We are planning to do this even again and if you are in Kyoto, you have got to come and chow this dinner!

Coppa Broth Ramen (With Soy Milk and Heavy Cream Garnished with Candy Sprinkles)

The Homemade Coppa - Finally Gets Cut

First Taste of Coppa

Mame Kid Trying the Coppa - and Liking It!

Mame Boss - Mamezen Owner Chef Yonegawa

Ramen Chef Warrior - Michael (Creator of KyotoFoodie)

Chef Dylan Impressing Some Customers with Our Dinner

Coppa Broth Ramen and Kumiage Yuba Donburi

Fresh Grated Wasabi for Donburi

Chef Dylan Propositioning Hottie Customer (You can't imagine what he just said to her!)

Mamezen Soba: Soymilk Ramen

Mamezen is the creation of a young Kyoto chef named Minoru Yonegawa. His family owns a very nice yudofu (simmered tofu hotpot) restaurant in Kyoto called Toka. Toka make their yudofu in a soymilk-based broth, which is very unusual, creating a very ‘Kyoto’ luxurious and rich broth with which to simmer your tofu in.

Chef Yonegawa worked at his family’s restaurant for several years and noticed that local Kyotoites really don’t come to yudofu restaurants, even if you make your broth with soymilk! He wanted to serve food that was in keeping with his roots, being based on soy but also something that would appeal to Kyoto people. Of course travelers are welcome too. While he had never seen or heard of tonyu (soymilk) ramen, he thought that he ought to be able to pull it off and that Kyoto people would like to eat it regularly. He was right, he started out serving it privately just to friends and then soon realized that he had to open his own restaurant!

Mamezen Soba: Soymilk Ramen - detail

Mamezen Soba: Yuba Donburi - detail

Developing Soymilk Ramen Recipe
When Chef Yonegawa was developing his soymilk ramen recipe his wife was pregnant with their first child and the recipe is quite informed by that time in their life.

Japanese ramen is usually very salty and very high in calories. It is often said that you should not drink the soup after you finish the noodles. Children, pregnant women and elderly are told not to eat ramen as it is really not very healthy and their bodies cannot take the extremes of the dish. Mamezen Soba, on the other hand is made with a deeply flavored but gentle Kyoto dashi broth and rich, healthy soymilk, so drink it up!

Mamezen Soba: Ramen or Soba?
Ramen comes from the Chinese, la mian. Soba is an indigenous Japanese word. Originally, in Japan ramen was called chuka soba, lit. Chinese noodle. Today, ramen is the most common term for this dish in Japan, but chuka soba is still quite common. Ramen and chuka soba are the same dish.

I have only been to Mamezen for lunch but they do offer a dinner menu that includes the Mamezen Soba dishes and a limited number of soy-based a la carte yummies as well and quite a good selection of Japanese beer, shochu and sake, among others. Refreshing Chinese tencha is served. Tencha is the Japanese name for this tea which is made from rose buds. It has a subtle sweetness but is only very slightly flowery.

I ordered the set lunch that includes Mamezen Soba and a donburi of yuba and ankake over rice. The donburi was quite good and unlike the kumiage yuba donburi that I am familiar with.

Mamezen Soba: Soymilk Ramen - detail

Mamezen Soba: Yuba Donburi

How Did Mamezen Soba Taste?
Very good! I hadn’t been to Mamezen for quite awhile, about a year, and realized that I would be going there more often now.

Soup: This being Kyoto, we must be dashi crazed and Mamezen is right on target. Chef Yonegawa starts by making a very rich katsuo dashi broth and then adds soymilk and simmers it down until it is thick, rich and silky. It is a very unique soup for Kyoto. I recall the soup being lighter in flavor previously. I asked the boss about it. He said that he might be simmering it longer as it thickens up the taste and density. If you like your soup stronger and richer, just ask for ‘koime’. The overall taste and feel of the soup is wonderful, I can’t think of a dish that combines the rich and pungent (dashi) with silky smooth (soymilk).

Noodles: The noodles used are very thin, something like angelhair pasta. They contain egg but I couldn’t really taste that. Personally, I am not really into thin noodles, I like them thicker and meatier. Chef Yonegawa’s choice of thin noodles is to be subtle and delicate, like Kyoto. Though not my fav, I have to agree with his choice. He might offer customers a choice to thick or thin.

Garnish: The dish is garnished with scallions, nama yuba, simmered shiitake and a bit of umeboshi. In the winter and spring, when nanohana (rape blossom) is in season, Chef Yonegawa uses it too.

Donburi: The donburi rice bowl was very interesting because it features a thick ankake sauce that is made with, you guessed it, Kyoto dashi and starch for thickening. Several sheets of namayuba is layed on top of the rice and then it is smothered in ankake with some ground fresh ginger on top.

This was a very interesting take on yuba donburi for me, which I liked very much. However, I like kumiage yuba donburi perhaps a little better. I would love to see how Chef Yonegawa would do that dish.

Veg or Vegan: The dish does use katsuo (bonito), that’s a fish, in the dashi. The noodles contain eggs. By request the dashi can be made without katsuo. Of course the egg cannot be removed from the noodles.

Do Not Miss: I have added Mamezen Soba to my Do Not Miss list in Kyoto. Rich and pungent (dashi) and silky smooth (soymilk) is something not to be missed! However, I do have a caveat. It might be a bit too ‘Zen master’ for those who are not really into Japanese and soy cuisine. The restaurant is a bit out of the way and if you really just want a delicious, but more ‘meaty’ ramen, you would probably be more satisfied with the restaurants on our Great Ramen Shops in Kyoto list. If you are sure you are into the kind of taste described here, by all means, make the trip to Shimogamo! (Twenty to thirty minutes from the city center by bus.) Also, the restaurant is closed often, call first to confirm that they are open when you plan to go.

Mamezen Interior - Counter

Chef Yonegawa, also a Shakuhachi Bamboo Flute Master

Some headgear there! It makes Devo look uninventive. His flute master name is 菊水流尺八道準師範米川翠月. That is a long name indeed! And, many Japanese probably can’t read it.

