Service: Excellent and very friendly
Facilities: great and very large washroom, great cleanliness overall
Prices: reasonable to expensive. Top-class Italian wines. Private room for~8 people.
Non-smoking at counter!
Since Chef Masaru Aoki/青木優 took over the Kitchen at Aquavite last year, the trend has focused on healthy and local products for the renewed pleasure of their customers!
You do have to keep your eyes (and ears) open as the ingredients turnover is sometimes overwhelming because Chef Aoki uses only seasonal ingredients with a great care from all the Prefecture.
So last night I paid them a visit after my short stop at Tomii!
Chef Aoki knows that I rarely bother with menu. I just told him to serve me the vegetables of the day, and he immediately complied without fuss but with great enthusiasm.
The first dish (above picture) was Hakusai Na No Hana/白菜菜の花, something between a Chinese cabbage and a rape plant. That particular vegetable I had no idea about was organically grown at Shizen No Chikara Nouen/自然の力農園/Nature’s Power Garden.
The vegetable was fried with only olive oil and a very little amount of butter and a minimum of salt and pepper to not interfere with the true taste of the vegetables. Actually the same method was adopted for the whole with some harder vegetables being lightly boiled first. This vegetable was served with very fine cuts of lard!
Chef Aoki showing a Daikon No Nabana/大根の菜花
I forgot to mention I always eat at the counter where I can keep talking to the chefs while admiring their work!
The main vegetable dish of the day!
Now that main dish was a beauty and coming from all corners of Shizuoka:
From left to right, Broccoli from Hokubu Jiman Ichi Market, Komatsuna and pearl tomatoes (organic from Shizen no Chikara Nouen), small turnip/kokabu and red-heart daikon/koushin daikon (organic by Nagomi in Fujinomiya City) and small lotus roots/renkon (Asabata, Shizuoka City)!
For a closer view!
And another one!
And an extra tidbit: carrot and Kale cabbage from Hokubu Jinan Ichi Market in Shizuoka City!
Looking forward to my next visit!
AQUAVITE
Address: 420-0034 Shizuoka Shi, Tokiwa-cho, 1-2-7, Tomii Bldg. 3F
Tel. & fax: 054-2740777
Opening hours: 11:30~14:00 18:00~22:00
Closed on Sundays
Homepage (Japanese)
Credit Cards OK
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SHIZUOKA GOURMET 