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Eel steamed with lotus root, wood ear mushroom, trefoil, wasabi

This time, for the steamed course, I learned from Chef Miyabe of Nihon Ryōri Wadakura at the Palace Hotel Tokyo. I feature an eel and lotus root…

Grilled Matsutake Steeped with Chrysanthemum Petals, Black Olive Coating Salad, Celeriac Mousse, Grilled Chicken White Liver with Toast, Sado Shrimp with Caviar, Wagyu Tongue Simmered Tender, Salmon and Lotus Root Roll with Process Cheese

This is the seasonal-vegetable course. We'll go through it in order. First is the grilled matsutake steeped with chrysanthemum petals. We simply boil…

Salt-cured pork thin-skin roll, Moriguchi daikon rolled in paper-thin kombu, sea cucumber styled as old wood, blowfish grilled with ichimi chili, crab, jellyfish head, kuzu tofu

This is a six-item small-bowl course. The salt-cured pork thin-skin roll: the method for making the salt-cured pork was based on Okinawa's sūchikā…

Salmon Roe in Golden Marinade, Hairy Crab Spring Rolls, Amigasa Yuzu, Shrimp Kōsen-age, King Oyster Mushroom Age-ni, Lotus Root Itoko-ni, Senpōshi Oyster Slow-Poached in Oil

Taking aroma as the theme, I present these by building on my everyday work. These are sake accompaniments expressing 'the scent of winter.' For ikura…

• Serves 1 · ¥800

• Cook time 1 min

Lotus Root Shinjo, Chrysanthemum-Style Steamed

The chrysanthemum-flower effect is created using finely shredded shūmai wrapper skins.

Turban shell with liver dressing, roe-bearing shrimp, spring cabbage Hakata-style, pressed chicken terrine with fava bean aspic, angelica-tree shoot smoked salmon roll, burdock wrapped in conger eel, icefish plum uiro, lotus root stuffed with orange, rapeseed blossom and prosciutto roll

Celebratory dishes. The sazae with liver dressing: the sazae is steamed with sake, then its liver is combined with a tofu-based white dressing to…

• ¥590

• Cook time 2 hr

Winter melon steamed parcel, summer bracken rolled in fried tofu skin, tender-simmered beef tongue, lotus root dumpling, summer vegetable deep-fried tofu fritter

This is the lidded-dish course. For the summer warabi shinoda-maki, the warabi is first treated as usual to remove its bitterness and simmered to…

Ginkgo mustard manju, gyuhi-style simmered lotus root, Matsumae-style loach, Mikage tofu, masago-style shrimp, sake-lees cured, kuzu manju, salt-steamed abalone with flattened squid and liver, sake-lees cured, soy-dried sweet shrimp, rehydrated karasumi

Ginkgo mustard manju, a steamed dumpling: soften rehydrated ginkgo nuts, mince them finely, and combine with non-glutinous rice flour to make the…

Salmon pressed in layers, beef grilled into a tree-ring roll, chicken stuffed nested-box style, strawberry daigo tofu-dressed salad, sweet potato simmered in lemon, fir-tree lily bulb, and snowflake lotus root

For the salmon hakata-oshi, I used salami and prosciutto to layer the salmon and a slice of white sandwich bread into a hakata-style press. I tied it…

• ¥873

• Cook time 1 hr

Autumn brocade platter: kogarashi-yose, smoked autumn duck, oil-simmered roe-bearing ayu, and pike conger and matsutake ōharagi-age

A repeat-visit dish aimed at guests in their 20s and 30s. Why it resonates: a large shared platter that makes people want to take a photo. I designed…

• Serves 1 · ¥180

• Cook time 20 min

Grilled beef sirloin with fragrant soy sauce, and steamed turnip in butter-soy sauce

Q: Please tell us a delicious Japanese-style sauce that can stand up to meat. A: The Hosokawa soy sauce I learned from my teacher is a Japanese-style…

• ¥2,500

• Cook time 1 hr

Cypress-scented miso-marinated butterfish from a deep forest, shrimp-shaped taro stuffed with Jōshū jidori chicken liver

This grilled dish uses butterfish, burdock, and lotus root as end-of-season winter ingredients. The facility where I work in Kusatsu, Gunma is…

