I was confronted with 'kushikatsu' - deep fried kebabs - for the first time last night by Ikuro Mizuno at his restaurant Rokukaku Tei in the Nipponbashi ward of Osaka. Although he is reputed to be an experienced taster, the gentleman hasn't drunk for 20 years…and is said to now have 40,000 cases in his cellar. That is not, though, the only unknown here. Being there reminded me of my only visit to Ferdinand Pic's Pyramide over forty years ago. There is no menu nor wine list; you are essentially at his mercy. We washed the skewers with - amongst many others - a 2007 Echezeaux from Jean Marc Miillot and and finished with a special edition 2001 Riesling Frédéric Emile from Trimbach that was 'on the house'. Discretion is not always the better part of valour. Comments