Tag Archives: Kyoto

Tempura Matsu (天ぷら松), Kyoto

Chef: Matsuno Toshio Website: Not Available Cuisine: Traditional Japanese / Washoku

Arashiyama is undeniably a magical site offering ample examples of the scenic beauty Kyoto is known for. However, unlike other areas of the city it is perhaps less frequently associated with fine dining. While, if you follow the red book religiously, you’d probably venture out there for the incredibly expensive three starred meal at Kitcho, that’s probably the only establishment on most foodie’s list. One would therefore be forgiven for not having heard of Matsuno Shunichi’s restaurant, Tempura Matsu, located a couple of kilometres down the Oi river in the neighbourhood of Matsuo Taisha since 1973, but you would certainly be missing out.

The restaurant is a well kept secret amongst the locals and is often booked out by Japanese politicians. It does however appear to have started attracting some foodies from afar. But don’t let the name deceive you. Whilst tempura certainly does make it on the menu, the cuisine here is traditional Japanese (washoku) with some surprisingly modern and creative twists. This can be easily explained by looking at the CV of the current chef, Matsuno Toshio, who took charge of his father’s restaurant a few years ago. Toshio has an impressive resume working with such icons as Alain Ducasse and Grant Achatz.

We were fortunate enough to have a private room upstairs. This allowed us (and most importantly, our two year old daughter) a bit of privacy and room to move around. Given we had travelled all the way to Japan, we opted for the most elaborate menu containing the best ingredients available at 15,000 yen per person; an absolute steal considering the feast we were about to indulge in. Many of the courses were also served on oribe ware (a style of ceramic ware with vivid colours) produced by one of Japan’s most important artist Kitaooji Rosanjin (北大路魯山人). Some of his works have been declared as national treasure by the Japanese government and are absolutely priceless fetching tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars for each piece. What an absolute honour to be able to use and admire them up close!1st Course: Corn soup, scallop, water shield and prawn in bamboo cup. The bamboo cylinder was filled with a sweet corn soup, generous portions of scallop and prawn and slithers of water shields (also known as junsai in Japan) and chilled in the ice bucket to make this a rather refreshing starter. I particularly enjoyed the transition from the sweet flavour to a more sharper finish with the junsai which had been pickled in vinegar.

2nd Course: Sweetfish (Ayu). The last ayu of the season which contained delicious roe was presented in two ways. Firstly, as a sushi and secondly, prepared using a charcoal grill, or sumibiyaki. The green sauce was made from ayu that had been preserved in salt and vinegar from last year with water pepper leaves. The sushi was exquisite and sweet but my favourite was the salt grilled ayu. The entire fish could be consumed right from the head to the tail. Crunchy, crispy, sweet and savory.

3rd Course: Prawn potato (Ebi imo), pike conger (hamo) and sea urchin (uni). The ebi imo is a unique variety of the taro potato and was served with deep fried hamo and a slither of uni, both sourced from Awajishima in the Hyogo prefecture, and chestnut chips. It was seasoned with salt from Okinawa. It was another well balanced dish with varied textures and flavours.4th Course: Matsutake Dobinmushi. A traditional but luxurious course serving the prized matsutake mushroom which was coming to the end of season. A teapot was presented to each person with a sake cup that had been sprinkled with yuzu zest and a slice of sudachi on the side.

Inside the teapot were oysters and matsutake. We were advised to first pour the broth out into the cup and drink it, before moving on to squeezing the sudachi over the matsutake and oyster before eating them. The broth was absolutely exquisite – a perfect marriage of flavours from the mountain and the sea.

5th Course: Pacific Saury Sashimi (sanma), served simply with a pinch of salt. Don’t let the simplicity of this dish fool you. This was simply the best sanma I have ever tasted and surpassed all expectations. I personally preferred my sanma grilled with salt but this sashimi just melted in your mouth like butter. The Absolutely divine.

We thought it would be a shame not to have some beverage to go with our food that was more fitting than beer so opted for the finest junmai daiginjyo called ‘gesshou’ which was a limited release and was served in a chilled bamboo flask.

6th Course: Tile Fish (Amadai) and Fatty Tuna (Ootoro) Sashimi. The pampas grass (susuki) on the bowl is a typical decoration used during the months of moon watching (tsukimi). The sashimi was served with seaweed soy sauce on the side (nori jyouyu). It was a showcase of the superior produce and ingredients Japan has to offer. The amadai or, as also locally, guji is considered to be the fish that represents Kyoto and is highly sought after for its sweetness.

