Yessss looks like you had a great meal!
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Visited this weekend and amazing as always. A few changes that I thought I’d document for the thread! Only featured items where a primary ingredient was changed. Some other courses had other more minor tweaks. Descriptions below pictures.
Seared Managatsuo (Silver Pomfret) with tosazu vinegar jelly sauce
Grilled eggplant, bonito dashi, ginger
Brentwood Corn and Hokkaido Scallop Kakiage Tempura
Tairagai Kimi-Su Ae (egg yolk miso sauce), okra, snap peas, chrysanthemum greens
Kasugodai Bozushi
Abalone - new prep; I believe one change is that it is now wild. Great chew and amazing flavor! Definitely prefer it to the old prep, though I’ll miss the liver sauce which is not possible with the new abalone as there is far too much sand mixed in to be possible. The broth is simply what comes out of the abalone as it is steamed. Even without adding anything (including salt), it still has plenty of flavor. One of my favorites of the evening.
Live Spot Prawn, Fava Beans, Mitsuba
Panko crusted baby corn
Nabe - Wild Unagi, Komatsuna, Shiitake, Kabu; this was quite a rare treat! Wild Unagi is special even in Japan.
Second fruit course - Peaches and pluots from Regiers. Not sure about the berries.
As usual, among the cult sake he offers, Brandon has a lot of more affordable but still very interesting options. Pick for the evening was Date 7, Season II, Episode III, Suminoe Style. It’s a collaboration sake project by 7 breweries and always cool to see it and try what’s going within the different versions.
Brandon also offered a pour of a Kamonishiki Nama Shiboritate 13% ABV BY24 (extra info added because I couldn’t find further info in English) for the Karasumi course.
Hayato continues to be a very special experience and one of my all-time favorites.
Additional comments:
- I continue to fail at making the empty bowl club
- Regarding Porky’s last post and pomodoro’s follow up comment on spring ingredients, I noticed this in Japan too. I only made it to Kaiseki once in late May in Tokyo and was served boar and bamboo, among others, which I thought a little unusual for that time. Delicious but was wondering if climate change has shifted the peak season for ingredients in general. I didn’t have a chance to ask. At least for this meal though, we were clearly in summer ingredients territory.
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Please let me help you on a future visit…
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Love that Juyondai opener…
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I finally went again 
I geeked out on all of Brandon’s ceramic pieces. I’ve seen them before lol but my level is finally high enough where I truly understand how beautiful (and unique) his ceramic collection is. I was pleasantly pleased that Brandon knew so much about the topic and even attended a fire firing in Japan. All my food media is videos lol so sake and matcha is what I have
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One of the many joys of a Mendo trip is taking the time to visit Cliff Glover and then a meal served on his work at the Harbor House. There is is no easy substitute for the emotions of wood fired ceramics.
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is winter the best menu or the greatest menu @SithLord?
many many highlights: seki saba, zuwaigani, sekogani, scallop and chestnut tempura, matsukawa karei, kinki, duck, anago, new octopus and seafood au gratin at kato.
sakizuke - spiny lobster, lily bulb
seki saba, tosazu jelly
zuwaigani grilled over charcoal
winter vegetable and komochi kombu goma-ae
shinogi - sekogani okayu, kani miso
agemono - kuri no shibukawa-ni, hotate (hokkaido)
owan - kabu, yuzu
otsukuri: matsukawa karei, aori ika
sake steamed abalone
charcoal grilled kinki, roasted onions animal-style
seared duck breast, ginko, silver ankake
panko crusted gobo
mizore nabe: buri, komatsuna, shiitake
karasumi gohan
anago, sansho
k&j orchards nashi pear
shizuoka musk melon
fin
kato bang
sea urchin, ham, caviar
crab, scallop, abalone, clam au gratin
octopus, kelp vinegar
boniato yam, cheese, brown butter
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For breakfast, he would eat “vast quantities of hominy, eggs, cornbread, muffins, flapjacks, chops, fried potatoes, beefsteak, washing it all down with a gallon of fresh orange juice”. A mid-morning snack would consist of “two or three dozen clams or Lynnhaven oysters”. Luncheon would consist of “shellfish…two or three deviled crabs, a brace of boiled lobsters, a joint of beef, and an enormous salad”. He would also include a dessert of “several pieces of homemade pie” and more orange juice. Brady would take afternoon tea, which consisted of “another platter of seafood, accompanied by two or three bottles of lemon soda”. Dinner was the main meal of the day, taken at Rector’s Restaurant. It usually comprised “two or three dozens oysters, six crabs, and two bowls of green turtle soup. Then in sumptuous procession came six or seven lobsters, two canvasback ducks, a double portion of terrapin, sirloin steak, vegetables, and for dessert a platter of French pastries.” Brady would even include two pounds of chocolate candy to finish off the meal.
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Hands down, winter is the greatest menu 
I never knew what others were talking about until now.
All the crabs is what makes it so good! Highlights were both the male and female snow crabs, duck breast and of course the rice!
@PorkyBelly already posted some great photos so I’ll post some action shots.
sakizuke - spiny lobster, lily bulb
Male snow crab
winter vegetable and komochi kombu goma-ae
shinogi - sekogani okayu, kani miso
charcoal grilled kinki, roasted onions
shizuoka musk melon
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For me, the Hayato autumn menu runs very close to the winter menu in terms of deliciousness…
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