Kyoto (京都) – Kaiseki lunch at Kitcho (京都吉兆嵐山本店) 2024 Apr. 12
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oh like that put it down there
okay and each duck is different yeah
like Zar has his neck sticking out and
Darren’s is kind of
receded MiG migr oh yeah it’s a
migratory bird okay
so this is aono which is kind of a
vinegared kind of dish um lightly seared
scallops and there’s various spring
vegetables including one called nanohana
I think it’s called a rap blossom
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uh this is a a brand new um potato from
the spring as well as other
vegetables but it’s it’s kind of like a
nagaimo which means it’s kind of not
slimy but the texture it’s it’s more
moist than a regular potato that we’re
used to
having and and it’s a there’s a sesame
based light cold sauce scop is from H
hokido scallop
okay it’s called oan it’s it’s a oan is
the bowl the soup bowl but it’s a clear
soup
dish should we open yeah open
itow
right okay I’ll tell you what kind of
fish it is later I have to look it up
okay
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okay so first um taste the soup by
itself and then later you can put in the
right there’s nii and ab ab um which is
which is a a fish that you you put it
into the soup and and there’ll be you’ll
have a different different flavoring as
well it as
well okay what is this little piece
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this is um the right sauce is soy sauce
with the butter bur uh
plant and and and the one in the center
is the left is kind of like ponu saour
type of uh sauce
the the way to eat the fish is to take
the wasabe put it on the fish don’t mix
it into the sauce but place it on the
fish and then dip it in the
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sauce so the one on the left is kind of
a a fried comu strips comu you know the
seelp you can eat it by itself as kind
of a condiment to sake or you can also
eat it together with the fish is that
with the gold beef on it um yeah the one
in the yes far left one here what is
that that’s
so that’s a Nori jelly that you can also
eat with the fish but um why it’s yellow
on top is there’s a small um layer of
gold flake for for
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effect which sakeet do you guys like I
like this I like this the first one I
like
okay open
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open Tako Tako bamboo
shoot these are the special
ones so this is kto is is the place for
bamboo shoots they got it fresh this
morning this morning so it should be
like with that with that size right
there that’s exactly um so it’s a peak
season and they got it this morning
are and also um fa s they call it
or so this is
simmered simmered bamboo
shoots yeah the the green flakes on top
is also the the the young leaves of the
sunow plant K that we had
earlier and so they’re going to put the
katsushi the dry Bonito
flakes which is a foundation for Dashi
along with
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kbu so they’re going to serve it so
pretty so that’s an actual scallop shell
that they’ve gold
Lea big
scall St in the SC yeah that’s exactly
right the same
so
beautiful that’s the
pl this is so cool that’s actual like
Mur this is a type of cherry blossom
so this is this is looks like a rock
with moss but it’s actually a potato
with um a green um
Nori did you hear that flakes green nor
potato with green Nory flakes but you
don’t eat it it’s it’s for
decoration but this dish reminds me of
they bring you a dish it’s like this
it’s huge
mom’s what’s that well you can you can
you can you can bring her
back
oh time to go to
which is in arama near the Bamboo Grove
in the monkey
Park are the keys calling your
name are the keys calling your name get
behind the wheels time you learn to
drive maybe this
is this is the time how beautiful is
that Dad I want to buy um dish wear for
my future home that’s I saw this one guy
what you want what
my I want to buy for my future house
