fee. There is a lunch menu served until 3pm (for less than ¥1000), but there is also the option of ordering a la carte. The black olive tapenade (around ¥580) was addictive with the salty puréed olive seasoned with plenty of pepper. The oysters were lightly coated in flour or starch before cooking so it had a somewhat crispy outer that soaked up the flavour of the dressing. The shrimp was cooked to the point just before becoming overcooked. The onions were a perfect flavour balance addition to this dish.
The fig and ricotta baked oyster (¥470) was an interesting combination. The topping was sweet like dessert, but this brought out natural and fresh flavor of the oyster (unlike the stir-fried version which had a more sea water fragrance).
I returned again to try the lunch menu (served until 3pm). There are various sets to choose from such as oyster chilli mayo, fried oyster, etc. I was kind of curious to see what a garlic steak oyster lunch was (¥850), since there was actually no steak in the picture. Turns out it used steak sauce, infused with butter and garlic infused this sauce. It went deliciously well with the oysters. The salad had a light emulsion vinegrette. It was plain but refreshing. It's a bit disappointing that the salad was made up of the same veggies in the rice bowl. The set might benefit from more variety in this area. The barley mixed in with the sauce gave the rice a chewy texture.
The soup was not miso soup, as I had expected, but being an oyster bar, I'm guessing it was an oyster broth. Perfect in sodium level, it was a nice change from the regular soups.
This restaurant has made me become addicted to oysters. This time I ordered the fried oyster tortilla ¥820. On the menu it says it's their most popular item, and I can see why. I was a bit surprised in the amount of heat and spice in this dish since I thought the Japanese don't really go for strong aroma spices. But I guess in this case, this isn't necessarily a Japanese style restaurant and the spices add more smokiness than heat to this dish. The mayonnaise had a chipotle flavour and it was sprinkled with perhaps dried ground chipotle. Inside the chewy wrap was lettuce, avocado, breaded fried oysters and tomato salsa. All of the flavors melded well, and although high in the sodium factor, the smokiness from the chipotle, the creaminess of the avocado and the juice of the oyster all added an extra level to this dish. After all, this is a bar so the flavours are going to be bold to make you want to drink more.
After having so much success and after receiving some coupons, I've yet again returned. This time, I ordered the ginger marinated oyster (¥580). I had a coupon for the day's special appetizer which was pork shoga yaki (a sweet soya sauce based gingery sauce), a Japanese home staple). The pork is thinly sliced and is sautéed in a pan with the sauce. Sometimes onion and other veggies are added, but this one was just the pork. The pork in this dish had a nice fat to meat ratio and was not at all dry, but not so fatty as to feel gross after eating it. The ginger flavor was mild and tasted like standard shoga yaki. The house-made special ginger marinade on the oyster was a delight. The ginger was minced as oppose to grated (in the shoga yaki), so the ginger's heat and flavor stood out. It had a nutty flavor (perhaps peanut or sesame oil was used). The oysters were covered in flour or starch before cooking making them crispy with a juicey interior. It was topped with candied myoga (a small shallot-like Japanese veggie). It had a familiar flavor, and I think it was sweetened with maple syrup! The sweetness went perfectly well with the salty and spicey ginger sauce.
Next was the 4 cheese pizza (¥950), not as thought out as the other dishes in this restaurant. It sounded interesting because it had Gorgonzola, my favorite cheese, and was accompanied by honey to drizzle on as desired. The other cheeses used were a regular processed cheese, ricotta and powdered parmesan, sprinkled with pepper and dried oregano. The crust was not greasy and was more bread like. The cheese flavors didn't really match the honey, which just made it sweet.
The raw oyster (¥300) was however nice. It didn't have any fishy sea flavor, meaning it was pretty fresh.
The nori gratin (¥730) had a familiar flavor, almost like clam chowder. The nori did give it a pretty seafoody taste. Little cubed potato and carrots also added to the clam chowder feel.
The fried oyster was juicy and the batter was nice and crisp. It came with 2 dips; the first was a mayo that seemed house-made because it was a bit more vinegary and less salty than the usual Japanese mayo. The red sauce was strong on the tomato paste and perhaps had some chipotle flavor.
The red and yellow pepper (and onion) marinade was such an interesting experience in my mouth. Almost like it had been marinated in soda, it was fizzy! Not salty or vinegary either. I didn't really fancy the mushiness of the onion. The real highlight of this dish was not the flavor but the fizziness.
Chicken wrapped oyster with ricotta tomato sauce (¥850). This is an interesting combo that takes 30 min to bake in the oven. It's really difficult to tell from the picture and description that this is what the dish was. I'm not so sure chicken works well with oyster though. The flavor of the oyster overpowers the chicken. Because it was slow baked, the chicken came out a bit dry and chewy. The sauce, using fresh tomatoes tasted like a rose sauce, but played off the mildness of the ricotta nicely. It was better off kind of deconstructing the roll and eating the chicken and steamed spinach with the sauce separately from the oyster. The chicken could have used a bit more seasoning. The fried veggie laid across the top was simple but was a nice addition.
The green onion and salt sauté's base was a strong garlickey oil which was the key to this dish's goodness. It was indeed salty but that's ok when salt is included in the dish's name. It came on a bed of salad, so eating the lettuce and warm sauce was a good combo. Shrimps were also included giving it some volume. This one was more of an Asian flavour, probably soy sauce.
I wouldn't recommend the Tomato risotto if your looking for an Italian dish. It was basically ketchup rice with a lot of cheese, bacon, and tasted more like pizza. In Japan, I believe this is a dish adored by kids. The rice did have barley in it, but it could have used more oomph somewhere.
I've posted a lot here, both yummy and not so yummy dishes, but I will keep coming back to try new flavors and to get my oyster fix!
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