cookingwiththehamster
- Feb 20, 2020

Yoshinobu

The more time passes, the more Milan turns out to be a lover of Japanese restaurants offering traditional cuisine. By now the places to eat well are no longer counted on the fingers of one hand and the people who want to experience authenticity are more and more numerous. Therefore, there are Japanese restaurants of high (and very high) quality and then there is Yoshinobu, which places itself on another dimension. In this article I will explain why.

Chef Yoshinobu Kurio (Yoshi for the loyal) is the boss. Originally from Osaka, he began his career in Japan, then moved to Germany and finally to Italy in Milan, where he worked for a few years at Nobu. Later he opened the restaurant that bears his name, a place where a lunch but above all a dinner is an incredible experience to say the least.

In a candid, minimalist and white environment, with the walls made with Japanese paper, you feel like you are in a dream. The beauty lies in the counter room, where chef Yoshi works concentrate on the freshest fish I have ever eaten in a Japanese restaurant in Milan so far. Yoshi san's severe precision in choosing raw fish is nothing short of obsessive: every morning he goes to the fish market at dawn to choose only the best, carefully disentangling himself between farmed fish, caught in the net or cane. For this reason, for what concerns the raw one must refer to the menu of the day, which always changes. At dinner, in fact, fish is never served which is not considered up to par. Add to this the refinement of his touch and the kindness of the dining room staff, made up of a team of attentive and friendly Italian guys (a very smart choice, because the staff livens up the atmosphere).

At lunch the restaurant offers the classic bento box, which changes every day. A great choice to try the cuisine of chef Yoshi without spending too much.

In the evening there are three menus: the main one, the raw one and the hot dishes one.

The main menu contains the restaurant's ongoing proposals: appetizers (tartare and sashimi topped with various garnishes), salads and vegetables (excellent miso eggplants), miso soups (do not miss the one with red miso and the one with lobster broth, clams, mussels and sea truffle), steamed sauté dishes, noodles in broth (udon or soba) and grilled dishes with charcoal (famous is the giant crab).

The raw food menu is a triumph of goodness, choosing is really complicated because everything is extremely inviting. There are also many fish and / or cuts on the list that are very difficult to find in other restaurants, not to mention that if like me you choose to dine at the counter (a forced choice, I dare say!) You will have the opportunity to see the incredible raw material and the consequent preparation.

I decided to try a little bit of everything, starting with the mix of sushi and sashimi that left me speechless. The freshness and goodness of the fish proposed by Yoshi san are out of the ordinary. I really liked the oyster gunkan and bonito sashimi, not to mention the tuna belly (comparable to the best tasted in Japan, without many turns of words) and the grouper nigiri with yuzu and pink salt or fresh eel, the best ever tasted. Alternatively, you can also choose temaki and maki (of which I recommend that of fresh moeche).

The third menu is that of hot dishes. I tried the tempura of squid, Norway lombers and prawns, served with salt and green tea: sublime. Alternatively, all the dishes based on fillet or fish neck cooked on the grill are delicious.

The wine list is very interesting, as is the dessert list. Even the pastry is curated by chef Yoshi: for this reason I chose the selection of traditional Japanese sweets which includes dorayaki (azuki marnellate is delicious), sesame ice cream, sponge cake with green tea and mochi.

If you really love sushi or still want to eat authentic Japanese cuisine (incidentally, the full name of the restaurant is "Yoshinobu authentic Japanese restaurant"), you cannot help but enjoy the luxury of spending a memorable dinner in this restaurant. Yes, you will spend an absolutely important amount and not comparable to that of the other high quality Japanese restaurants, but you will be more than happy to have enjoyed a 360 ° rewarding experience.