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Sea bream roe simmered tosa-style with bonito flakes, thin-sliced octopus steeped in a sake-based seasoning sauce, clams steamed with rice, beltfish rolled with butterbur shoots, smoked bonito

There are five appetizers, arranged in groups of two and three. The first is sea bream roe simmered tosa-style. For the sansho-leaf jelly poured over…

Petal-style clear soup / kuzu-dusted fat greenling

For the clear-soup course's kuzu-dusted ainame, the ainame is filleted into two thin pieces and dyed with food coloring in two spots. Crisping cherry…

Vinegared duck

For the vinegared dish's duck namasu, much like the salt-cured pork common in Okinawa, salt is well rubbed into the duck's fat and flesh; five to six…

Grilled Bamboo Shoot Hasami-Yaki / Himekawa Dorayaki

For the grilled bamboo shoot hasami-yaki, I used the leftover himekawa to make dorayaki. I make a dorayaki batter with reduced sugar, flavor it with…

Turban shell and rapeseed blossoms with wasabi

For the turban shell and rapeseed blossoms with wasabi, store-bought pickled wasabi is pressed through a sieve, then lightly tossed with a light soy…

Yellowtail and daikon

The small-bowl course's yellowtail and daikon is made by wrapping yellowtail in grated daikon radish to form a manju. When shaping it into a manju…

Conger eel roll in thin overlapping slices, spiny lobster with sesame-thickened sauce, new potatoes simmered with bonito flakes

This is a simmered dish. As summer approaches, the conger eel sendan-maki can be enjoyed just as well served cold. The new potatoes simmered…

Thornyhead lightly salted, white asparagus grilled with sea urchin, ball-shaped konjac simmered countryside-style

This is a grilled dish. For the lightly salted kichiji, the fish is butterflied along the back, dried overnight, then grilled wrapped around sautéed…

Young sea bass, oil-seared

Soup two is a clear broth. For the oil-seared fukko, the skin has a somewhat strong character, so we poured oil at about 180°C over the skin side to…

Baby green pea puree soup, abalone fried in rice-flour batter, mugwort mochi

We chose a course menu, making two soups — a cloudy broth and a clear broth. Since it is early summer, we made good use of oil in both. First, soup…

Okoze steamed Yōrō Falls-style

The clear-soup course is okoze, steamed in the style of the Yōrō Falls legend. Since okoze pairs well with oil, I salt it and then deep-fry it…

Juvenile sea bream sashimi, pine-bark style, kombu-cured live cod, spot prawn

For the live cod kombu-cured sashimi, I salt the cod and, without pressing it too firmly, simply sandwich it lightly between sheets of kombu; since…

Hosta shoots set with soymilk

The urui set with soymilk is made by setting the in-season urui with soymilk, though I think it would also have a nice texture set with fresh yuba…

Baby octopus and Japanese parsley with sea urchin miso

For the baby octopus and Japanese parsley with uni miso, since this was for display, this time the uni miso was ladled over the top rather than…

Oyster Tofu

For the fried course's oyster tofu mousse style, it's served with a dipping sauce made by thickening white soba broth with kuzu starch and stirring…

Mountain yam simmered in sweet white sake / kuruma shrimp dumplings

For the simmered course's nagaimo in shirozake (sweet white sake), since Shinshu has many sake breweries, I used the local shirozake to simmer it a…

Pufferfish milt

For the appetizer, the fugu shirako and dried sea-cucumber ovary are simply seared and set on a warmed stone — but I think that alone makes for a…

Young sweetfish steamed with kelp

This is a vinegared dish. The young ayu is sandwiched between sheets of tart shiraita kombu (thin sheet kelp) and steamed; since this also falls on a…

Yuzu Sherbet

Arrowhead bulb and millet-mochi fry

The kuwai and millet-mochi fry, as the pre-course dish, is meant to give guests arriving on a cold day something warm to start with, so I serve it in…

Crab wrapped in thin turnip slices, plump-simmered abalone, pufferfish grilled with scattered roe

For the sake accompaniments, I laid down a New Year's battledore and, since the zodiac year is the Rat, served the dishes in small bowls shaped like…

Conger eel, Ohara firewood-bundle style

For the okoze yamabuki-ni, the okoze is coated in egg yolk; while it doesn't go as far as a full wax-finish grill, I think it comes out beautifully…

Warm conger eel sushi

The rice course is warm anago (conger eel) sushi. Since it's also the cold season and cold sushi isn't very well received, I made it warm, at about…

Overnight-dried willow flounder

For the grilled course's overnight-dried willow flounder, I salt the flounder, dry it overnight, and finish it by grilling with a splash of a…