Owner Chef Yonegawa at the Mamezen Gate

Me at Work on a Sunday Afternoon

Mamezen is located in the historic Shimogamo neighborhood of Kyoto, a bit north-east of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Shimogamo Shrine. Mamezen is a very small and personable restaurant. Owner chef Yonegawa is a really, really nice guy. His wife helps run the restaurant and his two beautiful young children poke their heads in regularly. In addition to being a chef, Yonegawa is also a bit of a Zen master and is a master of the Japanese shakuhachi bamboo flute.

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Mamezen in English
English Menu: yes
English Website: none
Service: Warm-hearted and friendly
Price: 1,000-1,500 yen
Hours:
lunch: 11:30-3:00 pm (2:30 pm last order)
dinner: 7:30-11:00 pm (10:30 pm last order)
closed: Wed, Thurs and some other days (Zen master chef isn’t a salary man), call the mobile number listed below before you go.
Location and Access: Shimogamo neighborhood. Best accessed by bus, taxi, bicycle or on foot. Nearest bus stop is on Kitaoji Street.
Address: Kyoto-shi, Sakyo-ku, Shimogamo, Higashi Takagi-cho 13-4 (京都市左京区下鴨東高木町13-4)
Telephone: 075-703-5731
Mobile: 090-1153-5297
Near Sightseeing Spot: Kamigamo and Shimogamo Shrines, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These shrines are older than even the ancient capital!

Map

View OpenKyoto/KyotoFoodie Map in a larger map

Dashi broth, udon noodles, chicken, egg, mushrooms and shrimp tempura are all placed in a covered earthenware nabe pot and boiled vigorously over high heat for several minutes. This dish is called nabeyaki udon, it is served piping hot in the nabe pot that it was cooked in. Kakutani’s nabeyaki udon cannot be topped!

Nabeyaki Udon
Nabeyaki is served literally boiling hot and the heavy earthenware nabe holds heat. So, you will want to be very careful not to burn your tongue. I sprinkle on shichimi (seven spice chili powder) and just let it sit for a bit. This allows it to cool and the shichimi flavor to be absorbed. Next use the small ‘torizara’ bowl to serve small portions that will cool down quicker.

Nabeyaki Udon: Served

Shichimi is in the bamboo container on the left. You just pull out the peg and sprinkle it on.

Nabeyaki Udon: Shichimi Added

Nabeyaki Udon: Shiitake, Egg and Udon

Nabeyaki Udon: Egg and Udon

Nabeyaki Udon: Shrimp Tempura and Udon

Kakutani Interior

Kakutani Restaurant
One of the first restaurants, maybe the very first, that I discovered after moving to Kyoto for graduate school some years ago was Kakutani. Kakutani is a shinise restaurant that has been in business since the late 18oo’s and is on the south side of what is now Kyoto University. Kakutani’s soba is excellent, their dashi broth is great, but in the winter, when it is cold, there is nothing that I like better for lunch than nabeyaki udon and Kakutani’s simply cannot be topped.

Kakutani is a very friendly, family run restaurant. In the winter I only order their nabeyaki udon. I walk in the door and they smile and say, ‘nabeyaki?’ I’m like, ah, yeah, how’d ya guess? This time, I hadn’t been there for like three years because I moved, and I didn’t think that they would remember me. But, without fail they did. They even remembered what I would be ordering! Now that’s service!

Kakutani Showcase

Shinise style plastic food.

Kakutani Exterior

Kakutani is located in the Shogoin neighborhood. This is where Kyoto’s most well known wagashi and omiyage, Yatsuhashi comes from. In the neighborhood you can visit a number of Yatsuhashi shinise stores and try the countless variations of this simple confection that are offered.

For sightseeing, nearby is Heian Shrine, and on Yoshida ‘Mountain’ there is Kurodani Temple, Shinnyodo Temple and Yoshida Shrine.

English and Access
Kakutani 京都 かく谷老舗
English service: No English menu but you can see most dishes in the show case, just point to order. The owner/staff are all very friendly.
Website: www.kakutani-rouho.com (Japanese language only)
Hours: – (only open for lunch)
Location and Access: Kakutani is located just northwest of the Higashi-oji and Marutamachi intersection.
Address
: Kyoto-shi, Sakyo-ku, Shogoin, Sanno-cho 39 (京都市左京区聖護院山王町39)
Telephone: 075-771-2934

Map

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A lobster, mochi, kelp, daidai- orange and persimmon offering to god, crab served amid fresh snow covered bamboo grass, red snapper sashimi served in a basket of green bamboo, pine bough and plum blossom;  it’s Oshogatsu Ryori at Kichisen.

Several hundred boxes of Osechi have been delivered, this is the most important celebration of the year in Japan, you would think that everyone at Kichisen would finally be taking a few days off work. But Tanigawa explains that a proper Kyoto restaurant must be open and serve customers during this important time of year. Kichisen offers Oshogatsu Kaiseki Ryori, Japanese New Year’s Kaiseki Cuisine, and it is as beautiful as it is delicious.

New Year’s Kaiseki
Shogatsu in Japan is a lot like Christmas, it is a magical time and custom and decoration abound. In addition to sublime and intricate cuisine, Kichisen is decorated for the season.

Kichisen Gate with Shogatsu Decoration and Candle Lanterns

Kichisen’s Oshogatsu Kaiseki includes some 13 courses, here we feature 4 of them: five bite-sized selections from osechi ryori, clear soup with clam paste garnished with gold leaf, red snapper sashimi with Seville orange-shoyu, sekihan mochi rice with azuki beans and chestnuts and finally crab served in a snowstorm.

Sakizuke Course: Appetizer

Sakizuke is the first course in kaiseki and is an appetizer. The two most prominent features this serving is the sakaki leaf and the cow on the lid of the ceramic serving tray. Shinto gods are believed to dwell in the sakaki tree and here it’s leaves are used to invite god to dinner as well. 2009 is the year of the cow, therefore a cow appears. The chopsticks are special too, both ends are tapered, the tapered end is used for eating. Symbolically the meal is shared with god.

