Jiki Miyazawa is virtually impossible to get in without advance booking. Like many upscale restaurants in Japan, they don't accept reservations directly from overseas customers so all bookings must come from the hotel concierge. Thanks to the quick work by my hotel concierge, I was able to secure my booking months in advance. For this meal, I have recruited Agent-I as my partner-in-crime since she was in town for a sightseeing trip.
For a restaurant of its caliber, lunch at Jiki Miyazawa is surprisingly affordable. There are three multi-course set menu offered at JPY3,500, JPY5,000 and JPY7,000 respectively. Since I wasn't particularly hungry (after my breakfast at grains de vanille), I went with the set that cost JPY5,000.
After some welcoming sake, we were presented with the first course (or sakizuke) of the meal. Grilled octopus was served underneath a pile of diced watermelon and strawberry granita. A really nice play on contrasting temperatures and textures while the perilla flowers on top brought some extra kick to the dish.
One of the nicest thing about kappō-dining is the ability to see our chef working behind the counter. The interactive dialogue with Chef Takamoto Izumi really makes this a very unique dining experience.
Our Suimono course was next. The steaming hot soup made with bonito and seaweed came with a tender piece of pike conger. Not bad.
Better was the next course of bonito sashimi, which was sprinkled with fresh green onion and seaweed. It was interestingly matched with two distinctly different sauces, a sweet soy sauce (red) and sushi rice sauce (white) for a surprisingly rounded finish.
The fourth dish was Chef Miyazawa's yaki-gomadōfu, a signature dish which has taken him three years to perfect. The grilled tofu, made with sesame, kombu and kudzu (some sort of arrowroot) was beautifully matched with a rich and gooey sesame dressing and a shower of grated sesame. A delicately balanced dish with different textures of sesame shining through brightly.
The grill dish was Japanese salmon with crunchy eggplant, purple onion and ginger.
Some fish roes hidden underneath provided explosiveness to the dish.
As usual, a rice dish with pickled vegetables and miso soup to close out a kaiseki meal.
Nothing smells better than freshly cooked rice!
Some Japanese Chirimen Jako or young sardines to go with our perfectly soft and tender steamed rice (We were told that the rice came from three different cooking in order to create three varying textures and degree of moisture).
Dessert was a simple combination of green and purple grape on a small pool of wine jelly.
And a peanut shaped Japanese sweet.
A kaiseki meal is not complete without a simple tea ceremony.
I thought the portion was just right.
It looked like we were the last party to finish so we quickly settled the bill and spent some time checking out some souvenirs from the nearby Nishiki Market.
Unlike my previous experience with kaiseki cuisine, Jiki Miyazawa offers a cuisine that is deeply rooted in Japanese tradition but thoughtfully infused with contemporary twist. That's what makes it so exciting and special.
Jiki Miyazawa opens 12:00pm-14:00pm for lunch and 17:30pm-21:00pm for dinner. Its scheduled holidays are Thursdays and first Wednesday of the month. So yes, they are one of the few upscale Japanese restaurants that opens on Sunday.
Food Rating: 6.5/10
Price: ￥￥￥
Address: 553-1 Yaoyacho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto, 604-8123, Japan
Closest Metro Station: Karasuma
Tel: +81 (0) 75 213-1326
Website: www.jiki-miyazawa.com
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