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2019-11-08
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富小路やま岸 (English name: Tominokoji Yamagishi) is a name that foodies that focus on fine dining know about. From Kyoto, it opened in 2015 with a focus on kaiseki. It has one Michelin star and a 4.69 Tabelog rating along with a silver award from Tablelog. That's a lot of accolades. And now they have opened their first location outside Kyoto at the new K11 Musea. Booking is required as they do not take reservations. The dining area fits 15 people (although there were only 9 of us that evening) and
A little background on kaiseki. While most people think omakase, kaiseki is a whole different beast. Considered the haute cuisine equivalent in Western dining, it's a multicourse dinner that showcases the chef's skill and technique while combining art and food. All the while using seasonal produce. The meal is more formal and the chef's do not engage as much compared to omakase.
When boyfriend and I heard it had just opened here, we were curious as there are not a lot of restaurants here that focus only on kaiseki. It seems most places here do a little bit of everything. Understandable as competition in Hong Kong is fierce and local diners don't really understand just eating that one item and nothing else. We made a reservations after a few attempts (apparently other foodies have heard about it's opening) and were told to be on time as the meal all at the same time.
The restaurant outside looked exactly like the one in Kyoto.
As we arrived a few minutes before our reserved time (we wanted to be exceptionally on time to show our respect to the chef), we were shown to a small waiting room with a pretty garden. We did see some slippers underneath our mini bench and were not sure if we were to remove our shoes and use the slippers. As we weren't told to do so, we kept our shoes on.
Promptly at our reserved time, they showed us in. The hallway was exactly like the original restaurant in Kyoto. A pathway of stone lighted only with lanterns and a beautiful bonsai in front of us. The stone pathway was wet with water. At first I thought ... wow, they were so rushed to clean up they didn't dry the floor? But no! How uncultured of me! The staff explained that the path was sprayed with water as that is how Kyoto welcomes their guests. How many times have I been to Kyoto? How come I never noticed that? I learned something new.
The price of this entire evening (without alcohol) is $2500 per person. The menu is written in Japanese only. The chefs are all Japanese from the main branch and only speak Japanese. They do have a translator throughout the evening. The menu changes with what ingredients are received that day. All seafood are air flown direct from Kyoto daily by head chef Takahiro Yamagishi in Kyoto's main branch. On this day, it arrived at 5 PM and the chef here worked quickly to prepare tonight's meal. The theme changes with the season.
Each person had a dining tray and chopstick. The dining area was very simple. A counter table facing the chef and his sous chef work away. There was a charcoal grill on one side with charcoal heating away.
The tea cups were beautiful. And I noticed that each group of people had the same matching tea cups. Perhaps to let the chef separate the groups of diners?
Once everyone arrived, the chef and his sous chef worked meticulously away. With no words and deft fingers, they plated everything quickly and precisely. The only words the chef spoke was after each plate was presented in front of all the diners to explain what was placed in front of us. This was spoken all in Japanese with a translator that followed.
First Dish: steamed seabream fish with ginko nuts, edible shisosprouts on top of rice, served on a taro leaf that was laid on a bed of sea salt which the sous chef was massaging for a good 10 minutes prior to plating. It was beautiful and a signal to the autumn season. The fish was delicate and rich in flavor. The rice soaked up the oils from the fish very well. The rice was also mixed with diced abalone and daikon for texture. All was balanced by the peppery flavor of the shiso sprouts and nuttiness of the ginko and a zesting of the yuzu peel.
Second Dish: sliced abalone, Hoikkaido sea urchin with edible shiso flowers on top of mozuku seaweed (水雲菜). All was layered with soft shell turtle (水魚) dashi jelly. The sea urchin was fresh and the abalone sweet. The seaweed was stringy and salty. But all was balanced by this wonderful soft shell turtle dashi jelly. A deeply savory jelly that was cold and refreshing while providing that umami moment.
Third Dish: Soup was long tooth grouper fish (九繪魚), fresh shitake mushrooms, pickled plum paste and a slice of sudachi. The soup, we were informed was simmered since 9 AM that day. The soup was clear but delicate with a woodsy taste. The touch of pickled plum paste and slice of sudachi gave it a bit of freshness.
Then the chef brought started to flame away in preparation for our next dish. He was apparently scorching the skin of a fish called kinmedai.
Fourth Dish: Sashimi three ways served with rice vinegar (on the left) and soy sauce (on the right). Seared kinmedai (炙燒金目鯛) on the bottom left, hamachi (幼鰤魚) on the top and white shrimp on the bottom right. The kinmedai was dipped in rice vinegar and the skin was so crispy from the scorching done previously. The meat was sweet and was further enhanced by the vinegar. The hamachi and white shrimp were dipped in soy sauce. The hamachi was so fresh. I usually find this fish a bit on the fishy side in some places but this was not the case here. The white shrimp was so sweet.