The sakizuke course contains a few bites of 5 dishes that appeared in osechi ryori; including baby carp simmered in sweetened shoyu with ginger, kuruma-ebi (shrimp), hirame kombumaki (flounder with ginger rolled in kelp), and black bean with tsukushi bud.

Sakizuke: Appetizer

Sakizuke: Appetizer

Sakizuke: Appetizer – detail

Sakizuke: Budo Mame, Literally Grape Beans

Shiru Mono Course: Hamaguri Shinjo

Shiru-mono is a soup course. Here shinjo, also known as kamaboko-like fish paste is made with hamaguri clams, this is the white block that is garnished with kinome sansho leaves and gold leaf. The sea vegetable in the broth is called shinbaso, literally god horse grass, the origin of the name is interesting. A Japanese historic figure Minamotono Yoshitsune had to travel a long distance and his horse was exhausted. When he stopped to rest, locals fed his horse this sea vegetable and his horse made a quick recovery. Neither Miwa nor I had heard of this sea vegetable and it is quite expensive.

Shiru Mono: Hamaguri Shinjo

Shiru Mono: Hamaguri Shinjo – detail

Mukozuke Course: Tai and Ika Sashimi

This course is completely over the top. A whole tai, red snapper is served in a green bamboo hoekago (a portable shrine for the god of business called Ebisu) basket with a pine bough and budding plum branch for a roof. Pine is a very majestic and auspicious symbol in Japanese culture and plums blossom just after oshogatsu, the coming of spring. Ika, squid sashimi is included along with a simmered baby daikon radish and extremely rare black mushroom. The dipping sauce, momiji-oroshi, is shoyu with grated daikon and a tiny bit of chili pepper and a generous squeeze of the Japanese orange called daidai. Kichisen’s momiji-orishi dipping sauce is sublime!

Hoekago Tai and Ika Sashimi with Daidai Orange Dipping Sauce

Hoekago Tai and Ika Sashimi with Daidai Orange Dipping Sauce

Hoekago Tai and Ika Sashimi – detail

Notice the baby daikon and the black mushroom (triangle).

Hoekago Tai and Ika Sashimi with Daidai Orange Dipping Sauce – detail

Kichisen’s momiji-oroshi with daidai orange juice is sublime.

Hoekago Tai and Ika Sashimi Served

Gohan Course: Sekihan with Kachiguri

Sekihan, or ‘red rice’ is mochi rice cooked with azuki beans and served on celebratory occasions in Japan. Kichisen adds dried chestnuts, kachiguri. Kachiguri literally means ‘victory chestnut’, they were eaten by samurai before battle. The azuki must be extra special, I have never seen sekihan rice so deeply colored before. The color of the cooked rice comes from the azuki beans.

The ceramic container is in the shape of kohaku mochi, literally red and white mochi that is eaten at New Year’s, weddings, birth of a child and so on. The golden Chinese character on the top of the cover is kotobuki 壽, meaning congratulations.

Gohan: Sekihan Mochi Rice with Kachiguri

Gohan: Sekihan Mochi Rice with Kachiguri

Gohan: Sekihan Mochi Rice with Kachiguri – detail

Gohan: Sekihan Mochi Rice with Kachiguri – detail

The rice is really colored by the azuki!

Gohan: Sekihan – Kyoto-style Decoration

This is really ‘Kyoto’, the most extravagant part of this piece, the golden leafed area, is inside the cover. Many diners would miss this entirely. This is common in Kyoto architecture and kimono as well, the most luxuiriant part, the most expensive material is hidden, or at least difficult to find.

Gohan: Sekihan Mochi Rice with Kachiguri Served

Secchu no Kani: Crab Amid the Snow

This dish is way, way, way over the top. The scene is a winter mountain snowscape; crab leg trees in the snow and bamboo grass covered in snow made of shaved ice. The dipping sauce is kani miso, which is crab internals and vinegar.

Oshogatsu Ryori: Secchu-no-kani (Crab and Bamboo Amid the Snow)

Oshogatsu Ryori: Secchu-no-kani (Crab and Bamboo Amid the Snow)

Oshogatsu Ryori: Secchu-no-kani (Crab and Bamboo Amid the Snow)

Oshogatsu Ryori: Secchu-no-kani (Crab and Bamboo Amid the Snow)

Oshogatsu Ryori: Secchu-no-kani (Crab and Bamboo Amid the Snow)

Those snow covered bamboo leaves are exactly like I have seen them in the mountains. Amazing!

Shogatsu New Year’s Decoration and Ikebana Flower Arrangements

The prominence of food in Japanese culture, even in decoration is astounding, here are a few examples from Kichisen.

Oshogatsu New Year’s Decoration: Genkan Entry

Oshogatsu New Year’s Decoration: Genkan Entry – Kagami Mochi

Orange, dried persimmons, mochi, dried kelp, fern leaves and a lobster make up this kagami mochi offering in the entry.

Oshogatsu New Year’s Decoration: Dining Room

Food stuffs make up a central element of this decoration: heads of rice and a huge sheet of dried kelp. The colored string-like elements are flax which traditionally was used to make linen in Japan.

Oshogatsu New Year’s Decoration: Dining Room – detail

Oshogatsu New Year’s Decoration: Dining Room Flower Arrangement

Shogatsu ikebana flower arrangement in the tokonoma alcove of a dining room.

Oshogatsu New Year’s Decoration: Tea Ceremony Room Flower Arrangement

This intimate room is for the tea ceremony, kaiseki is born out of the tea ceremony. This tokonoma arrangement is in green bamboo with willow branches and a camellia flower. I have never seen an aesthetic like this outside of Japan.

Oshogatsu New Year’s Decoration: Tokonoma Alcove Flower Arrangement

Another bamboo, willow and camellia arrangement in a dining room tokonoma alcove.

