Ban-Ya Restaurant – Seikai 晴海 Final Night- Dinner Review

The last night at any hotel during a trip is always something special to me, it brings a sense of sadness to me as it means that I’ll be bidding a place farewell, but at the same time, it also means that it is an opportunity to reflect on the place; decide whether it is worth coming back and finally, look forward to the next adventure.

For our last night at Shiosai-no-yado Seikai (潮騒の宿晴海), our hosts returned us to Ban-Ya, which was the same restaurant that was kind enough to organise my vegetarian dinner during Chinese New Year day – so I was very keen on seeing what the menu had on offer.

To start off with, we were given the appetizers which had a selection of small bite size items, the standout for me was the tomato, which really tasted sweet and stayed true to the name of “Tomato tastes like a Peach”. The cheese was also excellent, and cheese is definitely something that Japan has gradually improved on over the years!

1. Appetizer — Appetizers: Tomatoes taste like a peach; Melon roll with Ham; Special miso on cheese; Pumpkin pancake; Marinad of horse mackerel

The next plate that came was the Sashimi plate which came with mackerel and salmon, it’s actually quite odd that Salmon isn’t something that the Japanese actually eats that often (compared to Hong Kong and Sydney) and it was a refreshing item to actually have in Japan, the Mackerel tasted very fresh as well.

2. Sashimi — Beautiful plating of the Sashimi with mackerel and salmon

Following the Sashimi was the Cowheus noodles, plated in one of those mysterious bowls which I’ve grown so fond of during my stay. The broth was very light and the noodles had a nice firm texture to them, which is something that I always prefer.

As I said in previous posts, beef is something that you must try in Japan if you’re a carnivore; and the reason is that the beef in Japan tends to have better marbling and also the “meat” portion takes a front seat compared to the fat; which makes for a less oily and more flavourful dish. The bungo beef once again was a highlight.

4. Bungo Beef - Covered — Bungo Beef – Wrapped

To balance the oiliness of the Bungo Beef, a simple yet very refreshing Tomato dish came, the freshness of the tomato and the moisture cleansed my mouth and provided a good balance to the fattiness from the dish before.

Next came the Grill chicken and honestly, given that it wasn’t the typical “Hong Kong preferred” cuts like the drumstick/another fatty area (honestly I don’t know why people only ever know how to enjoy fat); it was done it such a way that the chicken was not dry and still very tender, top notch cooking skills!

The final dish before the dessert was the staple dish of the squid risotto, now, I have to admit that when I was younger, I use to love risotto a lot; especially a creamy chicken and mushroom risotto back in Sydney, but as I grew up, risotto has kind of lost its appeal to me; none the less, from a purely objective view, the risotto was cooked very well and the flavours of the squid came out without being way too overpowering.

The final dish to complete the evening was the Gateau Chocolat – as a person who prefer the colder alternative to desserts, this dish was so-so for me, and the chocolate may have been slightly too sweet, that said, Ms Buddha finished it quicker than I did, so someone must have liked it!

As a very last thing to top off the evening, we got back to our rooms and just caught the sun-set, which was incredibly impressive – especially when the view at the Seikai is so fantastic.