Kazan Tasting Course

  The entry to Kazan is discrete.  You just know good things are behind that door, but you need to be adventerous  enough to enter.  We enter.  The atmosphere is romantic with dimly lit rooms and smokey mirrors.  Our server speaks English and in addition to the usual course dinners on the menu, hands us a card for an additional special tasting tonight.  We opt for this course dinner which is Y5000 (about $50 per person, not including beer and sake).

  After ordering one of the home brewed Kazan beers, we were served our first course.  We were offered a choice of three and I began with the sashimi shrimp and orange caviar cold soup while David had the gelee of Sea Urchin (see picture below).  We can recommend both.  They were served in mini martini-like glasses.  My soup was like a shrimp bisque.  My only concern was which piece of silverware to use.  We had chopsticks, forks, demi spoons and the one I finally settled on,  a long stemmed  mini spoon.  I was relieved when I saw another diner choose the same. 

  We next perused the sake menu to see the offerings.  David chose a Katatobi while I continued with beer.  His sake was excellent.  Smooth and elegant.  Our "Cat's Eye" Oysters were the best we've ever tasted.  You could taste the ocean in your mouth.  There were two choices of sauces, one was the traditional red sauce and the other was an anchovy cream.  Both were good, but who needs sauce when you have the best tasting oyster in the land.

  The next course were a duo of sashimi octopus mixed with zucchini, carrots and barley with a smokey flavor paired with sashimi angel prawn with a red dipping sauce.  Amazing.  (see picture below)

  At this time I moved on to order sake.  I ordered a Seamon sake; however as soon as our server left the table, David told me it was the wrong sake.  We attempted to change our order, but ended up with one of each.  Good for me, I preferred the Seamon.  Our next course was another type of Angel Prawn, this was coated with panko and deep fried served with a Japanese tartar sauce.  This was also delicious, but still could not compare the largest Prawns we have ever had in Mozambique and have to yet find any that compare.

  The next offering were Quebec Welks (see picture below) served in a miso sauce with green pepper. We were then served the best dish of the night, and possibly of our life.  Whale meat steak with a red wine and berry sauce.  We had to verify this dish as we never dreamed whale meat would like steak.  It was as tender as a filet Mignon and you could slice it with a fork.  We were so excited we forgot to take a photo, we just dug in.

  We needed nothing after that, but the meal continued with a pasta course and assorted desserts.  The evening ended with the staff bowing to us as we strolled down the street, in total happiness.