At Kichisen, the master and students work in the cold through the night like Santa’s workshop getting Japanese New Year’s Osechi ready to send via express chilled delivery to arrive at homes all over Japan on New Year’s Eve day. Kichisen’s osechi is exquisite and as it is a meal to be shared with God, it comes in a breathtaking white lacquer box.

Kichisen’s Signature White Lacquer Osechi Box 白重

The green hollyhock leaf motif on the boxes comes from the neighboring Shimogamo Shrine.

The Meaning and Symbols of Osechi Ryori

Kichisen’s osechi ryori contains 41 kinds of food. Here we introduce 13 of the representative dishes and explain some of the meaning and metaphor.

Osechi is hozonshoku, or preserved food. Historically it was prepared in advance so that the women of the family could have several days off from cooking, it is also very similar to how Japanese ate in centuries past. The dishes in osechi ryori each have a meaning related to health and happiness in the new year. Puns and plays on words and Chinese characters are common. Like the taste of the food, the symbols and metaphors are rather quant and from a different era, they remain largely unchanged today.

Representative Osechi Dishes and Their Meanings

1. Bodara 棒鱈: Eat well
Bodara is dried cod (tara) slow simmered in soy sauce. Tarafuku means to have an rich and abundant dietary life. People eat bodara wishing to eat well in the new year.

2. Iseebi Shioyu 伊勢海老塩湯: Health and long life
Salt boiled lobster. After lobster has been boiled in salt water the meat is pulled apart by hand into delicate threads. It is said to look like the white hair of the grandparents of the family. People eat this hoping to live in health well into old age.

3. Kazunoko 数の子: Many descendants
Kazunoko, herring egg sac, holds an enormous number of eggs and people eat this hoping to have many descendants.

4. Tazukuri 田作り: Bountiful harvests
Tazukuri, literally ‘making rice fields’ is dried baby sardines that have been simmered in soy sauce. In the Edo period, dried baby sardines were used as fertilizer to enrich the soil and increase the harvest.

5. Kinkan Amani 金柑甘煮: Auspiciousness and wealth
Kinkan amani is sweet, simmered kumquat. Kumquat is called kinkan in Japanese. The Chinese characters for kinkan are 金柑, 金冠, or ‘golden crown’ has the same phonetic reading. Japanese of old seem to have loved these kinds of puns.

6. Tataki Gobo 叩牛蒡: Increase good fortune, stability in life
With cooking, the ends of burdock split, people wish their luck to split and multiply. Burdock has deep roots that afford stability.

7. Karasumi Kinpaku Serohan Tsutsumi 唐墨金箔セロハン包み: Promotion, progress in life
Karasumi is the highest quality chinmi in Japan. It is made of the bora fish egg sac. This fish has different names during it’s growth stages, so its name changes as it grows up, so people eats hoping to progress in life.

8. Hirame Ryuhimaki 鮃龍飛巻: Happiness and joy
Flounder wrapped with simmered kelp. Kelp is called kombu, or kobu in Japanese. Kobu is a play on the word yorokobu, which means happiness and joy.

9. Shin Takenoko Fukumeni  新筍子含煮: Prosperity and growth
Bamboo grows very fast, so people eat this hoping for their family’s prosperity and growth to be like that of bamboo.

10. Budo Mame 葡萄豆: Diligence
These beans are black and from ancient times people believed that black has talismanic power. Mame, ‘bean’ in Japanese,  written with different characters means ‘diligent’. People eat this dish wishing to live a ‘beanly’ new year. (Beanly: Miwa made up this word, it was too great to edit. Everyone have a ‘beanly’ 2009!)

11. Matsukasa Kuwai 松笠慈姑: Auspiciousness
The kuwai bulb produces a large sprout, and this is a symbol of growth and development. The bulb is cut into the shape of a pine cone, the pine tree, in Japanese culture is a majestic and auspicious symbol.

12. Kurumaebi Tsuyayu 車海老艶湯: Longevity
Shrimp have long whiskers and their backs are curved, they are associated with elder people. People eat shrimp hoping to live a long life.

13. Ayu Komb Maki 鮎昆布巻き: Happiness
From ancient times ayu, or sweetfish was known as fish that brings happiness, the kombu, kelp wrapping is also a symbol of happiness.

Representative Osechi

From left; cod, lobster threads, herring roe, sardines, kumquat and burdock root.

Representative Osechi: Flounder with Ginger Wrapped in Kelp

Representative Osechi: Black Beans

Osechi Detail: Shoyu Simmered Cod, Bodara

After two weeks of soaking to reconstitute the dried cod, at Kichisen this dish is cooked for 2 days straight.

Osechi Detail: Salt Simmered Lobster Threads

This dish hardly tastes of salt.

Osechi Detail: Herring Eggs, Kazukono

Osechi Detail: Karasumi with Gold Leaf Wrapped in Cellophane

If you are interested in chinmi, seek out karasumi when you visit Japan, it is more cheese-like than fish in taste.

Moritsuke, Literally To Set Out

Osechi Moritsuke, or ‘serving up beautifully’, starts at midnight on December 30. The staff of Kichisen works through the night filling beautiful white lacquer boxes with the 41 dishes that had been prepared over the last few days New Year’s cuisine. For cleanliness, everyone is dressed in what look like biohazard gear. The heat was turned off and it was 2°C indoors.

Osechi Moritsuke: Filling the Boxes

Notice the large photos of the various arrangements for quick reference.

Osechi Moritsuke: Filling the Boxes

Osechi Moritsuke: Filling the Boxes

Osechi Moritsuke: Filling the Boxes

This is fish is called mutsu and has been marinaded in miso and then grilled — heavenly.

Osechi Moritsuke: Chestnuts

The yellow color is natural and achieved by simmering with gardenia seeds.

