Dinner that night was
the traditional kaiseki. Before I go
into the dinner, I’ll refer to wiki to explain the breakdown:
“Kaiseki (懐石) or kaiseki-ryōri is a traditional
multi-course Japanese dinner. The term also refers to the collection of skills
and techniques that allow the preparation of such meals, and are analogous to
Western haute cuisine.
Kaiseki refers to a set
menu of select food served on an individual tray (to each member of a
gathering). Originally, kaiseki comprised a bowl
of miso soup and three side dishes; this
is now instead the standard form of Japanese-style cuisine generally, referred
to as setto, "set". Kaiseki
has since evolved to include an appetizer, sashimi, a simmered dish, a grilled
dish, and a steamed course, in addition to other dishes at the discretion of
the chef. They include:
Sakizuke: an appetizer similar to
the French amuse-bouche.
Hassun: the second course, which
sets the seasonal theme. Typically one kind of sushi and several smaller side
dishes.
Mukōzuke: a sliced dish of seasonal
sashimi.
Takiawase: vegetables served with meat,
fish or tofu; the ingredients are simmered separately.
Futamono: a "lidded
dish"; typically a soup.
Yakimono: (1) flame-broiled food
(esp. fish); (2) earthenware, pottery, china.
Su-zakana: a small dish used to
clean the palate, such as vegetables in vinegar; vinegared appetizer.
Hiyashi-bachi: served only in summer;
chilled, lightly cooked vegetables.
Naka-choko: another palate-cleanser;
may be a light, acidic soup.
Shiizakana: a substantial dish, such
as a hot pot.
Gohan: a rice dish made with
seasonal ingredients.
Kō no mono: seasonal pickled
vegetables.
Tome-wan: a miso-based or vegetable
soup served with rice.
Mizumono: a seasonal dessert; may
be fruit, confection, ice cream, or cake.
The table
was set with a “tray”, chopsticks, ice water, and hot tea. The girls each got a fabulous looking bento
box of local cuisine:
Alex enjoyed most of it (except the fish stuff. Their tiny bones were “too crunchy”), and
Alicia sniffed and “licked” several things, and then convinced the girls to try
enough to “not appear rude” when the plate went back to the kitchen.
The
sushi was a very good quality tuna, served very chilled in a clay pot on a bed
of crushed ice with shredded radish and wasabi.
It was two slices of the fillet, and two slices of the fatty layer. The soup was a basic stock with a hunk of
bean infused tofu, red bell pepper, and some artfully carved radishes made into
interlocking rings. (Alicia ate the
radish bale in soy sauce, and passed the sushi on to Lexi and Bella.)
These
plates were cleared and a third course was brought out. The Su-zakana (a small dish used to clean the
palate, such as vegetables in vinegar) included a piece of sweet potato, two or
three carved slices of radish and lotus root, and several slices of okra. This was all garnished with a nest of
onion-leeks, and simmered in a vinegary sauce.
While
this was far from my favorite course, it wasn’t bad. But the okra “slime” definitely permeated all
the other bites of everything. And I
like okra. Alicia, not liking sweet
potatoes OR okra, poked around and traded me bowls once mine was empty, as she
proclaimed “Next” (more portending words could never have been uttered….)
The
fifth course was the Yakimono (flame broiled food). I’ll let the picture speak for itself.
I couldn’t
help but audibly snicker as this was placed first before Alicia, and then
myself. It was just too much to hold in knowing
that she hates fish and never eats is, and she had just made sure to skip the
last course and (optimistically) ask for the next one. But my sense of propriety limited it to a
quiet chuckle, and a sideways glance to get her reaction. I think I got a choked back grimace, and
squeeze of my hand, and an “I want you to know how much I love you” which
really meant “I’m only doing all of this for YOU”. Once the hostess had left
the room, Alicia then said “you’ve got to be f*cking kidding me.”
I have
no clue what type of fish this was, but it had nasty looking teeth, and was
posed to look as though it was still alive.
It was broiled in the skin, with a very heavy salt-crust. Taking a deep breath, I attacked it, and was
pleasantly surprised. The skin was
crispy, and the meat raked off the bones very easily with chop sticks. After eating about half, I went to the task
of getting the girls to at least try it.
Two of the three did, and liked it.
Surprisingly, I finally got Alicia to try a well-chosen piece of skin,
and she did decide it was the best of the dishes “so far”. We gave the lotus root garnish to Avi to try
(she wanted the “lacy thing”), and she liked that, too. (Small victories)
After
completing these five, the “main course” was brought out and prepped. It was a shabu-shabu beef entrée, with
tempura vegetables. We knew from
previous experience that shabu-shabu is a style of cooking whereby you are
brought out a pot of boiling water to cook your food at the table. This made up the Shiizakana (substantial
dish), Takiawase (vegetables served with meat or tofu, simmered separately),
and Hiyashi-bachi (chilled, lightly
cooked vegetables, served only in summer).