We were advised to eat the fried scales of the amadai after the sashimi. This was the perfect snack to go with the sake.

7th Course: Seabass (nozoguro), slighted torched and served with wasabi and sudachi. It had an intoxicating smokiness and melted in your mouth all too quickly. The direct application of the wasabi was ingenious. It eliminated the charred smell, focused on the smokey flavour and cut right through the oiliness of the fish.

A Japanese spiny lobster (ise-ebi) was brought to our table alive again to showcase the superior quality of their ingredients. Japanese people go bonkers over these crustaceans at the height of the season. I certainly got excited as it had been a while since I had one.8th Course: Ise-ebi shabu shabu. A decadent and luxurious rich soup made from the head of the ise-ebi was presented to each of us in a bowl. The aroma from this was unbearably good and I had to hold myself from immediately picking it up with my hands to slurp it – fortunate given the bowl was scorching hot.

Each person had a portion of the ise-ebi and two thin sheets of tofu skin, otherwise known as yuba.

The sweet ise-ebi and yuba soaked up the flavour of the soup. It was unbelievably sweet and euphoric. The last time I had such an array of exquisite courses one after another was at Matsukawa over two years ago. But this was at less than a third of the price.A small grilled rice ball, or yaki onigiri was brought afterwards to soak up the rest of the soup. This was comfort food for the ultimate foodie and it was great to see that the chef was humble enough to serve such a common touch. After all, this was the equivalent of having a great bread in Europe to mop up the sauce. It was very gratefully received. There was no way I was wasting even one drop of this delicious dish.

9th Course: Pike Conger (Hamo) shabu shabu with mozuku seaweed and dipping sauce. The hamo, sourced from Numazu had been prepared using the traditional technique of honegiri which requires a skilled chef to break the hundreds of tiny bones in the fish without breaking the skin. A shabu shabu set was brought right next to the table for the chef to prepare. I thought perhaps two shau shabu was overdoing it but boy was I wrong. This was on par with the shabu shabu of the matsutake and hamo which I had at Matsukawa.

The hamo was cooked in shallow fashion in order to ensure it was not overcooked the top side to retain its soft texture. A delicate fish like hamo can easily be overcooked so this technique ensured the fish was treated with the most respect.

Mozuku is a seaweed from Okinawa which has a jelly like texture not too dissimilar to jellyfish. The final product was another winner. It was a shame we only got two pieces!10th Course: Pike Conger Dashi which was made from the remnants of the previously presented hamo and was served with gingko nuts. Nothing went to waste here and I admired the chef’s respect for his ingredients. Amazing aroma and flavour from such a simple looking soup.

11th Course: Prawn and lotus root tempura served with the option of salt and sudachi. Of all dishes I expected this one to be amazing given the restaurants name… luckily they lived up to it. The tempura was light and without oiliness. The prawn was juicy and cooked perfectly.

A second plate of tempura of Japanese whiting (kisu) and onion. The onion in particular was remarkable with its sweetness and juice.12th Course: Udon. Home made udon was served in a giant ice cube with quail egg, mountain potato and dashi. This required a couple of people to serve given its size, slipperiness and weight. It was certainly entertaining and very theatrical. The ice cube was an idea that came to the chef when he wanted to find a way for his diners to enjoy the rich dashi stock instead of wasting it. Depending on your personal taste you were advised to let the dashi sit longer in the cube to allow the melting ice to dilute the stock. It was quite remarkable as to how much the flavour changed during the ten minutes. Flavourwise I wasn’t convinced on this one. It was perhaps less flavoursome than everything else we had that evening and I found the quail egg to be slightly bland in the rich dashi. The texture of the udon was good but again nothing outstanding. It was a very fun dish however.

13th Course: Houjicha ice cream. A good ice cream which cleansed our palate. Whilst it was perhaps lacking in creativity, we were stuffed at this point and welcomed the light dessert.Our meal at Tempura Matsu was without a doubt the highlight of our trip and almost on par with my most memorable Japanese meal at Matsukawa. The quality and variety of ingredients was simply remarkable, particularly given the affordability of the meal compared to many establishments in Kyoto that would easily charge you two to three times without batting an eyelid. As we made our way out, Matsuno-san came out to thank us for our custom and bid us farewell. I will not be forgetting this meal for some time to come. It was a magical four hours that went by at a perfect pace.

