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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…

Steamed fugu

I created this under the theme "Ryokan Cuisine Today." This is a clear-soup course. For the Fugu-fukashi, I first simmer fugu bones and trimmings…

• Serves 1 · ¥1,800

• Cook time 5 hr

Niigata Beef Miso-Grilled, Niigata Grilled Eggplant, and Green Chili Peppers Seared in Fat

This is a traditional Niigata seasoning made with local chili peppers as its base, along with kōji (rice malt), yuzu, and salt as the other raw…

• Serves 1 · ¥720

• Cook time 1 hr

Snow crab, Kyoto shungiku tossed in sesame, and fermented crucian-carp sushi

As the menu approaches its final stretch, I serve a course designed to encourage more drinking, made with seasonal ingredients, to let guests enjoy a…

• Serves 1 · ¥20,000

• Cook time 2 hr

Cod ochazuke

This time, it's the meal course, making use of cod at the end of its season. The cod ochazuke lets us use the late-season cod without wasting any…

• Serves 1 · ¥330

• Cook time 30 min

Monkfish tomozu

At the restaurant where I work in Oarai, Ibaraki, monkfish is an ingredient we use often during its harvest season, from November through March. By…

• Serves 1 · ¥350

• Cook time 40 min

Free-range chicken Kansai-style seasoned rice with bamboo shoot, carrot, burdock, thin fried tofu, shiitake, and mitsuba

This time, on 'shokuji,' I learned from chef Tamura (Shiodome, Conrad Tokyo's 'Nihon Ryōri Kazahana'). This time I take up 'kayaku gohan.'

Sixteen-grain Fukagawa rice, mushroom and egg soup (Japanese Cuisine and Yakuzen)

Seven or eight years ago, I brought to life a recipe by Ms. Taniguchi, and it sold extremely well. Seeing that sparked my interest in yakuzen. Since…

• Serves 1 · ¥530

• Cook time 35 min

Yellowtail Shabu-Shabu

Guests enjoy seasonal yellowtail, with just the right amount of fat, as "tsuyu-shabu," shabu-shabu cooked in a seasoned broth rather than plain hot…

• Serves 1 · ¥380

• Cook time 30 min

Champignon pureed soup (Japanese Cuisine and Yakuzen)

This is an application of yakuzen within Japanese cuisine. This is the clear-soup course. The Champignon Surinagashi — a ground, strained purée-style…

• Serves 1 · ¥940

• Cook time 40 min

Tōyama-Style Hunter's Hot Pot Tōji-Soba

For the Tōyama-style hunter's hot pot tōji-soba, I used bear loin, whose meat is comparatively tender. Following the principle of dosan-dohō —…

• Serves 4 · ¥1,186

• Cook time 1 hr

Shiso rice porridge

Rice porridge has been served at the end of our course meals since the beginning. By washing the ri…

• Serves 1 · ¥300

• Cook time 10 min

Softshell Turtle Takikomi Gohan

In the past, our restaurant served a clear-soup course with large pieces of softshell turtle, but since some guests found the appearance off-putting…

• Serves 5 · ¥3,500

• Cook time 4 hr

Salt-simmered yellowtail

From our use of the winter ingredient yellowtail, this is a simmered dish. I think it's common to enjoy yellowtail for the umami of its fat, but the…

• Serves 1 · ¥1,200

• Cook time 1 hr

Wagyu Grilled with Tare-Miso

This is the simmered-dish course. The finale is meat. Everyone loves meat, so you need to include meat somewhere in the course. For the wagyu grilled…

Plum-blossom-shaped coarse mochi-rice confection

Plum-blossom dōmyōji is simple enough to make, but getting the balance right between the white of the dōmyōji and the black of the sweetened beans…

Simmered Daikon

Encountering Yushima daikon from Kumamoto Prefecture was what led me to think about how best to make the most of a daikon so juicy and sweet it's…

• Serves 1 · ¥150

• Cook time 3 hr

Akashi sea bream, spring-haze steamed

This is a warm dish timed to the season when the cherry blossoms open. As for the Akashi tai harugasumi-mushi, this is normally a dish made with…

• Serves 1 · ¥900

• Cook time 30 min

Ginkgo-nut rice, new-crop bettarazuke, oyster red miso soup

The rice course is ginkgo-nut rice. Salt alone is enough seasoning, since it lets the ingredient's own flavor come through fully. And when I thought…

• Serves 4 · ¥1,200

• Cook time 1 hr

Green-tea soba with simmered herring

This is freshly hand-cut cha-soba, made with particular care for both matcha and buckwheat flour. It's a dish enjoyed with a fragrant dashi made by…

• Serves 1 · ¥600

• Cook time 30 min

Seared Hoshiko Shinjo

Taking aroma as the theme, I focus here on 'the scent of shijimi clams and first-extraction dashi.' Rather than the bold, hit-you-in-the-face aromas…

• Serves 1 · ¥500

• Cook time 3 hr

Salt-Boiled Dōman-Gani

Found in a renowned lake, the Doman mud crab is said to be a phantom crab; its official name is the serrated mud crab. It's characterized by firm…

Quail meatball

This is an introduction of a dish paired with the white wine produced in Yamanashi Prefecture, where my own workplace is located. This is a…

• Serves 1 · ¥250

• Cook time 30 min