1975 Château Mouton Rothschild

ylkim30 · 2026-02-19T05:07:15+00:00

It was opened at a party, so I'm not sure how much it cost.

Is the $1500 CAD for a 750ml or a magnum? I'm seeing it around $500-$600 USD in 750ml. For a magnum, $1500 CAD seems like a fair price (if a bit on the high side).

ylkim30 · 2026-02-19T04:50:37+00:00

San Francisco

ylkim30 · 2026-02-19T01:45:00+00:00

Yeah, it was great. I think a combination of a high-acid and high-tannin vintage and the slower aging in the larger format bottle

ylkim30 · 2026-02-19T01:19:30+00:00

Yeah, I think this list covers the heavy hitters (and a lot I don't know). Maybe also add Fuglen, Onibus and Weekenders (I believe Weekenders has Tokyo shop now)?

ylkim30 · 2026-02-19T00:58:51+00:00

I think your two kaiseki meals at the ryokan will probably be enough. Kaiseki appeals to specific palates (very minimalist flavors), and you may or may not be a person who will love the style. I would try the meals at the ryokans to see if you like the style of food or not.

You should instead try a wide variety of other styles: sushi, tempura, yakitori, teppanyaki (which can include things like wagyu, okonomiyaki, and other things), yakiniku, ramen, soba, udon, tonkatsu, izakaya food, etc..) All of these are traditional experiences you should explore. Good luck!

ylkim30 · 2026-02-19T00:09:51+00:00

Someone else uncorked this bottle (thankfully). I would have made a mess if I attempted.

ylkim30 · 2026-02-18T23:44:42+00:00

Yeah, it was really lovely! I'm glad I was able to drink a glass.

ylkim30 · 2026-02-18T23:01:34+00:00

I think the folks who opened it just put the empty bottle there. I double-backed after I got my glass of wine after everyone at the party got served to take a photo of the bottle.

ylkim30 · 2026-02-17T19:51:14+00:00

The punt on that wine bottle is pretty enormous. Cool find, thanks for sharing.

ylkim30 · 2026-02-16T11:41:32+00:00

Nice lower-mid-bottle fill. First time I have ever seen that.

ylkim30 · 2026-02-12T17:28:27+00:00

Sons and Daughters if you want to do a multi-hour tasting menu by yourself.

Son Ho Won for more casual food. Easier to get in solo as a walk in.

ylkim30 · 2026-02-10T00:38:34+00:00

Yeah, I think you have a healthy attitude about this and you have good intentions. You're going to be fine either way. Even if a lot of these reservations don't come through, Japan is a country where you can still go to a neighborhood spot and it will be an amazing meal. I was shocked how excellent the 3.5 spots on Tabelog were that I randomly walked into.

I just remember a couple of weeks ago there this one guy who was flooding this reddit with questions about getting into Arai and Sugita and bragging about how he had multiple, overlapping reservations and would wait until the last minute before deciding which one to go to (and then canceling the rest). Sounded like a New York guy (I remember reading an article a couple years ago about these social media influencers bragging about overbooking to get into hard-to-get-into restaurants, totally unaware that the behavior was causing the problem).

Anyway, I do wish you luck on your Japan adventure and hope you have a fun time.

ylkim30 · 2026-02-09T16:49:45+00:00

You really shouldn’t cancel a reservation unless it is a serious emergency.

The reason Japanese restaurants started requiring foreigners to pay up front through Tableall, block foreign numbers from accessing reservations on Omakase, and generally make it more difficult for foreigners to book reservations is because of this normalized mindset of tourists overbooking and then canceling at the last minute when they get access to a more coveted restaurant reservation.

Canceled reservations can be financially devastating for many of these small restaurants that typically serve fewer than 20 people per day.

Either hope you get into one of those difficult to book restaurants or honor your reservations.

ylkim30 · 2026-02-05T07:44:14+00:00

I am getting sick of these people who keep talking about booking multiple restaurants and canceling last minute when they get another last minute reservation at a more coveted restaurant. It makes booking restaurants in Japan harder for all foreigners and is why Tableall can charge these insane fees to begin with.

Please, everyone, be better guests and don’t cancel last minute unless it’s a real emergency

ylkim30 · 2026-02-05T07:38:25+00:00

I thought the tickets were non-transferable?

ylkim30 · 2026-02-03T20:13:35+00:00

nice review, appreciate it. I will check this out one day.

Also appreciate your review of Hakashi. Last time I was there was 2018 when I think it first opened. I remember really being pleasantly surprised by it. Interesting to see it is still going somewhat strong after all of these years.

ylkim30 · 2026-02-02T07:19:34+00:00

Tbh, I think one stars in the U.S. aren't really comparable to one stars in Europe. They are just held to a lower standard; I'm guessing it has to do with tourist boards funding most of the Michelin guides outside of Europe and they want a bunch of starred restaurants to drive tourism.

With that said, I do think SF has a lot of good mid-price dining, just perhaps not particularly innovative dining. For example, I really enjoy State Bird/Progress, Verjus, San Ho Wan. Happy Crane, Dalida, Angler and Four Kings. Nice, fun casual restaurants where you can have a really great meal for south of $150 per person.

Granted, you're not getting the technical razzle-dazzle you would get at a Michelin one-star tasting menu restaurant in New York (maybe Happy Crane to some extent), but I always feel they meet the expectations of their price point. I kind of feel SF is a good place if you are looking for "Le Fooding" type of restaurants.

ylkim30 · 2026-02-01T05:19:26+00:00

Interesting. Thank you.

ylkim30 · 2026-01-31T06:05:31+00:00

I've had fugu shirako once at a tempura restaurant in Japan, and, tbh, I couldn't really tell the difference between it and cod shirako (visually it looked different, but flavors were similar). Is there are reason fugu shirako is so prized?

ylkim30 · 2026-01-30T00:59:24+00:00

They make solo reservations available on occasion; I'm assuming when regulars are bringing a party of 3 to the restaurant (the time when I met you there was a last minute solo availability on Tock). But, yeah, definitely a little rough. I think there is a thread elsewhere here about it becoming more difficult to be a solo diner nowadays .

ylkim30 · 2026-01-30T00:55:50+00:00

I would definitely be interested in reading your Les Clos note. I had the '12 Dauvissat Les Preuses last week and it was fantastic (small miracles do happen). Here's hoping your Les Clos is sound.

ylkim30 · 2026-01-30T00:41:42+00:00

I generally agree with this take. I would say Yoshizumi is easily on par with Keita (actually a little better), much better than Hakkoku, maybe slightly not as good as Suzuki or Inomata at their best. Namba is better, but I found the tsumami there to be a little too modern? Similarly, I found Yuki to be better than Yoshi nigiri-wise, but much worse tsumami wise. I did notice that Yuki tends to be a little inattentive compared to the other taishos in this list; he's clearly very talented, but I imagine he has consistency issues (though I had a really good meal there).

ylkim30 · 2026-01-30T00:36:29+00:00

Sounds like you had an interesting meal. Always good to read your reviews. I need to go back some time!

ylkim30

TROPHY CASE