Osechi Moritsuke: Shrimp

Osechi Moritsuke: Bamboo Shoots

Osechi Moritsuke: Bamboo Shoots

Osechi Moritsuke: Candied Yuzu Peel

The Final Product: Three Layers of Exquisite Hozonshoku

Osechi Box: Bottom

Osechi Box: Middle

Osechi Box: Top

Osechi Box

Osechi Box: The Finished Product, Ready for Boxing and Shipping

Japanese New Year’s, or O-shogatsu is a celebration with ancient roots and perhaps the most prominent aspect of it is food and drink. Osechi ryori, or New Year’s cuisine is preserved food and is intended to last for several days. Osechi is richly fortified with cultural metaphor and visual symbolism. Traditionally this was the only time of the year that the mother of the family got several days holiday. Some families still make their own osechi but it is very time consuming and now it is common to order your osechi at a department store or a famous restaurant in early autumn. Kichisen’s osechi is spectacular; preparation starts in July, it serves 5, contains 41 kinds of food and comes in a one of a kind white lacquered box inspired by Shinto shrines, start saving now for next year because it costs about $1,500 USD.

Japanese New Year and Food and Drink
Shimenawa しめ縄: Rice straw ornament with mikan tangerine or other regional citrus fruit used to decorate the house, especially the entry.
Kagami Mochi 鏡餅: A ‘mochi display’ to welcome the God of the year to the home.
Otoso お屠蘇: Sake with Chinese medicinal herbs, shared by all family members to toast in a healthy year.
Osechi Ryori おせち料理: (what you are reading about)
Ozoni お雑煮: Mochi simmered in miso or sumashi soup, the taste and ingredients vary by region.

Origin of Osechi Ryori
O-shogatsu chopsticks, iwaibashi, have no handle, they are tapered on both ends; one side is for God and the other for a human. The osechi meal is one intended to be shared with God.

Osechi ryori is hozonshoku, or preserved food and still resembles what Japanese ate many centuries ago. Salt, vinegar and simmering is used to preserve the osechi food for several days. Traditionally the women of the family spent several days making the food and cleaning the house for the New Year’s celebration. During the several days of shogatsu, women generally did no work. This was their several days vacation out of the entire year.

Kichisen’s White ‘Jubako’ Lacquered Box

The green hollyhock leaf motif on the box is the symbol of Kichisen and it comes from the neighboring Shimogamo Shrine. Tanigawa made the first white lacquered box because osechi is cuisine to be eaten with God, and white, not black is the color of God in Japan, so Tanigawa changed his jubako box to white.

I, Peko, actually wanted to interview Tanigawa because I saw a photo of this white jubako, I actually didn’t know anything about him at the time. If you have seen a lot of lacquer ware, the first time you see this it is astounding, so simple, yet hugely powerful. It is quite astonishing that no one had thought of this before.

Kichisen’s Osechi
Kichisen’s osechi is traditional and orthodox. Preparation starts in summer and uses only the highest quality wild, natural ingredients and utilizes the latest in freezer technology. In July, wild natsu-matsutake, or ‘summer matsutake mushrooms’ are procured. As the shrimping season closes in November, wild shrimp are procured in October and frozen. Wild shrimp can be shelled while retaining the natural firmness, shape and texture of the meat, unlike farm raised, imported shrimp. Most osechi now, even expensive osechi, uses imported, farm raised shrimp.

Santa’s Workshop
So what are the 41 dishes in Tanigawa’s white lacquered boxes? Well, we are going over to Kichisen just as soon as we post this article to see and take some photos. Tanigawa and his students will be up all night getting the boxes ready to ship by ‘cool’ express delivery first thing in morning of December 30. Kichisen’s 2009 Osechi will arrive on December 31, just in time to eat first thing on New Year’s Day morning.

Kichisen’s ‘Old’ Osechi Jubako Box

Black, brown, gold, vermillion, natural wood are the conventional colors for lacquered jubako boxes. This was Kichisen’s design until five years ago when Tanigawa split with the crowd.

Yoshimi Tanigawa is an inspired master of Kyoto cuisine who has dedicated his life to food as an art and near spiritual experience. He teaches his students both taste and discipline. He creates pure Kyoto cuisine, without the excessive decoration that has been added in recent decades. At Tanigawa’s Kichisen, in addition to one of the greats meals of a lifetime, patrons are able to get reacquainted with authentic Kyoto cuisine. Tanigawa’s cuisine is unsurpassed Kyoto Kaiseki that draws on the four genres of Kyoto Cuisine; Yusoku Ryori (court cuisine), Kaiseki Ryori (tea ceremony cuisine), Shojin Ryori (temple food) and Obanzai (household food). If you are going to be in Kyoto and you like fine dining, make a reservation at Kichisen.

Yoshimi Tanigawa
We been trying to we had been trying to interview him for about 6 months. We had exchanged telephone calls, faxes and had some 5 meetings but could never close the deal. Finally when I went to return a book that we had borrowed from him he suddenly said that we ought to do an article on his Osechi Ryori. This is it!

Over the past few weeks I have spent some time at Kichisen getting to know Tanigawa. He has given us radishes, new rice, squid and some invaluable pointers on how to make excellent tsukemono, shiokara and dashi. Though Kichisen was reviewed in the New York Times 20 years ago and defeated Masaharu Morimoto on the Iron Chef television program in 1999, it is a real honor to have to opportunity to tell the English speaking world a bit more about this remarkable, dedicated and inspiring person.

Ikamaryu Shikibocho (Court Knife Ceremony) Master

Humble Beginnings in Rural Hyogo
Tanigawa grew up in rural Hyogo Prefecture, near Kobe. He lost his father when he was 4 years old and this painful experience caused him think deeply about life and become interested in religion.

His mother was often in poor health and from the time he was 9, he cooked for his mother and older brother. While the young Tanigawa had meager resources to make a bento lunchbox with, he had pride and did not want he or his brother to appear poor at school. Over a weed fire, he experimented and perfected techniques adding water and flour to eggs, appearing to have an overflowing bento box, unmatched in the school lunchroom. Tanigawa’s ambition and inventiveness was starting to develop.

Change of Plans
Since junior high school Tanigawa had intended to become a primary school teacher. This was the time that socially and culturally Japan really began to change, he sensed that many people would loose their way and wanted to be a teacher so that he could lead children in the right direction and help them find their way.

