If MSG is the Viagra for flaccid taste buds, then katsuo dashi is the complex natural chemistry of full-force pheromones at the raging height of the rutting season. It awakens, stimulates and arouses those parts of your palate that the other flavors just don't reach.
At Rokkon, the heady aroma of premium dashi wafts through the entire basement premises, promising gustatory stimulation and delivering fulfillment of the most delectable kind. Its presence punctuates every dish, from your first otoshi through to the final chazuke with which you close your meal.
This, of course, is just as it should be at any top-quality Japanese restaurant. What makes Rokkon so remarkable is that this attention is lavished on such a basic, blue-collar preparation as oden.