another year & ristorante raffinato

If you were paying attention to some of the comments on yesterday's post, you might have figured out it was my birthday.

Very low key day.

For dinner, I bought some herbed chicken avocado salad and fried shrimp from the department store food floor.

We also had some wine and cheese.

Berry cheesecake from Antenor.

Didn't like the way the guy packed these cakes into the box...they were kinda squooshed in...boo!

(I actually wanted to buy some cake from Rocket or Patisserie a Terre, but they were closed yesterday, will try to get something from them next week...)

Flowers from Satoshi.

Lunch today with my host mom and host brother's wife at Ristorante Raffinato.

Carrot mousse with uni(sea urchin) gelee...so good!

Kanburi (a type of amberjack) salad....loved all the different veggies in there!

Crepe filled with spinach, cheese sitting on top of housemade tomato sauce...simple and delicious!

Hokkigai (type of mollusk) and broccoli risotto sprinkled with bottarga...scorching hot! but super delicious!

Kinoko (mushroom) pasta...earthy!

Wagyu so tender that it melted in my mouth!

Gorgonzola pannecotta and raspberry gelato.

Espresso to end.

There was also a sudachi (type of citrus) palate cleanser between the main dish and dessert.

Everything was delicious and nicely portioned, still, I was so full afterwards!

Appreciate my host-family always treating me like part of their family.

Also thankful for being able to celebrate another year....hope your week is going well!

Ristorante Raffinato
13-15 Shinozuka-cho
Ashiya, Hyogo
Phone: 0797.35.3444
Closed Tuesdays
Lunch: 11:00-13:00, Dinner: 18:00-20:30