Tanigawa set his mind on going to a certain high school known for producing excellent teacher but much to his dismay he wan unable to enter this school. It was the only school that he wanted to go to and as he was able, he decided not to go to high school at all.

Ikamaryu Shikibocho (Court Knife Ceremony) Master

Arrival in Kyoto, Entering the Culinary World
At age 15 Tanigawa arrived in Kyoto. His older brother was working at a sushi restaurant in the city and arranged work at an average restaurant for the younger Tanigawa. Tanigawa said that even at a young age he knew that he was ambitious and always had the desire master what he was learning. He worked his way up and in several years was working in one of Gion’s finest restaurants under renowned master chef Toraichi Takibata.

Learned from the Master: Sunao
While under Takibata’s instruction, Tanigawa mastered the other traditional arts related to cuisine; flower arrangement, the tea ceremony and calligraphy. Tanigawa said that from his master he learned the importance of integrity and straightforwardness towards his cuisine, the customer and himself. (素直な料理、素直な味、素直な人間)

The word he uses, sunao (素直), is difficult to translate literally into English in this case. Some of the applicable meanings in the dictionary are: gentle, mild, obedient, frank. Tanigawa’s cuisine and traditional Kyoto cuisine are sunao.

Ikamaryu Shikibocho (Court Knife Ceremony) Master

Kyoto Kaiseki Restaurant: Kichisen
At age 31, Tanigawa built is own restaurant on Shimogamo Hondori Street, on the south-west side of Shimogamo Shrine. Shimogamo Shrine is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is older than Kyoto.

Kichisen Gate

Kichisen Entry: Master Tanigawa and Kyosaku ‘Encouragement Stick’

Notice the inscribed wooden slat on the wall, it is inscribed by the high priest at Jukoin, a sub-temple at Daitoku Temple. The inscription is called zengo, literally, ‘Zen word’ is a poem. This poem was composed specifically for Kichisen. The ‘encouragement stick’ is used to lightly hit drowsy meditators on the shoulder during Zen meditation sessions. The kyosaku, also known as keisaku, shall we say sets the tone for Tanigawa’s students.

Zen Kyosaku – detail

Signature of Zen master.

Kichisen ‘Sign’

Modesty

Kichisen Interior

Alcove with Ikebana

Dining Room

Large Dining Room

Kichisen Neighborhood: Shimogamo Shrine

Kichisen Surroundings: Shimogamo Shrine Gate

Kichisen Surroundings: Shimogamo Shrine and Tadasu Forest

Links

Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (1 of 5)
Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (2 of 5)
Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (3 of 5)
Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (4 of 5)
Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (5 of 5)

In Kyoto, it is said that the three most sophisticated cuisines in the world are French, Chinese and Japanese; and among these three, Kyoto Cuisine, or Kyo-ryori is the pinnacle of sophistication, visual beauty and subtlety of taste. Kyo-ryori is not just to eat, it is to be experienced by all the senses. It includes aspects of ikebana (flower arrangement) and sado (tea ceremony). Dishes are created with an emphasis on natural beauty and the seasons. Sophistication is achieved by subtlety, restraint and simplicity, not decoration.

This article is a part of our Japanese New Year’s Osechi Cuisine series done in cooperation with Kichisen restaurant in Kyoto. Here we introduce the main aspects of Kyoto Cuisine with photos of Kichisen’s Kyoto Kaiseki Cuisine.

Kyoto: His Highness the Emperor’s Kitchen

Kyoto has a history of more than 1,200 years and was the capital until the beginning of the modern era. Artisans throughout the country sought to refine their skills to come to Kyoto to serve the Emperor. Chefs were no exception. It is often said that Kyoto was the emperor’s kitchen for more than 700 years.

There are four types of Kyo-ryori:

Yusoku Ryori (有職料理): Yusoku Cuisine is ‘court food’ and was eaten by the Emperor and other high ranking nobles and aristocrats.
Kaiseki Ryori (懐石料理): Kaiseki Cuisine is ‘tea food’, originally Chakaiseki and developed with the tea ceremony. Small portions of food were served to a guest to accompany bitter tea. Kaiseki’s soul comes from the tea ceremony. Chakaiseki is one rice dish, one soup dish and three side dishes. Modern Kaiseki usually includes many more dishes.
Shojin Ryori (精進料理): Shojin Cuisine is ‘temple food’, vegetarian food eaten by priests and monks.
Obanzai (おばんざい): Obanzai is ‘home food’, Kyoto style. Though casual cooking, Kyoto vegetables are a central element and seasonal ingredients are presented in a refined, yet natural way.

Tenets of Kyoto Cuisine
・Bring the natural taste of seasonal ingredients ‘to life’.
・Don’t overcook, avoid using excessive heat.
・Present the food in the context of the season.

Examples
・In the winter, serve full-bodied food that steams, in the summer serve light food on a bed of shaved ice. In the winter use more katsuo-bushi (shaved fish) in dashi soup stock, in summer use more kombu (kelp).

・Impart the natural fragrance of the season by cooking fish in a fresh, green sakura (cherry) leaf in the spring and on a fallen, brown magnolia leaf in the autumn.

・Use the natural salt content of kombu to flavor dishes rather than straight salt.

・Bamboo shoots are naturally hard, serve them al dente.

image credit: All images in this article are used with permission of Kichisen.

New Year’s Kyoto Kaiseki

Taste of field, taste of wind,
Seasonal fish and vegetable are full of life.
The wisdom of the skillful cooks treats them with care
Pursuing the most wonderful tastes in the season.
You can well communicate with Nature through these dishes
And enjoy the pleasant moment to your heart’s content.

Spring Kyoto Kaiseki

Sense of Beauty, Sense of Season
Nature brings us the inevitable and perfect encounter of
Seasonal specialties, tableware and occasion:
A particular encounter never to recur again.
This harmonious sense of beauty of each season is
Our best entertainment.