Isshin (いっしん), Kyoto

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Chef: Hideichi Katagiri Website: N/A Cuisine: Beef Kaiseki

(Photos courtesy of Framed Eating)

Isshin is a small restaurant tucked away in the heart of the Gion district in Kyoto. It is operated by Chef Hideichi Katagiri and his wife, who looks after the front of house. The couple moved their restaurant to Kyoto in 2003 from the Shiga prefecture, bringing with them the region’s famous Ōmi beef. Isshin is famous amongst the locals for their dishes utilising the rarest cut of the inner shoulder blade, the misuji, which only yields about 2kg from an entire cow. The restaurant, of course, offers much more than that. Isshin offered a very good value nose-to-tail menu of Ōmi beef for 13,000 yen. I was excited to compare this against the Matsuzaka beef I had tried in Tokyo!

Isshin has a couple of policies around dining manners. Whilst the chef doesn’t mind photographs being taken, he does ask for diners not to use cameras that make a lot of noise. He also doesn’t take solo diners as they tend to finish their dishes quicker and disrupt his serving rhythm. I booked one of their two private dining rooms to ensure we could have the option of using a more powerful DSLR. It was a good option given the low lighting level throughout the restaurant. Service commenced rather smoothly. Our drinks were brought to us promptly… although it must be noted that was not consistent throughout the meal.

1st Course: Beef Sōmen (生肉そうめん) – Raw beef that had been cut very precisely to resemble the Japanese wheat flour noodle of sōmen. It was served with yam, seaweed, spring onion, horse radish, wasabi and home made tsuyu dipping sauce.

The thin beef noodle had a good amount of marbling with just the right amount of fat; not too little and not too much. The wasabi and horse radish cut through the fattiness of the beef and drew out its flavour. It had a lovely smooth texture and was a great introduction to Ōmi beef.

2nd Course: Beef Three Ways (生肉３種) – Starting with the left was a vacuum cooked Roast beef, followed by a Raw yuba (tofu skin) made with beef and Mino (a fish which is the South Korean varietal of the Japanese Drumfish), topped with salmon roe. The last item to the right were two slices of Inner Thigh prepared two ways; one as a shiozuke (in salt), and one in misozuke (in miso).

3rd Course: Beef tongue and Conger eel soup (生タンと穴子しんじょうのお椀) – The chef carefully placed the beef tongue on the conger eel so that it sat above the soup, ensuring it did not cook any more than it needed to. Sure enough, the tongue was cooked beautifully and, whilst it was slightly tougher in texture, the flavour was amazing. The conger eel and broth were subtle but present, allowing the star of the dish to shine.

4th Course: Inner shoulder blade of beef (ミスジの昆布締め) – This was exactly what I had been waiting for. The premium cut of the beef. The inner shoulder blade, the misuji, which only yields 2kg from an entire cow is hightly sought after. It was cured with kelp to draw the flavour out of the meat using its natural umami. It was served with Japanese aubergine (nama nasu) and radish, dressed with a ponzu sauce. It just melted like butter in my mouth. Wow.

5th Course: Beef tongue sashimi (タン刺し) – The beef had been marinated in soy sauce before it was served with some kelp (konbu) to enhance the flavour. This was another solid dish oozing with umami.

6th Course: Beef Tail with Dadacha-mame flan (ダダ茶豆のフランとテール肉の煮凝り) – This was tail meat that had been slow cooked over hours to soften the texture. The gelatinous feel of the sauce was extremely rich. This balanced well with the flan made from dadacha-mame. Dadacha-mame is considered to be the king of edamame’s with its earthy and sweet flavours.

7th Course: Sushi moriawase (寿司の盛り合わせ) – Starting with the right was Aburi Toro (あぶり寿司) which was essentially another beautiful slice of their superior misuji cut that had been torched to create a nice and oily sushi. In the middle however, was a rather confused Crab and Avocado roll (カニアボカド巻) with slithers of the same cut of beef. It wasn’t terrible with the creamy avocado and rich crab meat but I thought it just didn’t fit and distracted from the rest of the dish. Lastly to the left was the ‘Toro’ Beef on rice (トロ肉漬けごはん) which was a bowl of fatty beef that had been pickled over the rice to further infuse its flavour. The texture was exactly like a top grade ootoro and just melted in your mouth. I never expected to have this texture from beef. It was even softer than the finest fassone tartare I had in Piedmont.

