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Matsukawa-style longtail red snapper, stone-wall-style yam bulbils, hijiki fish-paste dumpling, rising-sun-style mullet roe, iron-fan-style kuruma prawn, sweet potato simmered with lemon, and petal-shaped New Year mochi

Among the appetizers, the stone-wall-style yam bulbils are styled after the image of 'until moss grows upon it' from the Kimigayo (Japan's national…

Pinecone-scored squid, cut-bamboo early butterbur, syrup-simmered plumped plum, sprouted arrowhead bulb, ten-thousand-year simmered burdock, calm-wave-cut lily bulb, snow-capped herring roe, turnip namasu, steeped early bracken fern, and Hakata-style sweet bean jelly

Kuizumi is osechi, New Year's food. At New Year, packing lots of dishes into tiered lacquer boxes for the family to eat, and also to serve when…

Crystal aspic

For the vinegared dish, the crystal aspic sets each ingredient in a very loose jelly made from a light, dashi-based vinegar, and is served just as it…

Mountain yam cut into fine noodle strands

For the nagaimo somen, the mountain yam is peeled in a continuous ribbon (katsura-muki) and then cut into fine somen-like strands. It's a slippery…

Sesame Soy-Milk Somen -- Using "Macro Tare"

We thought about "Giving Value to Vegan Cuisine" by making use of a sauce that delivers impact without any animal-derived ingredients. The "Macro…

• Serves 1 · ¥238

• Cook time 30 min

Tuna cut lengthwise into long strips, corner-folded flounder, thread-cut cuttlefish

This is the sashimi course. This is something I first served when I led a training seminar for AAJ, and this time I've made it again with a fresh…

• Serves 1 · ¥3,000

• Cook time 1 hr

Matsutake, Baby Turnip, Yuzu

For the soup course, our first priority is drawing a delicious dashi. We draw ichiban dashi using Kafuka kombu from Funadomari and katsuobushi from…

Shinshu giant char cylinder roll, char roe in soy marinade, autumn fruit and walnut mousse, Shinshu pork steamed with sansho, grilled maitake with foie gras, chrysanthemum petal salad, Shinshu salmon with egg-yolk mustard sauce

This is an appetizer presented in hassun (seasonal-assortment course) style, using Nagano Prefecture's prized traditional vegetables and, since it is…

• Serves 1 · ¥350

• Cook time 1 hr

Steamed Grated Turnip

This is the simmered dish. For the shrimp tofu: I combine puréed shrimp with soy milk, slowly raising the temperature over low heat to about 80°C…

• ¥520

• Cook time 2 hr

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

Herring Simmered Arima-Style with Sansho Pepper

The deep-fried tofu fritter was something our head chef, Komatsuzaki, used to serve as a takeaway gift at the end of the course. I grind sesame in a…

• ¥400

• Cook time 1 hr

Late-season pike conger kakiage, maki-grade kuruma prawn and salted sea cucumber intestines yōrō-age, fragrant edamame threaded juzu-bead style, leaf-shaped natto

As for the nagori hamo kakiage, once October arrives, hamo is nearing the end of its season, so I named it 'nagori hamo kakiage.' I find it comes out…

• ¥650

• Cook time 1 hr

Coho Salmon Cured with Edible Flowers

The coho salmon cured with edible flowers becomes a dish with a gorgeous fragrance by curing the salmon with seasonal edible flowers. The lily-bulb…

• ¥532

• Cook time 1 hr

Roasted Bryde's Whale with Aromatic Vegetables

This is a grilled dish, built on the concept of "protecting the ocean environment." For the roasted Bryde's whale with aromatic vegetables, the idea…

• Serves 1 · ¥450

• Cook time 50 min

Hamo and Matsutake Dobin-Mushi

Dobin-mushi made with early-season matsutake and hamo is the classic, standard combination for this time of year, something many Japanese people…

Roasted green tea and sesame tofu, Usui pea pureed soup

With the hojicha and sesame tofu, you can enjoy two distinct flavors, hojicha and sesame. It's delicious eaten separately or together, making it a…

End-of-season pufferfish and wagyu, assorted preparations: miso-bed-pickled rib-eye grilled over a wire net, seared rib-eye, pufferfish flesh-and-skin roll pintxos, cold-smoked pufferfish nigiri sushi, translucent-sliced pufferfish skin with cream cheese, saimaki shrimp marinated with spring citrus

The miso-bed-pickled rib-eye grilled over a wire net and the seared rib-eye both use the same single rib-eye; cooking it before pickling in miso…

Rump cap beef marinated in soy-koji, tilefish baked in a snow-like coating

This is the grilled course. All of these dishes are firmly seasoned but not heavy-handed, so I think they pair well with white wine or junmai ginjo…

• ¥1,500

• Cook time 2 hr

Clear soup with a fluffy cod-and-milt fish dumpling, thin-ice-style daikon

For the clear soup with a fluffy cod-and-milt fish dumpling, I whip the binder into a meringue-like foam, much like a shinjo base, to give it a…

• ¥350

• Cook time 40 min

Oyster and matsutake rice (ginkgo nuts, mitsuba, fried tofu)

The meal is "Oyster and Matsutake Rice." Washing the oysters with a daikon grater removes all dirt …

• Serves 1 · ¥1,095

• Cook time 30 min

Hokki Clam, New Potato, and Japanese Parsley Tofu Dressing, Cockle, Seared Pen Shell, Tender-Simmered Abalone

This is the sakizuke course, a trio of shellfish for the fragrance of spring. For the surf clam, new potato, and Japanese parsley tofu dressing: the…

• ¥620

• Cook time 1 hr

Tilefish grilled with a white-miso finish evoking an elder's white hair, shrimp and sea urchin sushi, miso-pickled soft-set egg, clam grilled in butter

• ¥1,400

• Cook time 2 hr

Persimmon with tofu-vinegar dressing

This is an additional hearty course. The persimmon with shiro-zu dressing is made using two kinds of tofu: silken and cotton.

• ¥320

• Cook time 30 min

Barracuda grilled and steeped in dashi

This is single dish course two: kamasu yaki-bitashi. Kamasu skin turns tough when grilled, but steeping it in dashi afterwards softens it and makes…

• ¥700

• Cook time 20 min