Summer Kyoto Kaiseki

Autumn Kyoto Kaiseki

The most suitable tableware
Sunday clothes for the lovely gifts from Nature.
Not too gorgeous, not too elaborate, the ware should be.
Food is the first important, ware is the second.

Autumn Kyoto Kaiseki

Soft spring flowers, cool summer water
Elegant autumn leaves and winter garden covered with snow;
Delicate but fascinating changes of the season in Japan.
In this sophisticated and tranquil atmosphere
Authentic seasonal dishes can be enjoyed at their best.

The above images and poems come from Kyo-kaiseki Kichisen’s restaurant pamphlet, all are copyright and used here with permission.

Itadakimono (a gift humbly received): Squid
Yesterday morning I had a chance to go to the Kyoto Central Wholesale Food Market with the Iron Chef defeater Yoshimi Tanigawa, the owner of Kichisen. (also known as Kisen). Kichisen is among the best of the best for Kyoto Kaiseki cuisine. Mr Tanigawa gave me several of the squid that he bought and told me to make shiokara with it. Shiokara is a side dish not for the faint hearted that combines sliced squid body and legs with some squid entrails and is pickled in salt.

To make shiokara, the squid first must be cleaned. But how do you clean a squid? Well, it is not that difficult and requires little technique. It does involve getting your hands dirty.

Cleaning Squid: the Squid

The Main Steps of Cleaning a Squid

1. Separate the legs and entrails out from the body by gently pulling the legs away from the body.
2. Remove the ‘cuttlebone’, the transparent cartilage spine of the squid by gently pulling.
3. Clean out remaining tissue, innards and so on from body (split body if not making rings).
4. Peel away spotted brown outer membrane from the body.
5. Cut the legs away from the ‘head’ from the entrails.
6. Remove orangish-brown gland from guts for shiokara (if you are brave).
7. Wash body and legs thoroughly.

The squid body can be stuffed, sliced into rings or split and sliced into strips. For shiokara, you want to split it down the middle, wash well and slice into strips. The legs can also be used for shiokara but removing the tentacles and and skin membrane requires some technique. The legs with skin attached can be used for other dishes.

Be sure to check out our shiokara series:
How to Clean Squid (this article)
How to Make Shiokara
How to Eat Shiokara

Cleaning Squid: To Start, Just Pull

Gently pull the legs away from the body. No cutting should be required, but you can use your finger to tear the connective membrane if need be. The orangish-brown part is the digestive gland, something like an intestine. It is called kimo, or liver in Japanese, but properly it is not a liver. This gland is essential for making shiokara.

Cleaning Squid: Removing the Guts

Cleaning Squid: Guts and Digestive Gland Removed

Cleaning Squid: Eggs and Ink

Attaached to the head arethree mains parts; the egg sac (left, white), ink sac (middle, blackish) and digestive gland (right, orangish-brown). Be careful not to break the ink sac as you will have quite a mess. Squid ink easily washes away with water though.

Cleaning Squid: Removing the Cuttlebone

Cleaning Squid: Removing the Cuttlebone

Cleaning Squid: Split and Remove Remaining Viscera

If you want to cut into rings, just wash out the body thoroughly with running water.

Cleaning Squid: Split and Remove Remaining Viscera

Cleaning Squid: Peeling Away the Skin

A quick slice with the knife will make it easier to ‘get an edge’ on the skin to peel away. For cooking preparations using high heat such as deep frying, this step may be skipped.

Cleaning Squid: Peeling Away the Skin

Cleaning Squid: Peeling Away the Skin

Cleaning Squid: Done!

Cleaning Squid for Shiokawa: Digestive Gland

Simply cut away the base of the digestive gland from the head.

Cleaning Squid for Shiokawa: Digestive Gland

If you are making shiokara, remove this dark strip of viscera that is attached to the digestive gland

Snapshots from Kichisen Kitchen
Kichisen is not your garden variety ‘best of the best’ restaurant. Mr. Tanigawa runs a ‘dojo’ training school with Marine bootcamp level severity for aspiring Kyoto cuisine chefs. Here are a few survivors. They are not students or kitchen staff, but disciples.

Pro Squid Cleaning

Pro Squid Cleaning

Pro Squid Cleaning

Pro Squid Cleaning

Hanaore is another very ‘Kyoto’ culinary experience. This famous shop offers only a single, well loved dish — sabazushi. Just three slices of sabazushi and a small bowl of soup will set you back 1,800 yen! Hanaore and sabazushi is a must try!!

The only dish served, sabazushi and the noren (shop curtain)

Hanaore is another very ‘Kyoto’ culinary experience. This famous shop offers only a single, well loved dish — sabazushi. Just three slices of sabazushi and a small bowl of soup will set you back 1,800 yen! Hanaore and sabazushi is a must try!!

About Sabazushi
saba means mackerel, zushi is sushi

Before refrigeration and fossil fuel powered transport, Kyoto didn’t have much for fish, and no fresh fish from the sea. Therefore, the people of Kyoto, including the emperor, had to eat salted or dried fish that could make the journey from the Sea of Japan to the capital.

Saba (mackerel) is tasty, nourishing and plentiful in the Sea of Japan. Since olden times the Sabakaido (Mackerel Highway) brought food stuffs, mainly marine products from the sea to Kyoto. The Sabakaido ran from Obama in modern day Fukui Prefecture to Demachiyanagi (Kyoto), a 10 minute walk from Hanaore. The most important product brought to Kyoto on the Sabakaido was saba.

Sabazushi is made with saba that has been lightly pickled in salt, then filleted. The fillets are then pickled in sushi vinegar (rice vinegar and sugar) for a short time. Next the outer skin of the saba is carefully peeled away (retaining a delicate inner skin), remaining small bones are extracted with a tweezer-like device.

The fillet is placed into a kigata (a wooden form) for making oshizishi (pressed sushi) which is filled with sushi rice. A very thinly sliced piece of pickled kombu (kelp) is placed atop the saba. It is then pressed in the wooden form.

After pressing the sabazushi is placed in dried bamboo shoot covering and wrapped. The sabazushi will now keep (for a short time by modern standards).

