Catching up with friends is great. Catching up with busy friends is Great!!

For the first time in months I was able to have a sit down dinner with a couple friend and Robert met them for the first time.
My girlfriend is Japanese and her husband is American. Robert is Dutch so it was quite an international night.

We gathered at our favourite Japanese restaurant in Desa Sri hartamas called Rakuzen where my friend works as a head chef.
He is such a sweet man and so he decided to put the boys on test.

Hardcore Japanese night indeed.

We ordered omakase, which is a chef’s recommendation. We leave it totally up to him and he serves whatever is freshest and in season.

What we had was:
Mizuna and Salmon roe salad
Sashimi platter
Ankimo (Monkfish Liver pate)
Shirako (fish testis) Gratin
Grilled Hatahata (Sailfin sandsifh)
Loads of sushi and LOADS of SAKE

Yes, it is full of fish. And most of them very rare that even in Japan they are hard to come by.
I guess it is not hard to imagine that we had to do a bit of persuation to get the boys to eat, especially the fish testis.
But how, they loved it! I think the gratin did the job. It is difficult to ignore the allure of creamy sauce and crunchy cheese melted on top.
Since Robert loved it so much, I thought I could get him to eat something that he is not so fond of: Oysters.
This recipe is so simple as well that one could cook after work or house chores.

So I had;

200g of Penne (for 2 people)
Tin of smoked Oysters
Large Onion, halved and sliced, separated
Aubergine, sliced
Milk
Flour
Parsley
Parmesan and Mozzarella cheese, or any kind
Coriander, black pepper and salt to taste

I put half of onion and aubergine into the oven after drizzling some oil from the oyster tin and let them grill for about 30 minutes, while cooking the pasta and making the white sauce. When the pasta is cooked, I place the other half of onion on the bottom of the strainer so onion could be steamed by the pasta water. I made the white sauce without butter because Christmas is coming do I have to watch my weight. Simple heat the milk, off the heat and mix the flour into it. at the end, throw some parsley and coriander, black pepper and salt in. When that was done, I combined the sauce and the pasta and tumbled them on the grilled vegetables. Then place the smoked oysters on top, grate generous amount of cheeses and Grill it for 20-30 minutes.

This was exceptionally good and as a result, we had to fight for oysters. I learnt something today. Sometimes it is good to like something the partner dislikes to maintain harmony. I hope he still thinks fresh oysters are yucky.