Konichiwa!
We have just returned from our Japan tour and I just have to share some
of our culinary adventures with you. We ate everything from Japanese street food like
takoyaki, a delicious small eggy ball with a piece of octopus in it (you can
get it locally from Nijiya Market, freshly made or frozen) served with a sauce,
different kinds of noodles, all kinds of sweets (like “Manju,” a rice flour
with sweet bean paste and sweet or
savory “sen bei” a crispy rice cakes of all sizes and shapes), yakitori,
yakinori, etc. to a $180 pp Kaiseki dinner in Kyoto.
The photos are from our kaiseki dinner at the Kikunoi restaurant in the Roan district
of Kyoto. We met with
executive chef who was very accommodating and spoke English, to our
relief! And, they gave us an
English version of the menu, printed in rice paper, of course. Some kaiseki dinners require that you
know someone who has an “in” with the restaurant in order to get a
reservation. Our tour
company made the reservations for us.
The dress is surprisingly pretty casual, considering how formal the
Japanese are (they still all wear suits & ties to work). This dinner had 16 courses that were
split into sections. Kaiseki
dinners serve their courses by the way they are prepared so this dinner had
Hassuu (appetizers), Sashimi, Soup, Grilled, Fresh, Fried, Rice and
Dessert. Rice in Japan is not
always a side dish but course by
itself and generally served last, just before the dessert. Each table has it’s own chef who prepares each course.
Because the attention to detail is to the nth degree, I
tried to take photos of the presentation and dishes, bowls, etc. because it was
half of the pleasure of dining.
The amuse bouche was a small crystal bowl of “Sake
with the fragrance of Iris leaf.“ If you look closely at the photo you can see the symbol of
the restaurant etched into the crystal.
The napkins also had this symbol printed on them and were given to us as
a gift when we left the restaurant
We ordered a bottle of the restaurant’s cold sake, a dry
sake that had herbal notes that we all enjoyed. We ordered sake at several restaurants and lounges to do our
own tastings and found them very palatable and amazingly as different as chardonnays
are in California. This was one of
our favorites. I took a photo of
the sake carafe that had been frozen before the sake was added and stayed cold
throughout the dinner. It was made
of very heavy metal that was able to maintain the cold temperatures. I was very enchanted with it’s shape as
well as it’s function. Had I
thought of it at the time, I should have checked to see if I could buy one from
them. . . darn!
We were first presented with my favorite dish of the
evening, an amuse bouche of “Chinese
yam jelly, sea urchin, Shiso flower, light soy sauce gel with Wasabi”. The square of jelly was infused with minced “nagaimo,”
a crispy, crunchy yam that is rinsed several times to eliminate the slime
before it is added to the jelly.
It was topped with Uni (sea urchin) and then bathed in
a light soy sauced infused with wasabi.
What an unimaginable combination of crispy, creamy, salty, spicy, light
and rich flavors topped with the unforgettable taste of a shiso flower. Very umami!
The next dish was a wooden box, topped with a live iris,
reflecting the theme of the evening. Once the lid was removed, we were presented with an
array of a Aburame
(Greenling, a fish) marinated in rice vinegar, Chimaki-Sushi, ginger
wrapped eel in Kanpyo (dried gourd
shavings), Tai (red sea bream fish) roe cake, Edamame (green soybeans),
Japanese
Taro with fermented soy beans, salted Tai (sea bream) and Hana-Sansho
(Japanese pepper flowers).
Better than a box of chocolates!
You never know what you are going to get. And so beautifully presented, don’t you think? |
Then comes our sushi course of Tai (Red sea bream), Shimaazi
(yellow Jack fish), yellow leek, Udo (very nutritious omega 3 fish
oil) and carrot, wasabi and Bonito (fish from tuna family), with
ponzu
(citrus based sauce) gel. They were
too generous with their servings because we were starting to get full and we had 14 entre’s to go.
Onto our soup course of Guji (tilefish), a thin egg omelet, Cha-soba
(green tea noodles) in a Tsuyu (a stock made of bonito
flakes, soy and mirin, a flavored sake) served with Matcha (tea made from freshly ground tea leaves
ground into a powder). Again,
served in beautiful bowls and artfully arranged.
The “Grill” course was two dishes. We had a choice of either Ayu, Tade-zu (a water pepper
vinegar sauce) or a Miso-marinated flatfish with sweet pepper. I chose the flatfish that was grilled
from a ceramic grill set on our table.
I was told to eat the whole
fish. It looked fearsome but it
was such a small fish and so crispy and very delicious. Bill and my cousin ordered the Ayu,
a fresh water small fish, marinated in the water pepper vinegar, served in
beautiful antique hand-painted dishes. After we ate our grilled fish, we were served a tiny, tiny, tiny eggplant. It was the size of the end of your thumb!! Very cute but besides that, very savory, vinegary with just taste of sweet.
Our salad course composed of two dishes. The first one was my next favorite dish
of Junsai
(water shield, a member of the water lily family), cucumber and Umeboshi
(a pickled plum).
Served in a lidded bowl that belied what it contained. Imagine our surprise when we removed
the lid! I’ve never eaten a
junsai before…it’s sort of a green crunchy root surrounded by a gel that it creates to protect it.If you
google “junsai water shield” you’ll see photos of it. Very fascinating ingredient! 
The second part of our salad course was very strange and
none of us liked it that much. It
was a tofu dish with the milt of the tai fish (milt is the seminal fluid of fish…think sperm), broad
beans, wheat gluten and Myouga, (a Japanese ginger that is a cross between fresh ginger
shoots and a mild pickling onion, but without any strong onion-y flavor. They
look like slender shallots not like the ginger root that we are used to). . .
so-o-o, moving on to our next course which is “Fried.”
Sigh,
so many great dishes and so little space in our bodies. . .
We
finally come to our dessert choices:
either a Champagne sorbet with pineapple and aloe that Bill and my
cousin ordered, because they had no more space to eat another bite so I had to
sacrifice myself and order the Strawberries with strawberry sauce and milk
ice cream. Both
entre’s were refreshing and the perfect ending to a memorable Japanese
meal.
If
you have a chance to travel to Japan, save your quarters and try to make a
reservation at a Kaiseki restaurant.
They usually have price range choices from $100-200 (including tax and
tip) and are found in major cities, like Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima or Osaka. Each region of Japan serves similar
dishes in different ways but you are sure to have a wonderful meal!
But
for cheaper, fun AND delicious fare, go to the Nishiki Market in Kyoto. It is a 3-block long, covered market
filled with tiny stalls that sell different foods, desserts and gifts. I even found tofu donuts!! And, if you are looking for a great
Japanese knife or knives, look for the knife stall…whoa! Great knives that are made right there. I wish we had such a place here. There was a man who was sharpening
knives on a whetstone wheel; made me wish I had brought some knives for him but
he only sharpens soft steel knives, not stainless steel. In Osaka, there is a food
district that sells street food as well as restaurants too.
Where
have you been traveling for food?
Sharon, send us a post from Paris with photos!
See
most of you in June for our Zuni Café, Judy Rodgers, dinner!
Sayonara!
Sandi