• Serves 1 · ¥965

• Cook time 40 min

Scallop and Broccoli Cool-Breeze Jelly, Giant Pacific Octopus with Plum and Wasabi, Grilled Ayu with Uruka, Eel Wrapped in Manganji Pepper, Mustard-Stuffed Lotus Root

For the cool-accented scallop and broccoli cool-breeze jelly, the scallop sits at the very bottom. Wash the scallop adductor muscles well in a…

Sweetfish simmered in miso and steeped for fragrance, chestnut kabocha mousse, Kamo eggplant mousse, tomato mousse, pike conger with grated plum sauce

For the ayu simmered in miso and steeped for fragrance: remove the ayu's backbone and stuff the cavity with chopped myoga ginger and ginger, then use…

Isaki with Kinjiso Ohitashi, and Isaki Kara-Mushi

For the threeline grunt with kinjiso ohitashi, a dashi-marinated, blanched dish: kinjiso is a Kanazawa local vegetable, one of the Kaga heirloom…

• ¥155

• Cook time 1 hr

Chrysanthemum-style barracuda, sweetfish simmered Arima-style with sansho pepper, lotus root crisp, chestnut and chicken liver, akebia with lily bulb, century egg and cheese with yuzu miso, pike conger fried in kuzu batter, knotted ginkgo, persimmon and egg

This is an assembled sake-accompaniment course. For the chrysanthemum-style barracuda, the barracuda is filleted into three pieces, salted, and…

Softshell Turtle and Lotus Root Shinjo

The softshell turtle's simmering liquid is drawn out with sake and water for 30 minutes, skimming off the scum as it goes, then seasoning is added…

• Serves 20 · ¥6,000

• Cook time 1 hr

Mamekozō pea purée, overnight-dried ayu, and lotus root aspic

For the Mamekozō pea purée, I used “Mamekozō,” a new Kagoshima variety of usui-mame pea, so guests could enjoy the taste and aroma unique to this…

• ¥450

• Cook time 40 min

Alfonsino grilled in saikyo miso, fragrant one-night-dried pufferfish, avocado pickled in fermented rice malt and honey, daikon sliced into thin paper-like sheets and pickled in vinegar, gourd-shaped red shiso-pickled vegetables, kumquat stuffed with sweetened mashed filling, Yamato yam rolled tomoe-style, layered kombu pickled in miso, and lotus root cut into a snow-ring pattern and pickled in vinegar

This is the celebratory grilled course. The yuzu-basket serving is shrimp-shaped taro peeled, steamed, coated in roasted glutinous-rice flour, and…

Spicy cod roe cheese, oyster nori rolls, yam and bottarga, smoked salmon lotus root rolls, ginkgo nuts

We arranged this as a small appetizer-style plate. For the mentaiko cheese, process cheese is cut into small cubes, steamed, and combined with…

Tamagawa raw abalone

A soup-course variation built around regional ingredients. ‘Tamagawa Namagai’ takes its name from a play on words: I poured tama-dashi (a rich…

• Serves 1 · ¥600

• Cook time 30 min

Small turban shell dressed with sansho leaf, egg-filled baby octopus simmered to a cherry-pink hue, eel-filled sweet rolled omelet, cherry-blossom carrot, small abalone simmered Kōshū-style in wine, caviar-filled shrimp, icefish grilled with egg yolk, firefly squid deep-fried in a nori coating, young sea bream fried and marinated in sweet vinegar, and cherry-blossom lotus root

An appetizer course — all of these are dishes actually served at the restaurant. For the duck coated in golden egg yolk, named for the yamabuki…

Wind-Dried Broadbanded Thornyhead, Charcoal-Grilled, Sous-Vide Wagyu Sirloin, Curry-Flavored Miso-Marinated Oyster, Sweet-Vinegar Pickled Red Turnip and Snow-Cracked Lotus Root, Lily Bulb Oribe Chakin, Bottarga and Daikon Mochi, Saikyo-Miso-Marinated Cream Cheese

This is the grilled hassun course (assorted grilled items). For the wind-dried kichiji charcoal-grilled, I rinse the kichiji, soak it for about an…

• ¥1,500

• Cook time 40 min

Winter melon steamed dumpling

This is a chilled dish. For the winter melon manjū, the winter melon is peeled, salted, then blanched and refreshed in hot water. After that, it is…