Japanese obsession continues - Oishii Boston

Still ecstatic by our recent experience at Uni Sashimi Bar I decided to try another Japanese restaurant which also had great raves from several different sources. Oishii Boston is located in South End and we dropped by for a lunch after a grueling morning at the gym.

Oishii crab cake

Since this was our first time we thought we would go with the set Kiaseki lunches to get a feel of what the chef had to offer. We chose two different choices of the four available so we can get a broader taste of what is offered.

For starters I had a simple lettuce, cucumber and tomato salad with a sweat miso sauce while the other set lunch came with miso soup.  This was a nice little palate cleanser before the lunch box arrived.

The lunch sets were not in the traditional Japanese lacquered boxes but was carefully displayed on a black tray topped with little white plates and cups filled with delicious surprises. The modern twist of the traditional box with this modular system was both visibly pleasing and conveniently added the benefits to swap and change my dishes with Mr. Z.

The grilled miso black cod (left) has to be the favourite and was served on both lunch sets.  The creamy subtle tasting of the sweat salty miso enveloped cods were delectable. A close runner-up was the lobster wild mushroom risotto which was really more of a mushroom risotto with a piece of lobster but the risotto was so scrumptiously satisfying that I was only disappointed by the small portion. What was not as welcoming was the spicy tuna salad handroll (right). Way too spicy. I am also perplexed by the frequency that spicy food features prominently in Japanese restaurant here. Is this a new trend or accommodation to the local palates?

The other four dishes in my lunch set (clockwise from top left) included the crispy rock shrimp, hamachi and maguro sashimi, crab cake and the salmon and unagi nigiri (grilled eel).  The crab cake was delicious.  Crunchy on the outside creamy sauce and burst of savory sweetness on the inside.  Other than that the rest were only so-so with the sashimi tasting a bit tired and rubbery.

The other Kaiseki lunch came with the same miso black cod (yum), soba noodle, seamed brocolli with seasame sauce and seaweed salad (left panel). There is also spicy tuna tempura maki - there's the spicy dish again - and salmon avocado maki (middle panel).  And finally agedashi tofu and shrimp and asparagus tempura (right panel).  This lunch set I would say is a little bit more classical Japanese cuisine so nothing surprisingly fabulous but definitely the best traditional Japanese cuisine I've had in Boston.