Kaiseki at Hyotei, Kyoto

Our fifth day in Japan (7 April) heralded the proper start of our food adventures in Japan as we began our circuit of critically acclaimed Michelin Star restaurants.

Hyotei excited me because it blended two of my favourite things — food and history.

Hyotei is considered a mecca of Kyoto’s kaiseki scene, boasting a 400-year old history and is located just outside Nanzenji Temple.

Starting out as a tea-house for pilgrims to Nanzenji Temple, Hyotei has managed to retain the facade of its 400-year old origins.

We were greeted by a friendly but old Japanese lady who would be our host during our 2-hour kaiseki meal. She brought us into the grounds and we were enthralled by the delicately maintained gardens and koi ponds that littered the way to our private tatami room.

The lady couldn’t speak a word of English, but tried her best explaining each course to us in Japanese. After having 2 kaiseki dinners at our Ryokan, we were beginning to feel quite familiar with the entire process.

Luckily, we were presented with a printed menu which contained details of each course in English!

Kaiseki meals are inherently seasonal, drawing from the influences of the seasons and the use of fresh seasonal produce is absolutely mandatory.

The Sakizuke or appetizer was a simple clump of braised Fava beans and young leaves of Sansho.

The Sakizuke was presented in tandem with the Fuchidaka, which is Japanese for lacquered containers that typically contained sweets. Since it was spring, the container had a fitting design which invoked memories of being under the Sakura blossoms.

We popped open the Fuchidaka to reveal an impressive collection of small bite-sized dishes. The hero of this was the Hyotei Tamago the signature meal of Hyotei.

The Hyotei Tamago truly encapsulates Hyotei’s legacy, as soft-boiled eggs were traditionally served ever since its opening 400 years ago — the secret of making them having been passed down through the generations.

The Eggs were incredible — I had never tasted eggs like these before.

• Grilling trout with salt-marinated rice malt
• Fatsia sprout dressed with sesame sauce
• Tofu skin & bracken
• Sea bream roe
• Bamboo Shoot dengaku (coated with miso)
• Lilybulb
• Sushi of Garfish
• Japanese Urchin Terrine
• Fried Icefish with rice powder

Our favourites were the Icefish, Garfish Sushi and Tofu Skin with Bracken.

What followed was the Nimono-wan, Japanese for simmered food.

• Greenling, tenderstem broccoli, Udo Plant, young leaves of Sansho, plum pulp

The greenling was exquisite — the texture and taste was just phenomenal. I don’t usually like soup, but the consomme-like soup was incredibly flavourful yet subtle.

Next was the Mukozuke, a sliced dish of seasonal sashimi which in this case was Tai or Red Sea Bream. This isn’t the first time we had Tai, but this was leagues better than the one we had at our Ryokan — It was tender and tasted very clean with just the right amount of chewiness to it.

This is the Aburamono, which Google tells me loosely translates to fried food.

• Tempura of bamboo shoot with prawn
• Asparagus
• Wasabi
• Wakame (seaweed) & butterbur with asari clam sauce

This dish was pretty interesting as it was tempura served inside a clam sauce. I’m not a fan of asparagus, but these were pretty damn good. I think I’ve been eating the wrong kind all my life.

We arrived at the main course or Shiizakana. In our Ryokan, the Shiizakan was a massive hot pot featuring a blend of protein, but Hyotei’s version was a bit of a surprise.

• Prawn
• Grilled scallop
• Cockle
• Udo Plant
• Cucumber and fruit tomato dressed with soft roe

This dish was a fitting apex of the meal. It was sophisticated and delicate, which fully brought out the flavours and distinct tastes of otherwise familiar seafood. It blended sweetness with sourness almost effortlessly.

We closed off the meal with my favourite thing about Japanese cuisine, ending with rice and miso soup.

The rice was amazing, cooked with bamboo shoot and scallop. There seems to be a superhuman-like skill that is applied to the making of Japanese rice — I wanted to cry eating this bowl of rice — it was simply that good.

The miso soup, I’m not a big fan of since I traditionally dislike miso soup but Anne seemed to like it.

Time for dessert! No idea what this ice cream was but it tasted like mandarins or some sort of citrusy fruit that was very pleasant to taste.

This is the Mizumono, the official seasonal dessert dish of a Kaiseki meal which consisted of seasonal fruits and a unique piece of pastry that I cannot identify for the life of me.

Alas, all good things must come to an end and in Japanese cuisine, it is usually signaled by Usu-cha (green tea) which was very strong which goes together with the Omogashi, a traditional Japanese sweet that I’ve come to love.

Here’s us in our tatami room. It was very cosy and super traditional, complete with sliding doors that open up to reveal a great view of Hyotei’s gardens.

It was cold, so the doors were shut but that didn’t stop me from taking a quick peek.

Final thoughts: Hyotei was a brilliant introduction to fine Japanese cuisine. The fact that its history dates back 400 years, dwarfing European settlement of Australia just puts its age and legacy into perspective.

Dining in a place steeped with so much history and prestige was an essential part of the experience. After all, this is the place that the Emperor of Japan (Akihito) chooses to dine in when he’s in Kyoto so it’s cool to say that we’ve eaten in the same spot as Japanese royalty.

The food was amazing, very traditional and wholesome using the best seasonal produce to bring out not only rich flavours but the taste of Japanese spring itself.

Official website: http://hyotei.co.jp/en/