Kaiseki Dinner at Marutomi

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Kaiseki Ryori, Edible Art from the 9th Century

Kaiseki Ryori, or Kaiseki Cuisine is defined by the authoritative Japanese Dictionary Kojien as "cuisine for a get-together". A banquet meal where sake is the main beverage. Modern Kaiseki draws on 4 main Japanese haute cuisines; Imperial Court Cuisine from the 9th Century Heian Period, Buddhist Temple Cuisine from the 12th Century, Samurai Cuisine from Warrior Households of the 14th Century and Tea Ceremony Cuisine from the 15th century.  

You had me at 14th Century Samurai Warrior Household Cuisine

With 1100 years of history behind this style of eating I dont think I can describe it all in a blog. In it's modern form, it's edible art history. Every detail of the meal is thought about. It's a culinary balancing act of taste, texture, color and appearance. The foods and the bowls are all selected to reflect the seasons. Garnishes often include flowers and leaves as well as edible garnishes that are prepared to resemble other plants and animals. The individual dishes are often small and carefully balanced. Don't be fooled though, you will be full after this. I could go on about this style of eating but let's just cut to the part where we go to the restaurant.

Takao had a friend visiting from France who is a fan of Kaiseki so we headed to a tiny restaurant called Marutomi, right in the heart of Shinjuku Ward. Just 2 stops from Shinjuku station.

I'll have...hmm...

Kaiseki Ryori is a pre determined course meal

Thats the menu. It's hand written every morning by your Kimono Clad Hostess. So, it's going to be fresh, whatever it is. The word menu makes it sound like you have some choice in the meal...you dont. This is a checklist of things that are about to happen to your mouth. As such, this is not a restaurant where you will be able to make special requests. The menu is what it is. If you dont like something it is totally ok to leave it on the plate, they do not expect you to like everything. In fact, they are actively curious about what does and does not suit foreign palettes. It is not offensive to leave something on your plate but should you try to substitute something you will be met with polite resistance 

"Kaiseki, a banquet meal where sake is the main beverage."...but wine works too.

Dont know much about sake? Not a problem, go for the pairing set and with each new round of food that comes out you get a new carafe of sake to go with it. This is a great chance to learn about the different range of sakes available. Not interested in Sake? Marutomi also has a wine pairing option with wines selected by Louis Robuchon, son of Michelin Starred Heavyweight Joel Robuchon.

I have way more to say about Kaiseki but let's just start eating.

Kaiseki Round One

From the blue ceramic bowl clockwise we have calamari and lotus root, abalone steamed in sake, a fig with miso, edamame, hamo maki tamago (Pike in a wrapped egg omelette) and a deep fried oyster. Keep in mind that if you visit this restaurant what you have might be different from what I had. We started round one with beers and then moved onto the sake pairing course. You can start or stop the sake pairing at anytime.

After the beers and before round 2 came out we asked for the pairing course. So out came the sake!

Kaiseki Round 2

Round 2 was a soup with fish,  baby melon, junsai, pureed salted plum and mystery. The fish is Hamo, Daggertooth Pike in English. This fish is notoriously difficult to prepare due to the amount of bones. It is delicious and when served properly completely boneless. So just know that a herculean amount of effort went into preparing this soup. See those green/grey veggies? Let's go in for the close up.

What the...

No trip to Japan is complete without vegetables that look like they came out of a Dr. Seuss book. This is Junsai, known in English as Water Shield. Warrior cuisine, daggertooth pike, water shield? The menu reads like Tolkien. That membrane surrounding the plant is the not so appetizingly named mucilage. It tastes like clean spring water and is more for dazzle than for flavor. Like a green beans wrapped in a watery blanket. So much fun to eat!

As soon as we finished our soup it was time for sake number 2. Not only was the empty bottle of this brew from Hiroshima worth slipping into your purse but it tastes awesome! Light, crisp and refreshing, it went perfectly with the next to round of the meal.

Kaiseki Round 3

The Sashimi course! Some flawless, gorgeous slices of sea bream and Summer Flounder. Adorned in summer veggies and flowers. Served with soy sauce and fresh ground wasabi. This was a nice ease in to the following flavor bomb.

Kaiseki Round 4

Here we have a healthy dollop of Uni, which is raw sea urchin. Or as I like to call it, Ocean Butter. Wrapped ever so lovingly in Wagyu (meat butter?). These are 2 of my absolute favorite foods that I rarely get to eat. They came served in a tiny Japanese mandolin with a wee bit of freshly ground wasabi. I ate this in little bites to try and make it last longer. Exceptionally delicious.

With just enough time to recover from the Uni Wagyu sake number 3 appeared. You'll notice each sake came with new glasses and carafes. 

Kaiseki Round 5

Let's slow it down a bit. Back to the veggies and fish. This time we have a thinly sliced lotus root salad, summer sweet potato in lemon, a hozuki nut (which resembles a Chinese Lantern) and a bit of grilled swordfish. A nice, calm refreshing course after the wagyu. 

Kaiseki Round 6

Round 5 was served with the same sake as round 4 as we continued with thre vegetable and seafood combo. This time it was a set of boiled items. Shrimp, kabocha , satoimo (a type of heavy potato) ingen pod and a peeled eggplant. Served chilled in a thick yuzu sauce, this was an awesome summery treat.

After those 2 rounds our hostess busted out the heavy stuff. At this point the beer and the sake have snuck up on me. It always happens faster than I expect. This full  bodied sake went perfect with the next round of Kaiseki.

Kaiseki Round 7

This was my absolute favorite platter. I LOVE rare grilled wagyu and this was some of the best I've ever had. Served with crushed horseradish doused in soy sauce, this is a bite of steak for the ages. Eat it slow, in small bites. There isn't huge amount of it but too much of a good thing and all that. This came served with some gorgeous mini tomatoes and a grilled togarashi pepper. Epic amounts of yum.

At this point we called it quits on the sake pairing. It was getting hard to use the camera and as is evident by the next photo my photography skills had peaked.

Kaiseki Round 8. The end is near.

This was maybe the simplest of all the sets and maybe my second favorite. I love white rice when it's jazzed up with seasonal ingredients. Here we have it prepared with fresh corn, konbu and perilla leaf. This was fragrant and buttery and all kinds of good. It came served with a piping hot pot of miso soup and some cucumber and eggplant pickles. You could refill the rice too! Which is perfect timing because I needed something to soak up the sake at this point.

Kaieki Round 9

Dessert! Thank the heavens. I know these dishes look small but it adds up. This was a mango pudding made with mangoes from Miyazaki Prefecture. I didn't know that Japan had domestic mangoes until this. A delicious creamy way to end the night and polish off any sake you left unfinished.

The incredibly friendly chef and hostess.

Well, you can now say you've dined as the samurai dined. Or as a member of the imperial court...or a monk. This place is a treat for the senses. Don't think of it as just a meal. It's like an art history lesson where you eat the paintings after you've looked at them. So much fun.

The cost is a little bit on the higher end of what you pay for most meals in Tokyo. The full course costs about 15,000 yen. Or about 130 USD per person. I looked up some Kaiseki restaurants in New York and Los Angeles just to try and get a price range. Wow. Let's just say it's probably cheaper to fly to Tokyo and eat this than it is to have it in the US. If you're spending some time in Tokyo and are planning to splash a bit of cash on one of your meals, make it this one.

Marutomi