Author: Eric_Turner

First of all, the tea brought to your table by the discreetly friendly server is unsurpassable -- delicate, full of flavour and 'popped' rice, it's both deliciously refreshing and gives you an infusion of healthy antioxidants even as you're delightedly perusing the menu. All of...the food, from seafood to vegetables, is carefully selected and of the freshest possible sort (in fact, because of their insistence on only the freshest seasonal ingredients, they warn you on every page of the mouth-watering menu that some items may not always be available). Re: the reference to Yoko's mother in the headline: in 1964, I was in Tokyo for a year full of ever-more-wondrous revelations, including the divine cuisine. But of all the amazingly delicious meals I ate there, none surpassed the feast prepared in my honour by the mother of a new best friend I made while teaching English conversation. (Yoko Igarashi turned out to be a violinist, like me, whose favourite composer also was Mozart! Alas, I lost track of her when she moved to Germany, and I moved, and we were young and didn't know then how easily addresses could be lost...and have mourned the loss of that great friendship ever since.) It took her gracious, lovely mother three whole days of shopping and preparing before her whole family and I sat down to perhaps the best meal of my life. The whole experience was a work of art. So I intend my headline to be the best compliment I can give to this mother-and-daughter run restaurant that I've been enjoying, over the years, since they started out in a tiny spot near Oak Bay High School. Because I prepare a pretty good miso soup myself, I don't always order it when I go to a Japanese restaurant, but I ALWAYS want it here, because it is, without a doubt, the best I've ever eaten -- full of robust flavours, loaded with wonderful seaweeds and the silkiest tofu -- I'm beginning to crave a bowl of it as I write this! I don't know where to start with the sushi dishes, so I won't -- let me just say that every bite melts in your mouth and is presented like the work of edible art that it is! The lunch combinations are hard to choose between and are beautifully varied and very reasonably priced. I bounce back and forth between favourites, and sometimes try new things. But I always leave feeling not just that I've had a good meal but that I've had An Aesthetic Experience, one that has satisfied all of my senses. And there's usually eclectic jazz underscoring your conversation, low and sweet... Because I've had to move up to Duncan, I haven't been able to drop in to Mustuki-An much in recent times, but whenever I do get down to Victoria, and want a bite out, this is my all-time go-to place... You never know, it may become yours, too!More