8th Course: Asparagus and beef tongue in white miso (アスパラガスとタンの白味噌仕立て) – The lovely cut of misuji was served this time as a stew with sweet white miso. It wasn’t a terrible dish but the white miso distracted from the beautiful cut of meat which was a shame.

9th Course: Sirloin steak (牛肉ステーキ) – As expected from a restaurant specialising in beef, the penultimate course was a fine miniature sirloin steak, dressed with a soy sauce foam and horse radish, served with a side of salad. The soy sauce foam was like no other. It was light and airy, tangling around the meat and melted on your tongue. The meat of course was cooked to perfection, bordering the rarer side to medium-rare with a slight crispy exterior.

10th Course: Beef Chazuke (肉茶漬け) – The finale was a comforting ‘porridge’ or chazuke of beef served with a side of pickles. The pieces of beef was prepared rather unconventionally as a nikujaga (beef cooked in a soy, mirin, sake and brown sugar) before being added into the green tea with puffed rice, seaweed and spring onion.

11th Course: Corn crème brûlée and peach sorbet – A rather bizarre combination of flavours to finish of the meal. On their own each element was delicious and would have probably worked better as separate dishes.

Needless to say, 13,000 yen for the entire menu was an absolute bargain and a steal given the quality of the dishes that kept being brought to us. I personally found the marbling of the beef here far more agreeable than the fattier Matsuzaka beef I had up in Tokyo at Satou Steakhouse. The misuji cut was particularly impressive and unlike anything I have tried before. The downside to the meal was the service tempo which almost gradually came to a near grinding stop when the restaurant was operating at full capacity. It took nearly an hour before someone came to our room after our last course had been served. Luckily we were in no rush to go anywhere but let it be warned that you may want to avoid planning ahead for any post-dinner activities.

Seto (瀬戸), Kyoto

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Chef: Ms. Seto Website: http://gm.gnavi.co.jp/shop/0220150101/ Cuisine: Chicken

Of all the restaurants I have ever visited in Japan, and the world for this matter, I never expected a restaurant specialising in chicken to have left the most profound dining memory to date. It was a stroke of genius and luck when my friend Waswate suggested adding a one Michelin starred restaurant, Seto, on to our itinerary in Kyoto. As we had already a few three and two starred meals booked, I thought it would be good to get some diversity in the cuisine. In other words, why not? Getting the booking wasn’t too hard as all I needed to do was call the restaurant, but getting to the restaurant was a different challenge. To get to Ichihara station one needed to get to the privately operated Eizan railway line which starts from Demachiyanagi, the last northeastern stop on the main lines of Kyoto’s metropolitan area. It was a good idea to have given ourselves ample time to get there.

The walk from the station to the restaurant was a brief ten minutes without complication. As we approached the restaurant we could see someone waiting by the entrance. That person was in fact the proprietress, Seto-san, who always receives her guests at the front gate. I had booked the table in my native Japanese but as we approached I could see she was looking a little anxious. As I began conversing in Japanese she regained her composure, a sigh of relief could be heard as she explained that the only English speaking person had already been dismissed for the day and we were the only diners for that evening. The only ones? Hmmmm…

As Seto-san guided us through her cozy farmhouse things started making more sense. She in fact had only three private dining rooms available, two as part of the main building and one which was a detached stand alone dining space. To our delight she had prepared the detached room for our meal. As we made ourselves comfortable she continued giving us some background and history behind the restaurant. She had moved here over fifty years ago to be with her now deceased husband and to manage a small plot of land to rear chicken and grow vegetables. They had decided over thirty years ago to start serving the fresh produce and chicken themselves instead of selling them on. Since her husband past away she had managed the restaurant alone with the help of a small team of three.Seto-san explained that she had entertained many celebrities and politicians throughout the years but this was the first time she felt so nervous, though not in a bad way she added. She just never imagined conversing in fluent Japanese with a foreign looking (albeit half-Japanese) person. I was glad to have been able to converse in Japanese for I think my memory and experience here would not have been the same had we been served by someone else (Hint: if you do ever get the opportunity to come up, do come with a Japanese speaking person if possible).