like theen go
mask kto is the place it’s
so going
Squishy did you see she put the
the all right all right all right guys
explanation time
you’re the only one who
got oh okay hey hey the the the small
little like socket glass cup looking
thing that is the Hokkaido bafi the
horse crap
looking
yes and on top is a onion
jelly and then Ginger little yellow part
is ginger that’s an interesting way to
eat
is that with thei or no it’s the oi is
below in in the bottom so you just eat
it yeah like
that and um open open the open the
little
thing wait these are are these SC okay
anyways it’s it’s a fish
vinegared fish okay Kim
okay in this uh in the
scallop okay so in the blue thing
there’s two vegetables I don’t know what
they
are but it’s but they mix with mashed
tofu like it’s it’s tofu but it’s it’s
you know they mix
it and on the top is a fried onions this
this is on the blue on the blue
um dish
okay so the right side of the scallop is
a anago um that’s salt grilled
anago which is a a sea
eel with Wasabi oh it’s right for you
so so the the roast beef has like
a Dion mustard inside there’s a some
fungus that it’s wrapped
over and then the tempera is the um
Firefly Squid it’s it’s the small one
so the the shrimp the tiger prawn
actually has um is stuffed with mashed
potato and then there’s um Miaki caviar
on
top what’s the fish right here
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vinegar mixed with a a Japanese wild
vegetable
um so the largest lake in is it the
largest lake in Japan yeah vako is about
40 minutes from here in uh sha
prefecture and it’s uh that’s where they
Farm the the sweet fish it’s pretty much
the only place where they can CU it’s
it’s
clear um this
is
eating oh yeah so you can you can if if
you take it direct from here into your
mouth it’s too much with one bite you
can put it here just to just kind of to
rest your mouth you don’t have to worry
about that but some others might
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Tak Goan so bamboo shoot
rice and the front is
beef um in in the rice dish there’s two
types of
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beef to the right is Kobe beef
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filet and to the left is Yona beef uh RI
Rose and eat in order eat the Kobe beef
uh filet on the right
okay
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Grill okay so uh the pickle vegetable in
this the the white one is the nagaimo
kind of half slimy um potato potato
whatever and on top is
so the Wasabi uh stem stem that they’ve
simmered in soy sauce
hey and then to the right is K SE kelp
and above that is uh fresh spring uh
harvested cabbage which one’s this and
those we should eat after we comu seelp
how do we eat this relative to the oh no
this is just condiment you can just go
back for
yeah
mang you TR mango
gra it’s okay it’s okay it’s okay it’s
okay
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so okay so this is called Sakura Mochi
the one that’s wrapped in the leaf but
it’s wrapped in salted Sakura Leaf which
you pick up and you eat with the
Mochi usually Mochi has sweet red bean
but this is
actually it’s actually black bean from a
local area in Kyoto prefecture um bless
you which is very good so you can just
pick it up and eat it by itself and
then the the flower looking pink thing
is
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n okay so the only thing that they
didn’t homemake here is the the pink
flower looking thing it’s a it’s a it’s
a kind of a sugary kind of just basic uh
treat
Dango oh it’s mini Dango remember we had
those so Dango is different from Mochi
it’s Mochi is pounded rice this is rice
flour so so anyways
We had lunch with friends at Kyoto Kitcho (Arashiyama Honten) (京都吉兆嵐山本店), a famous Kaiseki restaurant. The explanation of each dish was in Japanese, but here is a description of everything that was served (includes both Japanese and English text), done to the best of my ability…
COURSE 1:
