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Rabbit-shaped Yamato yam, two-aroma bottarga, ball-shaped arrowhead-tuber egg-yolk sushi, black soybean-wrapped shrimp 'rock', stuffed clam with sake-lees-pickled daylily shoots

The appetizer's rabbit-shaped yamato yam is steamed yamato yam pressed through a fine sieve, shaped to resemble a rabbit. It's kneaded and shaped by…

Crab kinuta-maki roll

Jade ginkgo nuts, chrysanthemum-cut turnip, kuruma prawn, shimeji mushroom, leaf-cut kabocha squash, maple-leaf-cut carrot, ginkgo-leaf-shaped taro, pinecone-cut arrowhead bulb

Box-cut shrimp-shaped taro simmered in savory sauce and deep-fried in a cracked-mochi coating; spiny lobster deep-fried in egg yolk

The masu-cut shrimp-shaped taro simmered in savory sauce and coated in cracked mochi and deep-fried, served in place of a standard fried course, was…

Mustard Cream Salad

The mustard cream used in the mustard cream salad has sour cream mixed in, giving it acidity, so it's light and very easy to eat.

Conger eel, firewood-bundle style; pike conger deep-fried with plum fragrance; edamame kakiage; deep-fried lotus root; wild garlic deep-fried in egg-yolk batter

Pike conger in crystal jelly

Pike conger is normally used in soup courses and the like, but this time I set it into a jelly and served it as an appetizer. The firmness is a…

Sea Bream Milt Tofu

This appetizer of sea bream milt tofu addresses the slight fishy edge milt can have: after draining the blood, we soak it in milk for about 2 hours…

Spiny lobster steamed with rice / squid, halfbeak, and shrimp rope-pattern sushi / angelica tree shoots and bracken fern / hosta shoots marinated in a salted bonito-innards base / paddy-grown Japanese parsley with chopped sesame

This Ise lobster steamed with rice, served as a sake accompaniment, also doubles as a shinogi — a small dish meant to take just the edge off hunger…

Sakura Shrimp and Scallop Takikomi Gohan

Sakura-chaya was founded in Showa 8 — 1933 — and is the third-oldest established ryotei, a traditional Japanese restaurant, in Mukojima, a district…

Soup Course: White Miso Broth with Seared Matsutake Mushroom

With the theme of the season turning from autumn into winter, we made three recommended dishes using ingredients of the moment. As the weather is…

Sado Island raw oyster in amber jelly, persimmon shell presentation, kinu-otome taro boiled in its skin, nanban shrimp with fermented salted-roe dressing, smoked salmon

Fermented Sesame Tofu, Mock Taro Natto, Grilled Vegetables Dusted with Shrimp Powder

First, three small dishes. For the fermented sesame tofu, we first toast polished sesame seeds and let them soak up water for about a day, then cook…

Dried chestnut and day lily buds, dressed madder-red; paper-thin dried bottle-gourd shavings and autumn eggplant with walnut sauce; kombu-cured cod with its own reduction sauce; spanner crab and cold-dried daikon; eggplant calyx and dried scallop mustard dressing

Five small appetizer dishes. First, the dried chestnut and day lily bud dressed madder-red: since the hardened dried chestnuts are tough, they are…

Ise Lobster Sea-Urchin Yaki, Ebi-Imo and Foie Gras Yaki, Tender-Simmered Kurobuta Pork in Potato Sauce, Chrysanthemum-Steeped Dish Served in a Bitter-Orange Shell, Brandy-Steeped Chestnuts with the Inner Skin On

For the ebi-imo (shrimp-shaped taro) and foie gras yaki in the grilled tray course, I considered simply placing foie gras on top of the ebi-imo, but…

Thread-wound tilefish, octopus hidden in seaweed, white taro stem, tube-cut burdock, maple-shaped fu

The simmered course I've named thread-wound tilefish. I wrap the tilefish in winter melon, and over that I wind strands of fish worked into…

Grilled barracuda marinated in sweet white miso, small abalone finished with Arima sansho pepper, king crab miso-grilled, grilled matsutake

As for the grilled dish's tokobushi (small abalone) Arima-yaki: I first clean the tokobushi thoroughly, then score it with a fine cross-hatch knife…

Pufferfish aspic, grilled shimeji and salmon roe, five-color crab namasu

For the maezara (appetizer plate), I made three dishes, each using a distinctively flavored vinegar. As for the fugu nikogori, I set fugu skin into a…

Scorpionfish Steamed in a Thin Egg Custard with Its Own Stock

The alternate clear-soup course is okoze steamed in a thin egg custard with its own stock. This one uses the okoze's head and nakaochi, the meat…

Softly simmered whale skin, crab and eggplant steamed Hakata-style, and new potatoes in sweet soy glaze

For the simmered dish, the softly simmered whale skin: the whale skin is parboiled in rice-bran water, rinsed in cold water, then gently simmered in…

Ise Lobster Umani, Thistle-Cut Winter Melon, Shikishi-Cut Kabocha, Sea Bream Roe and Shiitake Simmered Together, and Brussels Sprouts

This simmered assortment (takiawase) is actually a chilled simmered dish. I tried topping it with a jelly made from a rich, flavorful dashi.

Broth steamed in a small teapot

Based on the menu we normally serve our guests, since it was October, I added playful touches to the appetizer course, such as styling the whole…

Scallop deep-fried in a bundled-firewood style, lotus root two-layer deep-fry, stuffed green chili pepper

This is the deep-fried course. For the scallop ōharagi-age, a shinjo paste is made from scallop, wrapped in burdock root, and shaped to resemble a…

Fragrant tea-grilled autumn assortment, tilefish rough-wave grilled, abalone butter-grilled, shrimp-shaped taro and quail moon rings, king crab, seared pike conger

The grilled course's fragrant tea-grilling follows the magnolia-leaf grilling method. Because direct heat can sometimes cause the leaf to catch fire…