Now, I would be remiss if I did not tell you that I went with a slight bit of trepidation because I have heard from two different sets of foreign tourists that tempura dinner at Yoshikawa was not good. More about that below. We had a very good kaiseki dinner but I just want to show you two dishes; pickled mackerel sushi served on a completely psychedelic colored persimmon leaf and tempura kakiage on rice with tea poured over the top.

Sabazushi Served on Autumn Psychedelically Colored Persimmon Leaf

Kakiage Tempura at Yoshikawa
Kakiage is sliced vegetables and sometime seafood that is mixed together with tempura batter and deep fried. ‘Kaki’ means to mix or stir and ‘age’ means to fry in oil. With tempura, usually the items are battered and deep fried individually. Kakiage can be more oily than regular tempura because it has a lot more surface area and batter.

Yoshikawa’s kakiage tempura was so light and unoily that it was almost not tempura to me. I had a hard time making out what exactly was inside it because everything was sliced so finely inside. It was so light and delicate that it seemed more like quiche or dashi tamagoyaki than tempura to me. At Yoshikawa the kakiage is the last course of the kaiseki meal and it is offered three ways; there is donburi style on rice, something that I cannot recall at the moment and chazuke style on rice with hot tea poured on. Chazuke is a very prosaic home cooking type dish. At a restaurant and inn of such distinction I thought that it must be quite interesting so I order chazuke and was very impressed.

Kakiage tempura was introduced on KyotoFoodie way back when we started in this article about Tenshu in Gion and recently briefly mentioned on OpenKyoto in this article about 500 yen dinner at Marugame in Kyoto.

How to Eat O-chazuke
Here are some photos that show the process of eating chazuke, or more politely o-chazuke. Chazuke works like this; you start with rice and some flavoring on top, pour on hot tea, stir it up a bit and using your chopsticks to eat and/or slurp it.

To the right of the rice bowl is wasabi paste and there is a plate of tsukemono pickles and chirimen jako. The wasabi can be added to the chazuke if you like wasabi but the tsukemono is a side dish and doesn’t go on the top of the rice.

I have found that just o-chazuke for dinner is an excellent way to lose weight.

Tempura Kakiage Chazuke - Served

Tempura Kakiage Chazuke - Pouring on Tea

Tempura Kakiage Chazuke - Pouring on Tea

Dinner at Yoshikawa Ryokan: Tempura Kakiage O-chazuke 吉川旅館 天ぷらかき揚げ茶漬け

Tempura Kakiage Chazuke - Pouring on Tea

Tempura Kakiage Chazuke - Ready to Eat

Tempura Kakiage Chazuke - How to Eat

Tempura Kakiage Chazuke - How to Eat

Yoshikawa Ryokan Inn
Yoshikawa Ryokan Inn and Tempura Yoshikawa Restaurant are at the same location on Tominokijo Street just south of Oike Street. You can go to Yoshikawa for tempura dinner only, or you can stay too. If you go just for dinner, you might ask for a private room.

Historic Yoshikawa Ryokan Inn and Tempura Yoshikawa Restaurant

Misunderstanding, Exaggeration and Lies and the ‘Bucket of Oil for Dinner’ Myth Story
I am a bit embarrassed to tell you about this. The first time I heard about dinner at Yoshikawa from the foreign travelers I distinctly recall hearing that the tempura was served in a bowl of oil. I imagined French Onion Soup in which the bread was the tempura and the soup was the oil. Come on, is there any food, anything, anywhere on planet Earth served in a bowl of oil? No one would eats anything like that, least of all Japanese.

I cannot count the number of times that I have heard fascinating (incredulous) stories from foreigners about all sorts bizarre things in Japan. There are certain things that Japanese just don’t do. In fact there are a lot of things that Japanese just don’t do. Yet, you often meet these fresh off the boat Western foreigners going on and on about how this or that Japanese was doing this weird thing and you are thinking to yourself, Self, in more than 10 years here I have never seen a Japanese do anything like that!

Some of it is just misunderstanding, usually due to language. Still, not excusable. But, the majority is, alas, just lies and exaggeration. When traveling with or hanging out with Japanese abroad I can’t recall once ever experiencing or hearing anything like that. Strange.

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Autumn is persimmon time in Japan. The shibugaki is an astringent persimmon that can be enjoyed only when it is very ripe, or has been blet. I like to spoon the soft, dripping flesh out like ice cream from a paper cup.

Persimmons are called ‘kaki’ in Japanese.

There are numerous varieties that come in two very distinct categories; either astringent or ‘regular’.

Fuyugaki The regular persimmon, or fuyugaki is similar in shape to a conventional tomato and is eaten like an apple; peeled and sliced into wedges. This is the ‘garden variety’, entry level persimmon.

Shibugaki The shibugaki is a foodie’s persimmon. The astringent shibugaki is very astringent. A shibugaki that is not over-ripe cannot be eaten, the mouth revolts in immediate protest and extreme pucker, by instinct. (I have tried.) Ripening breaks down the culprit tannins.

Ways to Enjoy Shibugaki

1. Over-ripen Time is required and direct sunlight facilitates this. The inner flesh becomes extremely soft and the taut skin is like a bag holding it together. This is simply an unforced bletting.
2. Steeping in Alcohol Japanese put shibugaki in a plastic bag and pour in some shochu (watered down vodka would be similar) and put it in the refrigerator overnight or for a few days. Alcohol serves as a bletting agent and hastens decomposition.
3. Harvest after Frost Freezing breaks down cellular structure and this hastens decomposition as well. In Japan, ravens love to eat persimmons too, so leaving them on the tree late into the season is especially attractive to ravens.
4. Dried Persimmons Hoshigaki, literally ‘dried persimmon’, is the most common way that shibugaki are enjoyed in Japan. (look forward to an upcoming article on hoshigaki)

How to Eat

I gently cut the top off the shibugaki with a small, sharp knife. Then, with a spoon, simply scoop out the flesh. The fruit is actually decomposing, the tannins decompose too, however the sugar content increases with the ripening and decomposition process.

note: Actually, the shibugaki in the photos below, while it did not taste astringent could easily have been ripened for several more days. The fruit is still firm and holds its shape. Personally, I prefer shibugaki to be about the consistency of very thick yogurt, or homemade applesauce, and that would take several more days.

Japanese Persimmon Shibugaki Ripening in the Sun

Japanese Persimmon Shibugaki – A Gorgeous Specimen

Ready for the knife and spoon!

Japanese Persimmon Shibugaki – Removing the Top

Shibugaki – ‘Lid’ Removed

Shibugaki – Ready to Scoop

Shibugaki – Scooping out the Flesh

Reference and Links
This is a great article with recipes, historical quotes and links. Persimmon Beer!
The Old Foodie: Puckering up with Persimmons
Bletting Process (Wikipedia article)