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Seared cornetfish

This is the owan, the clear-soup course. For the seared yagara, October is when yagara is at its best, so this time I salted it and seared it quickly.

• ¥420

• Cook time 30 min

Grilled nut tofu, salt-fermented Ise lobster roe, a preparation shaped to resemble chestnuts, bottarga with squid and cheese Ohara-me style, Otafuku garland chrysanthemum greens with scallop and sea urchin

This is the sake accompaniment course. For the grilled nut tofu, I started with a base of sesame tofu and added walnuts and chestnuts, which are in…

• Serves 10 · ¥1,150

• Cook time 40 min

Grilled rice ball ochazuke

This is single dish course five: yaki onigiri ochazuke. I brush the grilling sauce onto the rice ball, press a shiso leaf onto it, and then grill it…

• ¥150

• Cook time 15 min

Lotus root, deep-fried and served in dashi

This is single dish course four: lotus root agedashi. Grated lotus root loses its flavor if squeezed too hard, so squeeze out just a little of the…

• ¥490

• Cook time 25 min

Steamed abalone, sea urchin and wakame

This is single dish course three: steamed abalone, uni and wakame. I use farmed abalone from Hokkaido, steaming it for around eight to ten minutes…

• ¥690

• Cook time 15 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

Pacific saury with shaved kombu

This is single dish course one: Pacific saury with oboro-kombu. Since sanma is out of season, I substituted horse mackerel (aji) this time. Because…

• ¥500

• Cook time 20 min

Taro steamed in its skin, salt-steamed aigamo duck loin, smoked salmon kosode sushi, cream cheese sake-lees pickle, fig with white vinegar dressing

For the appetizer course I prepared dishes built around autumn's signature ingredients. Kinukatsugi can be made ahead and plated in advance, but…

• ¥460

• Cook time 15 min

Motte-giku, an edible chrysanthemum, with wasabi-vinegar dressing

This is a sakizuke, the appetizer. For the motte-giku with wasabi-vinegar dressing, motte-giku was not yet available, so I substituted yellow…

• ¥200

• Cook time 10 min

Rice cooked with beef tongue, topped with fresh sea urchin

• ¥3,470

• Cook time 40 min

New lotus root kinpira, red and green Manganji peppers fried and dashi-steeped, octopus miso-cured and armor-style grilled

• ¥970

• Cook time 1 hr

Simmered softshell turtle, freeze-dried tofu

Simmer the suppon down until the dashi thickens, but you'll need to try it many times to get the timing just right.

Julienned vegetable clear soup with mitsuba, udo, shiitake, bamboo shoot, pork back fat, and pepper

For the vegetables in sawani-wan, adding them in order starting with the ones that take longest to cook gives the dish a better balance of textures.

Water shield and somen noodles

• ¥80

• Cook time 10 min

Spiny lobster, kuzu-dusted and grilled, dressed with roe

• ¥1,650

• Cook time 1 hr

Bigfin reef squid sake-simmered, blanched taro stem dressed with shiso, seared and blanched flounder

For the blanched taro stem dressed with shiso: I bruise the shiso and let it sit in water so the color doesn't change, then dress it right in front…

• ¥780

• Cook time 1 hr

Zucchini blossom stuffed with scallop fish-paste dumpling and monkfish liver

This is the fried course. Once a little food or beer is in your stomach, your appetite really picks up, and I think fried food tastes better eaten a…

• ¥510

• Cook time 40 min

Lotus Seed Rice

This is the rice course. Normally, I would serve hitomoji rice (rice with green onion — hitomoji is a classical court term for negi), but I chose to…

• ¥90

• Cook time 1 hr

Sheet Jellyfish with Shuto Dressing

This is a tsubotsubo dish. In tea-ceremony cuisine, tsubotsubo is served to convey the meaning "I'd like to get closer to you" or "I'd like to become…

• ¥150

• Cook time 30 min

Fukusa two-miso soup set as a gelée, and fresh-skimmed yuba

This is the soup course. At this time of year, one would normally use the clear top layer of red miso dashi, served cold, but thinking about what…

• ¥325

• Cook time 40 min

Sesame Miso Bed, Sesame Tofu, Kuruma Prawn

This is the mukōzuke, the sashimi course. Normally one would use azuki beans, but at my restaurant we always use Tamba black soybeans.

• ¥740

• Cook time 30 min

Sea bream clear-soup course with millet wheat gluten and needle-cut scallion

Skewer the sea bream collar, salt it, and grill it thoroughly for about ten minutes. Grilling it until it develops good browning removes any fishy…

Simmered bamboo shoot and rockfish with butterbur and sansho leaf

After filleting the mebaru, blanch it briefly for about five seconds. Afterward, remove the surface sliminess — doing this thoroughly keeps any fishy…

Chicken calico press, simmered beltfish rolls

This is the 40th micro-season. For the chicken calico press: wanting the salad chicken to come out as soft as possible, I cooked it sous-vide, then…

• ¥1,500

• Cook time 30 min