Kaga Kaiseki

Although I alluded to the meals at Asadaya Ryokan in an earlier post, I didn’t get around to describing in any measure of detail the wonderful food they served. Dinners consisted of 11 courses – the kaiseki is sort of a Japanese tasting menu. Kaga is the cuisine local to Kanazawa. For the benefit of the “foodies” who are reading this, I will go into TMI about the food. If you really aren’t into food, skip this post.

Before getting to the menu, though, the thing to remember (if you have been reading the blog you’ll see the theme here) is that it is all about the presentation (okay, at least a lot about the presentation). Each course is served on exquisite pottery or lacquerware, and never the same dish or design. There is usually some decoration included on the plates, such as a leaf or a flower. The visuals are gorgeous. Enough of the windup, though, let’s get to the food.

Here was our dinner the second night at Asadaya:

Starter (Sakizuke) – Steamed egg custard with shrimp, gingko nut, lily bulb and mushroom. This dish had a delightfully light and delicate taste.

Autumn appetizers (Zensai) – Sea eel sushi, matutake mushroom (a local variety) mixed with chrysanthemum, salted yellowtail and taro.

Clear soup (Osuimono) – Fish paste, matutake mushroom and Japanese citron rind in a fish broth.

Assorted Sashimi (Otukuri) – Sea bream, barracuda, spiral shell and garnish.

Deep fried dish (Chuzara) – Flat fish tempura, gingko nuts skewered by a pine leaf and broccoli tempura served in an edible dried noodle basket. The basket was exquisitely made and you finished the course by eating the basket.

Steamed dish (Susumezakana) – Tile fish fillet with chestnut flakes.

Broiled dish (Yakimono) – Japanese tenderloin, green pepper and onion. This was fascinating. They brought a small, individual charcoal grill to each of us and we cooked the three beef cubes (small, no bigger than ¾ inch square) on the grill. Same with the onion and green pepper. Dipping sauces of soy sauce and a plum/miso paste. The beef melted in the mouth.

Simmered dish (Nimono) – Sharp tooth eel, mushrooms, white leek and tofu simmered in a fish broth. Very delicate taste.

Vinegared dish (Hachimono) – Steamed abalone, spikenard (still don’t know what the hell spikenard is!), ginger and seaweed.

Rice dish (Shokuji) – Boiled local rice and clear soup with fish paste.

Fruits (Mizugashi) – local grapes and kaki (persimmon). Andrea is absolutely wild about persimmon. It is very tasty – like melon, but better.

You are probably full (and tired) just reading about it. Think about how we felt. Dinner was basically an almost two-hour undertaking and we were served graciously and unbelievably attentively by our hostess dressed in kimono. All of this sitting in a lovely tatami room on cushions and a chair back. It is just an incredibly unique experience.

A brief coda, because I just can’t go on any more about food, but breakfast is great as well. Takes about half the time and emphasis is on fish and vinegared food. Although we had eggplant, miso soup, yogurt with melon and countless other things that I can’t even remember. The morning we left they even gave us an extra serving of persimmon because Andrea loved it so much.