Hanaore
Hanaore is one of several well known sabazushi restaurants in Kyoto. The honten (original, main shop) is located just to the west of Shimogamo Shrine (a UNESCO World Heritage site).

Hanaore seats just a few customers, serves one dish and offers several other oshizushi for take away.

The quality of the saba used is said to be the very, very best. The clerk told us that they have a difficult time now obtaining saba of the size and quality that passes muster with the proprietor.

Hanaore is highly recommended.

If you are visiting Shimogamo or Kamigamo Shrine or the Imperial Palace, Hanaore is probably on your way. Portions are small, we recommend it for lunch or an afternoon snack. Prices are pretty high, but unless you are on a tight budget, don’t let that stop you. This is how refined Kyotoites dined before industrialization. Again, a very ‘Kyoto’ experience.

Hanaore storefront and noren

noren

Hanaore’s offerings written on pieces of bamboo
only one kind of oshizishi is served in the restaurant, the others are available for purchase

sabazushi and an exquisitely simple soup

sabazushi and naturally colored (red shiso) pickled ginger

Hanaore’s sabazushi is huge!

notice the yellowish pickled kombu atop the sabazushi

the soup features a single, tiny fillet of amadai (sweet baby snapper) — amazing!
amadai is also lightly pickled, this seems slightly grilled too

other oshizushi available, they are wrapped in bamboo shoot covering and a paper label
all priced to knock your socks off!

framed photograph of oshizushi, the one of the lower left is wrapped in thick, green kombu (kelp)

Narezushi is the original sushi of Japan, this is funazushi, a controversial delicacy of neighboring Lake Biwa. Funa is a kind of carp. Narezushi is fish fermented with rice. Think fish cheese — only in Japan! If you like blue cheese, you *might* like funazushi. Most Japanese won’t touch this one. If you want to out do the natives, you’ve got to try this one!

Sliced funazushi on the left (the orange center is the funa eggs). On the right is narezushi made with saba, we have not tried this one yet but have heard that it is more palatable than funazushi.

A whole saba narezushi packaged in bamboo sheath (left). On the right is heshiko. Heshiko is pickled with huge amounts of salt and nuka (rice bran). Heshiko is popular among drinkers. This heshiko is made with saba.

Iwashi (sardine) heshiko, another important fish from the Sea of Japan

English
This is not a tourist destination, Hanaore is undiscovered. Give it a try, with only one thing on the menu, you can’t order the wrong thing!

Hanaore website (Japanese language only)

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In Kyoto and looking for a quick and cheap (by Kyoto standards) bite to eat that isn’t Japanese or looking for a veggie meal?

Falafel Garden, is good, though not gourmet, not the kind of Middle Eastern food you could probably find back home.

Falafel Garden is located just to the east of Demachiyanagi Station. If you are on the way to or from Kurama or Kibune, or you just want a break from Japanese food, Falafel Garden is great.

Owned and operated by an Israeli ex-pat and staffed by Japanese, Falafel Garden has a good (and basic) selection of falafel and some nice fruit and yogurt based shakes.

Near Kyoto University, Falafel Garden is popular with students and foreign residents. The atmosphere is casual.

Most all the dishes are veg.

Falafel and Banana Shake

Falafel Garden, 出町柳、京都

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Isshindo is a very small, outdoor yatai (stall) style restaurant with the atmosphere of the ubiquitous yatai of Japan common near train stations at night catering to commuters on their way home for a quick meal. Isshindo adds just the right amount of style and sophistication to the dining experience.

Isshindo is actually enclosed by a wooden fence but has no roof over the seating area. On rainy days an awning is deployed which fully protects patrons from the rain. Depending on the season, there is a roaring air conditioner or gas heater ameliorating temperature extremes.

Isshindo seats only about 12 people and has a very friendly, neighborhood atmosphere. The staff, while frantically preparing orders are always very friendly.

Isshindo’s menu is minimal with several signature ramen dishes, well worth the venture a few blocks up north from the city center and just about a five minute walk down from Kyoto Gosho (the Imperial Palace).

Isshindo refers to it’s ramen as ‘soba’ which is not unusual though most Japanese these days think of ramen as ‘ramen‘ and soba as ‘soba‘ (Japanese buckwheat noodles).

Like many noodle shops, you can specify how your noodles are to be cooked; al dente, regular or soft.

Isshindo features two types of ramen soup base; tonkotsu (pork bone) and torigara (chicken bones).

Isshindo Soba (一神堂そば)

This dish is the famous of Isshindo. It features a garnish of scallions, zha cai (Chinese pickle, zasai in Japanese), and topped with short-necked clams. Shellfish and ramen is a shocking combination, unimaginable in Kyoto.

The soup base is a combination of pork and chicken stock.

Isshindo Soba is a must try, a ’9′.

Isshindo Soba, detail, clams and zha cai (and a little chashu)


Isshindo Soba, kaedama (a second helping of noodles)

Chuka Soba (中華そば)

Chuka Soba, literally, ‘Chinese soba’.

The soup is a combinations of pork and chicken stock and shoyu (soy sauce), and a simple garnish of menma (fermented bamboo shoot), scallion, chashu (roasted pork) and paprika.

This dish is slightly richer than Isshindo Soba, a more typical ramen appealing to patrons that want a standard ramen, but with a Isshindo twist.

Isshindo’s Chuka Soba is a ’7′.

K.F. PekoPeko:
Isshindo is one of my all-time favorite ramen shops. I only order the Isshindo Soba, often with mentaiko gohan, which is pretty good, though I am not much of a fan of mentaiko.

Isshindo Soba like all ramen is a richly flavored dish, but it is not over bearing. Combining several ingredients unusual to ramen such as clams and zha cai with Kyoto scallions, coarsely sliced to produce a ramen unlike any other.

K.F. PakuPaku:
I like that additional garnish on the ramen dishes, such as additional chashu, which is great when I am in the mood for a rich and meaty dinner. Great on a winter evening!

Isshindo Soba Exterior:

English: no English menu, no website

Map:

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