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Spiny lobster and cockle

This is a specialty course. The Ise lobster is cleaned and pan-seared in sake until half-cooked. The cockle is also shelled and pan-seared in sake…

• ¥540

• Cook time 15 min

Bamboo shoot miso-glazed and grilled three ways -- sansho-leaf miso, dengaku miso, and yuzu miso, cornetfish and celtuce stem dressed with fish roe, icefish sushi wrapped in a cherry leaf, baby turban shell coated with sea urchin, foie gras in an amber jelly, salmon rolled in a brocade pattern

The grilled hassun course is bamboo shoot dengaku, three ways. The bamboo shoot is rehydrated with rice bran and dried chili, then peeled, cleaned…

• ¥1,340

• Cook time 40 min

Clam shinjo

This is the clear-soup course. Stock from clams steamed with sake is combined with bonito dashi to make the soup base.

• ¥312

• Cook time 25 min

Ark shell clam and pen shell clam

This is the appetizer course. The spring vegetables — hosta shoot, ostrich fern fiddlehead, and usui peas — are boiled to bring out good color. The…

• ¥370

• Cook time 20 min

Grilled spring pancake, duck, cucumber, scallion, cherry leaf, clam simmered Arima-style, sansho peppercorns

If you overcook the clams they turn tough, so I think it's best to just barely warm them through in the marinade. I have the impression that Arima-ni…

Asari clams and rapeseed blossoms in mustard dressing, with lily bulb

As with the hamaguri clams, the key with asari clams too is not to overcook them, so they finish soft and tender.

Tilefish fried pinecone-style with the scales fanned open, raw sea urchin fried with a shaved-kombu coating, jade-green lily bulb fried fan-shaped

This is the fried course. Tempura is rarely served within a kaiseki course, but I wanted to include it as one of the distinctive touches, so I added…

• ¥600

• Cook time 30 min

Cherry salmon grilled roll with julienned vegetables, bamboo shoot grilled with sansho leaf, roast beef three ways

This is the grilled course. For the cherry salmon kenchin-yaki, the cherry salmon is cut lengthwise into 10 cm widths, butterflied open, dusted with…

• Serves 1 · ¥680

• Cook time 30 min

Conger eel rolled in thin overlapping daikon layers, icefish fried in a green-herb batter, turnip simmered white, and butterbur wrapped in fried tofu skin

This is the simmered course. For the conger eel sendan-maki, daikon is cut into thick rotary-peeled ribbons and rolled around simmered conger eel…

• ¥40

• Cook time 15 min

Mugwort wheat-gluten cake

This is the clear-soup course. Kuchiko, dried sea cucumber roe, Japanese spikenard, and Suizenji nori, a rare freshwater alga, are cut into triangles…

• ¥350

• Cook time 50 min

Maki-grade kuruma prawn fried in a rein pattern, sea bream roe wrapped in coarse glutinous rice, fava bean sandwiched fritter, angelica-tree shoots dressed with tofu, and clam fried in egg-yolk batter

This is the appetizer course. For the shrimp tazuna-age, the shrimp is flattened, dusted with flour, and wrapped with three colors of thin noodles…

• ¥150

• Cook time 20 min

Shiba shrimp mino-age (oyster shin-biki-age, fried root vegetable with cheese, ginkgo-leaf-cut sweet potato, dead-branch-cut burdock, rice-ear garnish, sudachi)

This time, we learned about "agemono" from new master Masaya Tsuji (Wanmiya, Shibadaimon). We will focus on "tsukuage".

Pickled daikon

This is the pickled vegetables course. Takuan is sliced about 5 mm thick. Whenever there is a stem vegetable among the pickles, a leaf vegetable is…

Hot-water course

Yutō is traditionally made with scorched rice, though more restaurants now use roasted rice instead. Tea-ceremony kaiseki is such simple cooking that…

Spiny lobster grilled with sea urchin

This is the hassun (seasonal assortment) course. The Ise lobster is prepared uni-yaki, grilled with uni.

• ¥700

• Cook time 1 hr

Kombu Broth

For the hashi-arai (a small palate-cleansing soup), the salt concentration is set to zero-point-five percent. The lid of the hashi-arai soup bowl…

Monkfish Liver, Flounder, and Japanese Mountain Yam

This is a supplementary dish recommended by the host. For the ankimo, thorough washing and thorough cooking are essential. It is roughly tossed with…

• ¥1,000

• Cook time 1 hr

Shogoin Daikon, Snow Crab Kintsuba

This is a shared side dish. For the garland chrysanthemum "snow-covered" dish, raw garland chrysanthemum leaves are spread with pounded fish paste…

• Serves 5 · ¥700

• Cook time 1 hr

Butterfish, Miso Yuan-Style Grill

The grilled dish is butterfish miso yuan-yaki. When yuan-yaki is made from butterfish in the ordinary way, it tends to turn out tough, so the yuan…

• Serves 5 · ¥2,000

• Cook time 1 hr

Cod Milt Daifuku Mochi

This is a nimono-wan, a simmered soup bowl. For the shirako daifuku mochi, the shirako is steamed with sake and salt until soft, and glutinous rice…

• Serves 5 · ¥1,000

• Cook time 2 hr

"Shifting vegetables" parfait — burdock cracker, snap pea, green peas, fava bean, butterbur sprout, fiddlehead fern, micro tomato, kabocha squash, potato

This dish had its start about five years ago, when I served a meal at a nursing home. Seeing how happily the residents ate it, I thought about how I…

Black sesame udon in a 'lingering snow' plating, butterbur sprout, angelica-tree shoots, yuzu

With udon, grated daikon, and tempura of wild mountain vegetables, I wanted to express the scene of lingering snow as winter gives way to spring. The…

Wagyu roast with okara — rapeseed blossoms, shredded egg crepe, boiled onion

I myself love roast beef, and one time I tried topping roast beef with simmered okara — it was delicious, so I decided to put it on the menu. Okara…

Small Round Rice

This is the rice course. In tea-ceremony cuisine, rice is the single most important element, so its timing of service must be carefully matched. In…