Seto-san didn’t waste a single minute to attend to everything despite being immersed in a full conversation. She took our order for a nice cold beer and made the final preparation for the dinner. As we waited for her to come back with our beers, we took a moment to soak in everything. The glowing coal in the Irori (囲炉裏) or fireplace, the orchestrated sound of the insects gently humming away outside and the lovely old smell of the tatami and surrounding. I couldn’t believe where we were. It was so peaceful and soul cleansing.

The appetisers consisted of three dishes which were pickled perilla leaves or shiso no mi (紫蘇の葉) with chicken tail, a salad made entirely from home grown produce with tofu, and some aubergine that had been soft boiled in bonito stock (nasu no nibitashi – 茄子の煮浸し).

I couldn’t help commenting on how flavoursome the produce was. Seto-san explained that they did not need a fridge at Seto because everything they served was always picked and slaughtered that day. She explained that the reason why people had to book in advance and why only a maximum of two bookings per sitting was because they were dependent on the number of chicken they have on their farm. Talk about vertical supply chain management. This level of dedication around sourcing was new territory for me.

The choice of spice recommended to go with the first preparation of chicken were rock salt, black pepper and kuro sansho (黒山椒), which is also known as black / ripe sichuan pepper.

The first preparation of chicken involved grilling each part over coal as a sumibiyaki (炭火焼き). Seto-san began by serving unbelievably succulent grilled chicken feet followed by the breast, tenderloin, neck, kidney, liver, thigh, wing and back in this order. The kidney was crunchy and the tenderloin very juicy but the liver was in its own class.

Given the chicken had not been slaughtered till an hour before our meal, the liver was fresh and not too dissimilar to some of the best foie gras I’ve ever tasted in France; rich and creamy. This was unbelievable. Seto-san explained that they only had akadori (赤鶏) or red feathered chickens on their farm which are renown for their flavour.

As we finished up our first half of the chicken, I was still ranting on about the freshness of the produce. Seto-san’s eyes lit up and she dashed off saying she would be back immediately. She returned around five minutes later with a few funny looking prickly cucumbers. Seto-san had gone to the farm to dig them up, in the dark, just for us. We ate them, as per her recommendation, with only some salt and could not believe how delicious and juicy the cucumbers were. She kindly offered me a few to take home but alas I would have struggle to get them through Australian custom so I had to reluctantly decline her generous offer. Admittedly I did make up for it by eating quite a few…

The second half of the chicken was prepared in a hot pot as a sukiyaki. Seto-san brought over a pot containing all the typical vegetables you’d expect in a hot pot, naturally all sourced from her own farm. In the nabe you could see shiitake and enoki mushrooms, spring onion, noodles, tofu and all parts of the chicken including the skin. She then cracked us a fresh egg from her farm to each of our bowls to eat with the content of the hot pot and…

… began by serving each of us what she described as ‘an egg that’s just about to hatch’. It had an unbelievably creamy texture and flavour. Seto-san claimed the egg would have been ready the following day.

We were then left to our own devices to pick and choose what we fancied. I honestly could not tell what the star of the dish was. Whilst acknowledging that the quality of the chicken was superb, the vegetables were definitely also pulling their weight to make this the best nabe I have ever tried. Seto-san came back to serve us the remaining vegetable and meat before dashing off again to prepare the last savoury dish to complete the chicken trifecta.

The last installment was the Zosui (雑炊), otherwise known as a Japanese rice soup made with pre-cooked rice. Unlike most zosui which use the leftover soup from the nabe, this one had been made from chicken stock that had been reduced over hours of cooking. Whilst a very simple dish, the success of this dish was based on the underlying soup and suffice to say this was very special.

The fruits for dessert were nothing special although we were very full by this point and welcomed the light refreshing dish.

Our meal at Seto ended ever so abruptly as we had to catch one of the last trains back to the city and they seldom came by late at night. However, the two brief hours there that night left a far more profound impression and memory than any other fine dining experience. The meal at Seto was personable, humble and nothing like anything I’ve ever experienced. The fact that this meal cost each of us just over 8,000 yen was unbelievable, particularly given there was only one sitting that evening. As we slowly made our way to the station, all we could see in the darkness was Ms Seto by the entrance bowing. ‘Come back with your wife and baby’ she yells. You don’t have to worry about that, ‘I definitely will’ I shouted back…

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Tag Archives: Kyoto

Tempura Matsu (天ぷら松), Kyoto

Isshin (いっしん), Kyoto

Seto (瀬戸), Kyoto