SEARCH

Walnut tofu, small abalone steamed with sake, roe-bearing sweetfish simmered and steeped, chrysanthemum petals lightly steeped, Pacific saury rolled with burdock root, crab and tofu skin egg-yolk-batter fried, pine-needle-style skewer

Tiger pufferfish dressed with crumbled nuka-pickled roe, icicle-cut squid with egg-yolk cream, soaked whale with white vinegar dressing, ark shell clam and taro stem with Naniwa miso, cod milt marinated in saikyo miso, rolled pickled plum, Shimonita leek stuffed with beltfish and grilled in a marinade, lily bulb wrapped in pressed plum paste, Oribe-style taro wrapped in a shiitake ribbon, stem lettuce pickled in fermented rice malt, and shimeji mushroom and Japanese parsley in a Tsugaru-style apple dressing

This is the torafugu masago-ae, using nukazuke fugu ovary. This is something cured in salt and rice bran for about three years, and it's sold only in…

Late-season pike conger and matsutake goshoguruma-age, wagyu fillet mino-age

This is the deep-fried course. For the late-season pike conger and matsutake goshoguruma-age — a style in which the roll is sliced to reveal a spiral…

Grilled Beltfish, Rikyu-Style

This is the grilled course. For the grilled beltfish, Rikyu-style, the beltfish is marinated in equal parts mirin, sake and light soy sauce, mixed…

Fig tofu-dressed salad in a hollowed kabosu bowl with split sansho garnish, Pacific saury simmered Arima-style with sansho pepper, thick rolled omelet with yam bulbils, walnuts, and cashews

Spanish mackerel grilled with cherry-blossom miso, baby turban shell grilled with sea urchin, cherry salmon and cheese spiral roll

This is the grilled course. For the cherry salmon and cheese naruto roll, we fillet the cherry salmon and slice it thin. We salt-cure it for about an…

Abalone tororo, pike conger roe and white melon kaminari-boshi, green plum sliced into candied rings, and more

This is an appetizer course. For the abalone tororo: fresh black abalone is cleaned, firmed up thoroughly with salt, then grated. It's combined with…

Hairy crab picked from the shell, kuruma prawn in areca-nut style, octopus tender-simmered with whiting, golden sushi, deep-fried stuffed red Manganji pepper, tube-cut mountain yam, rare immature salmon

As for the appetizer's tender-simmered octopus: normally I use the tender-simmering method that has been handed down since long ago, but this time I…

Butterfish grilled with shio-koji, broadbanded thornyhead grilled in citrus-soy marinade

For the grilled-fish course, the salt-koji-grilled dish uses a store-bought shio-koji called 'Unmaina.' It's good for overnight-pickling vegetables…

Conger eel two-piece roll with burdock, oil-simmered kuruma prawn, tender-simmered octopus, hijiki wrapped in fried tofu skin

This is a simmered dish. The tender-simmered octopus is made using the very first method I was ever taught. For the hijiki shinoda-maki, I used soft…

Monkfish liver, hakata-style, eel fish cake, end-of-season ayu grilled with its own roe and a fermented soybean condiment, kobako crab ground into a puree soup, smoked salmon, soybean pulp

Mackerel kinuta-maki, hairy crab, egg-yolk vinegar

This is the vinegared course (sunomono). For the mackerel kinuta-maki — rolled around a filling in a shape named for a fulling block — the mackerel…

Seared bottarga, miso-pickled celtuce, grilled oyster with apple, jellied monkfish liver, salmon and turnip sushi, scallop and milk terrine

This is the appetizer course. For the seared bottarga, we first wash the mullet roe sacs thoroughly in salted water, then rinse away the blood…

Young kuruma prawn set in consomme jelly, clam and colorful vegetable salad, fava bean, lily bulb, and foie gras wrung in cloth, flounder and rapeseed blossom in a silky egg-white veil, eel rolled in omelet, aigamo duck and asparagus terrine, Chinese yam dressed in sesame

Rather than making this purely a spring dish, we wanted to express the changing of the seasons. We didn't foreground cherry blossoms but used them…

Squid Genpei-yaki, Hamo Senbei, Persimmon-Shaped Carrot, Jellied Whelk, Sun-Dried Whiting, Chestnut Kamaboko, Mackerel Sushi, Salt-Roasted Ginkgo Nuts, Pacific Saury Yawata-Maki, Ayu Kombu Roll

For the appetizer squid genpei-yaki, golden cuttlefish is cut into a sashimi block and split into two sheets, then salted. The squid is then…

Blackthroat seaperch grilled with salt-fermented bonito viscera, young sweetfish grilled with new-season tea

This is a grilled course. For the blackthroat seaperch grilled with shuto: the fish is rinsed and cleaned, steeped in sake cut with water for about…

Shinshu salmon, a branded trout hybrid, with silky egg-yolk sauce, abalone and azuki duo mold, fruit tomato and horsehair crab

This is a seasonal-vegetable course. For the Shinshu salmon with silky egg-yolk sauce: the Shinshu salmon is prepared, salted heavily, cut into…

Sardine grilled with fermented mash, conger eel rolled with burdock, grilled pike conger with plum soy sauce

These are the grilled dishes. For the burdock in grilled dish two, conger eel yawata-maki, I finished it this time in a kinpira (sautéed…

Conger eel wrapped in soy milk skin, cherry-simmered mountain yam, butterbur

Yellowtail and daikon

For the buri daikon, the daikon is first parboiled and rehydrated, then placed on kombu. The yellowtail is marinated in sandō-wari and grilled. The…

Bamboo Shoot Grilled with Kinome; Diamond-Shaped Kamaboko; Clam and Rapeseed-Flower Sushi; Bamboo Shoot Simmered in Shirozake; Icefish, Bonbori-Style Grilled; Lily Bulb and Tachibana Citrus Chakin; Halfbeak, Cherry-Blossom Dried; Three-Colored Dango

Titled "Appetizers, Grilled and Simmered Dishes for Early Spring," this begins with the appetizer course. I prepared a single warm dish, a dish tied…

Tender-simmered raw sea cucumber, yellowtail kaburazushi, smoked aigamo duck, and more

This is the pre-course dish. For tender-simmered raw sea cucumber, the important thing is finishing the sea cucumber tender: we slowly bring it up in…

Molded whale terrine with mustard vinegar-miso sauce, savory shrimp sponge cake, conger eel and cucumber roll, two-color rice cracker, abalone and lotus root mannen-ni

First is the assorted small-dishes course. For the molded whale terrine with mustard vinegar-miso sauce, if you set it too firm, the umami is cut in…

Milt tofu, yuba-wrapped deep-fry

As for the shirako tofu Tōji-age, we wrapped the shirako tofu in yuba so that it would not crumble and spill out. Sesame tofu is sometimes used in…