We departed Osaka (with much reluctance) and made the short trip to Kyoto for our next food adventure — a lunchtime Kaiseki meal at Kichisen.
Address: 5 Morimotocho, Shimogamo, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto
Kichisen is a 3 Michelin Star restaurant that specialises in traditional Kyoto kaiseki cuisine.
Kichisen means “You & I, we are together at this single meeting. Without hiding our hearts, let us speak thoroughly of anything and everything.”
Its head chef is Yoshimi Tanigawa who is best known for beating chef Masaharu Morimoto on the TV series Iron Chef.
Yep, you read that right — we dined at a restaurant manned by a chef that beat an Iron Chef. I grew up enthralled by the Iron Chef TV series, so dining at Kichisen and eating food prepared by Yoshimi Tanigawa was a dream come true to me.
You can watch the Iron Chef episode here.
We took a cab to Kichisen and arrived just in time for lunch. There was a bit of confusion on our end, because Google Maps provided us with the wrong location when we searched for “Kichisen” — thankfully the cab got us there in time.
The concierge at the Westin Osaka managed to get us counter seats for lunch, which is a lot more affordable than dinner. You don’t get the full dinner kaiseki experience at lunchtime although you can request to have the dinner menu which includes the Hassun.
The first thing that immediately stood out to us was the fact that Kichisen’s awards were brazenly displayed at the counter section. This was a first for us, as every other Michelin Starred restaurant we went to didn’t bother to show off their accolades.
Japanese chefs are notoriously modest and prefer to play down their achievements but Chef Yoshimi Tanigawa has clearly embraced his status as celebrity chef which is pretty cool.
Kichisen had a very formal air to it. Once again, we were the only non-local patrons of the restaurant. It seemed like a pretty distinguished restaurant so we were on our best behaviour.
We were served by a young chef, which we suspect is the son and heir of Chef Yoshimi Tanigawa — they shared a lot of similar facial features.
His English was pretty good, which allowed him to explain some of the dishes to us, although we didn’t quite catch everything he said.
We shared a small sake, which was terrific since it was a cold day and it was served to us in a very attractive glass bowl filled with shaved ice.c
Here’s the aperitif.
We started with this peculiar but extremely delicious dish — Usui Endo Beans. Served in a wide brim glass, this was such a refreshing stater. The liquid was such an interesting concoction — it was sweet, light and crisp, while the beans provided a very fresh taste with a very satisfying crunch to it.
Next was this flavourful jelly-like dish called the sakizuke (appetiser), which was topped by Uni (Sea Urchin) and a very sharp tasting herb or plant.
The soup was particularly memorable. Nanzenji Tofu and Scallop made up the core of the Dashi soup.
The presentation was immaculate — the chef first sprinkled drops of dew over the lid of the bowl, to create a very refreshing feeling.
We were instructed to drink the soup in a very specific manner. First we were asked to take a sip of the soup to get a taste of it. Then we were asked to make the pepper leaf buds fall into the soup which dramatically changed the taste!
It was honestly quite surprising and theatrical. We took this as symbolism for the cherry blossoms, which fall during spring.
The Tofu was incredibly silky and the scallop was nice and plump, with the flavours accentuated by the very floral tasting soup.
The Mukozuke (sashimi) was next and we were served a very fresh platter which was made up of Torigai (surf clam), Kinmedai (our favourite Golden Eye Snapper!), a baby Daikon, Tai (Sea Bream), Squid and a really unique but totally delicious serving of Baby Sea Eels.
The Eels were the highlight as it was like nothing that we’ve ever had. They were mushy, almost like slurping baby worms and had a very gelatinous texture.
We also got a handroll!
This was another interesting and sophisticated dish. Sushi on a bed of strands of egg that tasted like soft noodle.
By this point, we were really starting to enjoy this very contemporary take on traditional Kaiseki cuisine.
This was a familiar spring Kaiseki staple — bamboo shoots with peppery leaves. The bamboo shoots had a phenomenal texture and just the right amount of salt to it. The pepper leaves also added a very nuanced dimension to the usually bland taste of bamboo shoots.
This was probably the main dish and boy was it another exceptional experience. We got a basket of tempura that contained perfectly battered trout, baby corn and pepper leaves. I really loved the cute little basket!
The final part of lunch was heralded by rice that was served in soup and plump and juicy Ikura (salmon roe).
Pickles to cleanse our palate. The Japanese do pickles incredibly well and I’ve come to appreciate and even enjoy the pickled vegetables — something I’ve always hated in the past.
For dessert, we were presented with a Dekopon, a Japanese cultivated hybrid of a mandarin and orange — considered the most delicious citrus fruit in the world. Like the soup, the Dekopon was sprinkled with dew.
We popped open the Dekopon to reveal its innards, jelly! First, we were instructed to eat one spoonful of the jelly, which was sweet and citrusy.
Next, the chef poured over some alcohol (think it was some sort of sake) which once again, dramatically changed the flavour of the dessert.
This was hands down, the best dessert we’ve had in Japan.
The meal finally came to an end when we were served with one Kyogashi (Kyoto traditional sweet) each and green tea.
We really enjoyed the meal at Kichisen and it was quite affordable since we opted for lunch. The food had a very sophisticated and refreshing take on Kaiseki yet retained its unchanging essence throughout the dishes.
On a cold and rainy day, our hearts (and bellies) were more than glad at Kichisen.
At first, because we didn’t see head chef Yoshimi Tanigawa, we assumed that maybe he didn’t do lunch services and left it to his capable heir, but we were more than surprised when he popped his head out of the kitchen when our meal was concluded to say hello, and enquire about where we were from.
I was honestly star struck and overjoyed that I managed to meet someone I had saw on Iron Chef in my early teenage years.
Chef Tanigawa was very amiable and came out of his kitchen to see us off. I noted his very traditional footwear, which looked like a mix of fabric sandals and clogs.
To our surprise (and my delight), we were given a folder and DVD of Chef Tanigawa’s Iron Chef episode and some notes on Kichisen, kaiseki cuisine and progression of courses. It was a very nice touch, reserved for foreigners since we noticed that the locals weren’t given one!
I found it quite amusing that chef Tanigawa has so fully embraced his celebrity chef status, very unlike other high end restaurants that we’ve visited. It was not necessarily a bad thing. This guy beat an Iron Chef, so I’m sure he’s allowed to revel in that achievement!