Fifth Dish: charcoal grilled white eel and tempura maitake mushrooms. The mushrooms represent the mountain. The eel represent the sea. This was a shared dish between boyfriend and I so the chopsticks used for sharing looked like bamboo and it was also sprinkled with water. It was explained that it signified the chef was finished plating and would not touch the chopsticks. We also learned that dishes with lids were also sprinkled with water for the same reason. And here I wondered if it they had forgotten to wipe the plate clean. How wrong I was! The eel was out of this world. The skin was grilled so long, it crunched. We actually heard the loud crunch when the chef cut into it. The meat was hot and flaked away perfectly. The mushrooms were lightly coated with tempura that was so crisp and not heavy at all.
Sixth Dish: Considered their signature dish, this was sea urchin handroll. Uni was from Nemuro, Hoikkaido and was handed to us one by one by the chef after he swept it with a bit of sauce. The nori was so crisp. I love crunchy nori. The rice was soft but held everything together without falling apart. The uni was so sweet and rich. Much better than the one we had previously.
Seventh Dish: Another lidded dish. Opening the lid it held chawanmushi (steamed egg) with big ball of Hoikkaido hairy crab meat and topped with fresh Hoikkaido salmon roe right before serving so it still maintained the squishy juice from the little orange balls. The steamed egg was smooth and soft. Sweetened by the dashi used. The crab meat was firm as it was steamed with the egg. A wonderful series of sensations: soft, hard, squishy.
Next up was a hot pot item. The ingredients were placed before the chef.
A low simmering soup was used while he cooked the ingredients. The beef was run through the hot soup three times.
Eighth Dish: hot pot of A5 Omi Wagyu Beef (近江牛), mizuna lettuce (京水菜), matsutake mushrooms. Topped with sea urchin that was quickly dipped in the hot pot. The broth was a rich beef broth that was both sweet and sour. Almost like pho but after you squeeze in the lime. The beef was literally melted in my mouth. You really do not need teeth to chew at all on this. It was that soft. It had a deep beef flavor. The lettuce was still firm and soaked up the soup well. I love these mushrooms. Deeply woodsy, they reminded me of the taste of fresh porcini mushrooms.
Ninth Dish: sliced whelk with Japanese bok choy, decorated with edible chrysanthemum flowers and layered with rice vinegar jelly. The whelk had a strong taste of the sea which was soaked into the bok choy. The rice vinegar jelly gave a good balance of acidity while giving a freshness from the texture of the jelly.
Tenth Dish: Charcoal grilled cutlassfish (太刀魚), pickled nagaimo (Japanese mountain yam) and salted black beans (紫頭巾). I don't know? They looked and tasted like edamame but the translator said they were called black beans. You eat them like edamame and they didn't look black inside? They did have a thicker shell though? And they did have black streaks on them? The fish was fantastic. Crispy skin. The meat was cooked perfectly as it separated so easily without much effort.
Eleventh Dish: was plain white rice with toppings. Toppings from left to right: black pepper white bait, mentaiko, yuzu enoki mushrooms. The enoki was my favorite as it was strong with the taste of yuzu and was packed with so much flavor.
The rice used was from Nagano and was prepared in a traditional kamadosan. A clay pot rice cooker. Rice was a lot more sticky and soft.
The meal began to wind down with the anticipation of an upcoming dessert. Chef prepared the dessert over a hibachi grill. The black pots you see there are the kamadosan that was used to make the rice.
Twelfth Dish: dessert was grilled monaka filled with azuki bean paste. Monaka is a thin wafer Japanese cookie that I think tastes like an ice cream cone without the ice cream. It was warm as it was heated up on the hibachi grill.
It was stuffed with warm azuki bean paste. It was a great little combination of sweet paste and crisp light wafer.
Thirteenth Dish: another dessert was fresh figs with Japanese pear and plum wine water jelly hidden under a leaf to signify the autumn season.
Lifting the leaf off, you see the lovely yet simple presentation. the fig was sweet but the stand out was the pear. Crisp and refreshing. The jelly had a light boozy taste from the plum wine. A wonderful little ending.
Meal was finished with freshly whisked uji matcha tea. Rich and fragrant. Thick and strong.
The beautifully presented food was meticulously crafted with high skill and craftmanship. All with a clear ode to the autumn season. Staff was professional and fitting of a fine dining experience. The restaurant design was simple yet elegant all the while transporting you back to Kyoto. A wonderful evening that I am so grateful to have experienced. ご馳走様でした!
張貼
