Cooking
A kaiseki meal is one of the best ways to experience the Japanese culinary philosophy and to experience the seasons. Many of the trendier elements of dining in America today are nothing new in Japan. A kaiseki meal is a tasting menu of small plates, seasonally focused and prepared to reflect not only the skill and creativity of the chef, but is also seems designed to evoke feelings, emotions and memories associated with nature.
Kaiseki meals can be very expensive and very elaborate. This style of dining originally came from Kyoto where dishes tended to be mild flavored but today they range from very traditional to very cutting edge. Our first kaiseki meal was at a tiny restaurant in the upmarket Roppongi section of Tokyo. La Bombance has only 9 seats at the bar and one table for 4. The chef, Makoto Okamoto, came from a very well-known restaurant but now places all his attention on a select group of diners each night. In fact, the reservations are staggered to allow him to carefully attend to each person.
We began our 9 course meal with a miso soup that had uni or sea urchin, mushrooms, mellow sesame tofu, and a dab of pungent mustard. It was somehow both soothing and exciting.
Next came a duo of vegetables and a breaded fried oyster served with a creamy basil sauce. The spinach and matsutake mushrooms were in a citrus ponzu sauce dotted with tangy pickled chrysanthemum petals.
Next a rice ball “ongiri” with sanma fish and a dab of spicy yuzukosho, a condiment made from yuzu and chili.
The foie gras course was a revelation, served with a piece of tender eggplant and covered in a sauce made from minced quail and fresh oniony leeks.
Salmon roe or ikura was served with a dab of fresh wasabi, over a newly harvested rice which was sweet and slightly sticky. This dish was a bit like an unstructured sushi.
The second soup was made with pike and fresh herbs in a clear broth. It had mushrooms, shrimp and a squeeze of sudachi lime.
Another surprise was the combination of roasted chestnut and melted gorgonzola, the bit of cheese complementing the sweet starchy chestnut meat on the side was peto fish and a long bean from Kyoto.
A selection of vegetables was artfully arranged beginning with some peppers, then ginko, peanuts, greens, mini potato chips, and ending with lotus root in a sesame sauce.
The last soup course was also broth-based, with cappelini, and thinly slivered leeks, asparagus, carrot, mushroom, fried beancake and lemon peel.
Finally we ended with a black sesame sherbet and a coconut “surprise” that tasted like blancmange. Taking bites of the cool and slushy but not-sweet sherbet with the soft and creamy, sweet coconut played up the contrasts of each and was a unique version of a black and white combo.
A truly beautiful ending to an amazing meal.
- Kappa: Restaurant Revisited
When I went to Japan I thought I knew what Japanese food was. Boy, was I ever wrong! Going to Kappa is much the same experience. In addition to the kimono-clad hostess, the menu written in Japanese and the virtually all Japanese clientele, the food is...
- Medicine Eatstation: Restaurant Review Closed
Medicine. Does that sound like a restaurant? I didn't think so. But then I had a chance to eat there and experience what "new-Shojin" style eating is all about. It's a cuisine grounded in Zen Buddhism. The food is vegan and excludes even onions...
- Gary Danko: Restaurant Review
Restaurant Gary Danko is quickly becoming San Francisco's top choice for celebrating special occasions. And so it was that I ate there twice last month--once for a birthday and once for an anniversary. The service is amazingly good and the attention...
- Kappa Restaurant Review
Small plate restaurants may seem like something new and trendy. But that's not necessarily the case. Many cultures have a tradition of small plates--tapas from Spain, dim sum from China, and koryori from Japan. If koryori is new to you, you're...
- Happy Garden:restaurant
Certain things it's just better to go out for. In this category of could-make-it-at-home-but-won't are really elegant multi-course French meals, sushi and Chinese food. Oh I guess I make a Chinese meal at home from time to time, but it's...
Cooking
Celebrating Autumn with Kaiseki
A kaiseki meal is one of the best ways to experience the Japanese culinary philosophy and to experience the seasons. Many of the trendier elements of dining in America today are nothing new in Japan. A kaiseki meal is a tasting menu of small plates, seasonally focused and prepared to reflect not only the skill and creativity of the chef, but is also seems designed to evoke feelings, emotions and memories associated with nature.
Kaiseki meals can be very expensive and very elaborate. This style of dining originally came from Kyoto where dishes tended to be mild flavored but today they range from very traditional to very cutting edge. Our first kaiseki meal was at a tiny restaurant in the upmarket Roppongi section of Tokyo. La Bombance has only 9 seats at the bar and one table for 4. The chef, Makoto Okamoto, came from a very well-known restaurant but now places all his attention on a select group of diners each night. In fact, the reservations are staggered to allow him to carefully attend to each person.
We began our 9 course meal with a miso soup that had uni or sea urchin, mushrooms, mellow sesame tofu, and a dab of pungent mustard. It was somehow both soothing and exciting.
Next came a duo of vegetables and a breaded fried oyster served with a creamy basil sauce. The spinach and matsutake mushrooms were in a citrus ponzu sauce dotted with tangy pickled chrysanthemum petals.
Next a rice ball “ongiri” with sanma fish and a dab of spicy yuzukosho, a condiment made from yuzu and chili.
The foie gras course was a revelation, served with a piece of tender eggplant and covered in a sauce made from minced quail and fresh oniony leeks.
Salmon roe or ikura was served with a dab of fresh wasabi, over a newly harvested rice which was sweet and slightly sticky. This dish was a bit like an unstructured sushi.
The second soup was made with pike and fresh herbs in a clear broth. It had mushrooms, shrimp and a squeeze of sudachi lime.
Another surprise was the combination of roasted chestnut and melted gorgonzola, the bit of cheese complementing the sweet starchy chestnut meat on the side was peto fish and a long bean from Kyoto.
A selection of vegetables was artfully arranged beginning with some peppers, then ginko, peanuts, greens, mini potato chips, and ending with lotus root in a sesame sauce.
The last soup course was also broth-based, with cappelini, and thinly slivered leeks, asparagus, carrot, mushroom, fried beancake and lemon peel.
Finally we ended with a black sesame sherbet and a coconut “surprise” that tasted like blancmange. Taking bites of the cool and slushy but not-sweet sherbet with the soft and creamy, sweet coconut played up the contrasts of each and was a unique version of a black and white combo.
A truly beautiful ending to an amazing meal.
- Kappa: Restaurant Revisited
When I went to Japan I thought I knew what Japanese food was. Boy, was I ever wrong! Going to Kappa is much the same experience. In addition to the kimono-clad hostess, the menu written in Japanese and the virtually all Japanese clientele, the food is...
- Medicine Eatstation: Restaurant Review Closed
Medicine. Does that sound like a restaurant? I didn't think so. But then I had a chance to eat there and experience what "new-Shojin" style eating is all about. It's a cuisine grounded in Zen Buddhism. The food is vegan and excludes even onions...
- Gary Danko: Restaurant Review
Restaurant Gary Danko is quickly becoming San Francisco's top choice for celebrating special occasions. And so it was that I ate there twice last month--once for a birthday and once for an anniversary. The service is amazingly good and the attention...
- Kappa Restaurant Review
Small plate restaurants may seem like something new and trendy. But that's not necessarily the case. Many cultures have a tradition of small plates--tapas from Spain, dim sum from China, and koryori from Japan. If koryori is new to you, you're...
- Happy Garden:restaurant
Certain things it's just better to go out for. In this category of could-make-it-at-home-but-won't are really elegant multi-course French meals, sushi and Chinese food. Oh I guess I make a Chinese meal at home from time to time, but it's...