* Aburi Hokkaido Hotate Sunomono (炙り北海道帆立酢の物 – Lightly-seared and vinegared Hokkaido Scallops)
– Haru Yasai (Nanohana nado) (春野菜(菜の花等) – Spring vegetables, including the Young Ferns of a Rapeseed Plant)
COURSE 2:
* Haru Wakaimo (sort of like Nagaimo), Koshiabura, Goma cream-gake (春若芋, こしあぶら, 胡麻クリーム掛け – Spring Long Yam and Koshiabura dressed in a sesame cream. Koshiabura is a wild mountain vegetable found in Japan)
COURSE 3: WANMONO (椀物 – Clear Soup):
* Aburame (Ainame) Suimono ((油目(鮎魚女)吸い物 – Clear Soup with Fat Greenling (a fish))
– Uppurui Nori (十六島海苔 – Rock Seaweed from Shimane Prefecture)
– Ainame Abura-age (鮎魚女油揚げ – Deep-fried Fat Greenling)
COURSE 4: OTSUKURI #1 (御作り – Sashimi):
* Takenoko Mebaru (筍目張 – Japanese Red Seaperch / Dark-banded Rockfish caught in the Spring)
– Shoyu Fukinoto awase (醬油蕗の薹合わせ – Soy Sauce mixed with Fuki Butterbur flower shoots)
– Ponzu (ポン酢 – Ponzu sauce)
– Age Konbu (揚げ昆布 – Fried Konbu Sea Kelp)
– Nori Jelly to Kinpaku (海苔ゼリーと金箔 – Nori Seaweed jelly with gold flakes on top)
COURSE 5 – OTSUKURI #2 (御作り – Sashimi):
* Wakayama no Mongo Ika (和歌山の紋甲烏賊 – Kisslip Cuttlefish from Wakayama Prefecture)
* Miyagi Shiogama Toro (宮城塩釜トロ – Toro fatty tuna from Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture)
– Age Goma (揚げ胡麻 – Fried Sesame)
COURSE 6 – TAKIAWASE (炊き合わせ – Simmered Dish):
* Takenoko (筍 – Bamboo Shoots)
* Issun Mame / Soramame (蚕豆 – Small Broad Beans)
* Wakame (若芽 – Wakame Seaweed)
* Kinome (木の芽 – Young Leaves of a Sansho Plant)
* Katsuo Bushi (鰹節 – Dried Bonito flakes)
COURSE 7:
* Hokkaido Bafun Uni (北海道馬糞雲丹 – Hokkaido Bafun Uni Sea Urchin)
– Tamanegi Jelly, Shoga (玉葱ゼリー, 生姜 – Onion Jelly, Grated Ginger)
COURSE 8:
Kinmedai Sunomono (金目鯛酢の物 – Vinegared Splendid Alfonso)
COURSE 9:
* Nanohama to Iburi Gakko (Daikon Kunsei) Shira-ae; Age Tamanegi (菜の花といぶりがっこ白和え; 揚玉葱 – Young Ferns of a Rapeseed Plant and Pickled and Smoked Daikon Radish mixed with Mashed Tofu; Fried Onions)
* Anago Shirayaki to Wasabi (穴子白焼きと山葵 – Salt-grilled Sea Eel with Wasabi)
* Roast Beef, Enoki Dake Maki, Tsubu Mustard (ローストビーフ, えのきだけ, 粒マスタード – Roat Beef wrapped over Enoki Mushrooms; Grain Mustard)
* Hotaru Ika Tempura (蛍烏賊天ぷら – Firefly Squid Tempura)
* Ebi no Mashed Potato Maki; Miyazaki Caviar (海老のマッシュポテト巻きと宮崎キャビア – Shrimp wrapped over Mashed Potatoes; Miyazaki Caviar)
COURSE 10:
* Biwako Chiayu Tadezu (琵琶湖稚鮎蓼酢 – Salt-grilled Baby Sweetfish from Lake Biwa with Knotweed & Vinegar dipping sauce)
COURSE 11:
* Biwako Chiayu Suage (琵琶湖稚鮎酢揚げ – Vinegared and Salt-grilled Baby Sweetfiwh from Lake Biwa)
COURSE 12:
* Plain Chawanmushi, Jikasei Karasumi (プレーン茶碗蒸し, 自家製唐墨 – Plain Chawanmushi Savory Egg Custard, Homemade Mullet Roe)
COURSE 13: GOHAN (御飯 – Rice Dish):
* Takenoko Gohan (筍御飯 – Steamed Rice with Bamboo Shoots)
– Kobe Gyu Filet (神戸牛フィレ – Grilled Kobe Beef Filet)
– Yonezawa Gyu Roast (米沢牛ロースト – Yonezawa Beef Loin)
COURSE 14 – KOUNOMONO (香の物 – Pickled Vegetables):
* Nagaimo, Wasabi Kuki Shoyu-zuke (長芋, 山葵醬油漬け – Chinese Yam / Japanese Mountain Yam, Wasabi Stem pickled with Soy Sauce)
* Konbu (昆布 – Konbu Sea Kelp)
* Haru Kyabetsu (春キャベツ – Spring Cabbage)
COURSE 15:
* Kochi Benihoppe Ichigo (高知紅ほっぺ苺 – “Benihoppe” Strawberry from Kochi Prefecture)
* Miyazaki Mango (宮崎マンゴー – Mango from Miyazaki)
* Saga Sagan Ruby Grapefruit Jelly (佐賀県さがんルビグレープフルーツゼリー – Sagan Ruby Grapefruit Jelly from Saga Prefecture)
– Custard Sauce (カスタードソース)
* Shizuoka Crown Melon (静岡クラウンメロン – Crown Melon from Shizuoka Prefecture. Crown Melon is a Muskmelon harvested in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka)
COURSE 16
* Yaki Sakura Mochi, Kuromame-an (桜餅, 黒豆餡子 – Fried Sakura Mochi filled with Sweat Black Beans. Sakura Mochi is a Mochi wrapped in an edible pickled cherry blossom leaf)
* Komugiko Sakura Higashi (小麦粉桜ひがし – Ohigashi shaped like a Cherry Blossom. Ohigashi is a confectionary made from sugar and – in this case – buckwheat flour (usally made from mochiko sticky rice cake flour))
* Suhama Dango (すはまだんご – Sweet Glutinous balls made from Rice flour)