The
cooking pot is in the top right. It has
a burner pellet under it, to keep the water boiling. In the black box is the beef, leeks, tofu and
a lemongrass bundle. The dark brown
sauce is a soy/lemon mixture, and the lighter sauce is a sesame/peanut
sauce. On the pedestal were tempura okra
and baby corn, as well as two chunks of braised fish rolled in sesame seeds.
Typically,
it is all simmered separately and eaten.
From past experience, we knew this was disgusting. Don’t believe me? Go put a pot of water on your stove, and drop
a sirloin in for about 5 minutes. You
will. So I perform it as such. 1) drop the thin sliced meat in the soy/lemon
mixture (every great marinade starts with soy and an acid, right?) 2) scrape the rest of the veggies and tofu
into the boiling water. A crude attempt
at a broth. 3) using chop sticks, take a
slice at a time of meat, and swish it in the boiling water for the 20 seconds
or so it takes to cook. 4) dip in the
peanut/sesame sauce and consume. 5)
finish off the tofu because you are still hungry and it wasn’t enough meat.
Alicia
decided it was better than the first time we had shabu-shabu, but not something
she would ever order willingly. Just too
plain. But it was at least mostly consumed. Fake it till you make it! (It is also evident in this picture that the
girls long ago finished their bento, and were just sitting watching the process
that was a 15 dish, 8 course meal).
Next
up was the Naka-choko (palate cleanser) and Gohan (rice dish with seasonal ingredients).
It was a bowl of some sort of rice flour pudding (mocha?) with an acidic glaze
and toasted crunchies on top, and a small dish with shredded radishes, octopus,
a “pesto” and tiny tomatoes.
(is
your head spinning? Because by now, we
were both ready to be done. I had eaten
all of mine and 90% of Alicia’s to be polite, and she was even full based on
what little she had nibbled) Maybe it was because I was already full, but this
was probably my least favorite course. I
like to dissect my dishes with my palate, to figure out what is in them. And the pudding left me no clues, and I gave
up, including what it even was that made the crunchy things. And I WILL NOT, eat octopus. That’s the closest thing to the gum from
under a desk I can think of. Alicia
immediately told me that “no part of that is going into my mouth” (that’s what
she said!) and then chopped up the purple pudding stuff to look like she tried.
About
this time, the girls, sensing that Mom was not enjoying her dinner, suddenly
produced three almost full bowls of rice from their bento. They hadn’t been eating for probably an hour
already, and usually LOVE rice. But
somehow they had stashed away enough to sustain momma until morning. Like little rats. This led to all of us sitting around laughing
about the surprise.
After
removing these dishes, the next (I don’t even know the number anymore, and I’m
typing this with pictures to refresh my memory) course included Ko no mono
(seasonal pickled vegetables) and Tome-wan (miso based soup served with
rice).
Yes. Soup, vegetables, AND rice. After everything else. Here’s where the tables turned. Alicia likes rice, and was still a little hungry
after passing all of her dishes to me. I
was so full I was about to see the first 23 courses again if I ate much more. Marriage truly is about teamwork. And for the record, this bowl of rice wasn’t
all. They brought out a steamer the size
of a bucket full of rice with this course for the center of the table. I guess the Japanese don’t ever want someone
to leave the table and be able to say “there wasn’t enough food”
What
it did mean was that the girls now jumped in and helped, getting a chance to
have some rice to replace the squirreled away rice from earlier. Having been done an hour ago, they were
easily able to have a “second dinner” and rice was just the ticket.
As our
hostess came into our room yet again, with a tray, I was decided I could take
no more, and was about to wave her off.
Fortunately, as she replaced our plates, I realized this one was fresh
fruits, and HAD to be the last one. Sure
enough, the Mizumono (seasonal dessert) consisted of watermelon, mango, and two
large peeled grapes in a mint jelly.
Yes. It’s done.
That’s all of it. If you’re ever
feeling adventurous, and have 2 and a half hours to kill, a traditional Kaiseki
dinner might be just for you. If you are
travelling, and used to eating at 5:30, and tell the hostess you want dinner at
7 to get more exploration time in, it might not be for you. We did it, and enjoyed the experience. But being fond of ALL of Japanese cuisine is a prerequisite. (Just for the record, Alicia is always this
picky when it comes to food. It has made worldly travel interesting at times, but I love her, and in trying to not offend cooks, it means I often eat twice as much as I am expected to. I'll blame her for my spare tire)
