Honten 本店
Add: 京都市東山区八坂鳥居前下る下河原町459
Tel: +81 75 561 0015
Website: http://kikunoi.jp/
Backed by a long history, the restaurant is currently managed by the 3rd generation chef / owner, Yushihiro Murata. (Side note: Some of the Japanese inflight menus on Singapore Air have been specially designed by Chef Murata!)
Kikunoi, which literally means "Chrysanthemum in the Well", has earned top reputation for its traditional Kaiseki cuisine (懐石料理). Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiseki The restaurant was recently credited with 3 michelin stars (along with 5 other restaurants in Kyoto!).
Chef Murata had published a cookbook in year 2006 with awesome pictures and detailed write-ups. We were so impressed with the book that we ordered a copy from Amazon once we got back to Singapore! Oops... it was cheaper to buy from Amazon than the restaurant...
This was our 1st dish of the night. Beautiful presentation...
The golden saucer on the right-hand corner held a tiny bit of yuzu sake to freshen up the palate before eating.
The bundle of surprises opened up to great treasures!
Yuzu tofu, yuzu miso sauce, yuzu peel
The inside of the yuzu fruit was hollowed out to hold the tofu during steaming. It was served piping hot!
I never knew chrysanthemum petals taste so good... and they form a good pairing with wasabi in soy sauce for sashimi!
Barracuda grilled in cedar, duck breast grilled with sansho pepper
This was presented as a huge plate for our table of 4 (which acted as a beautiful centerpiece), and subsequently dished out onto 4 individual plates.
Individual portions... no less presentable than the huge plate!
Red leaves on the side were from Japanese Maple tree (called Momiji) and we were right on time to catch the autumn foliage in Kyoto during our trip!
Another bundle of surprise! Barracuda wrapped in cedar wood.
Simmered anago (sea eel), giant turnip, kintoki carrot, baby field greens, yuzu
Daishiro persimmon splashed with cognac, yuzu sorbet
Add: 京都市東山区八坂鳥居前下る下河原町459
Tel: +81 75 561 0015
Website: http://kikunoi.jp/
Backed by a long history, the restaurant is currently managed by the 3rd generation chef / owner, Yushihiro Murata. (Side note: Some of the Japanese inflight menus on Singapore Air have been specially designed by Chef Murata!)
Kikunoi, which literally means "Chrysanthemum in the Well", has earned top reputation for its traditional Kaiseki cuisine (懐石料理). Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiseki The restaurant was recently credited with 3 michelin stars (along with 5 other restaurants in Kyoto!).
Chef Murata had published a cookbook in year 2006 with awesome pictures and detailed write-ups. We were so impressed with the book that we ordered a copy from Amazon once we got back to Singapore! Oops... it was cheaper to buy from Amazon than the restaurant...
The golden saucer on the right-hand corner held a tiny bit of yuzu sake to freshen up the palate before eating.
The bundle of surprises opened up to great treasures!
Assortment of appertisers: chestnut and kuwai (arrowhead root) chips; maple leaf-shaped squid coated with eye yolk and sea urchin; anglerfish liver; mibuna (Kyoto arugula) with shimeiji mushrooms; pine needle-shaped tea and buckwheat noodles; sake-glazed gingko nut; dried mullet roe; duck liver pate with white poppy seeds
Yuzu tofu, yuzu miso sauce, yuzu peel
The inside of the yuzu fruit was hollowed out to hold the tofu during steaming. It was served piping hot!
Sashimi of prawn and tai (red sea bream), Chinese yam, wasabi, chrysanthemum petals, curled udo and carrot
I never knew chrysanthemum petals taste so good... and they form a good pairing with wasabi in soy sauce for sashimi!
Sashimi of koshibi (young bluefin tuna), soy-marinated egg yolk sauce
It was the ultimate cut for fatty tuna sashimi...
I love the egg yolk sauce so much that I sipped it straight from the saucer after the sashimi was gone!
Red Wasaka tilefish steamed with chestnuts, baby daikon radish, tied kintoki carrot, yuzu peel, chrysanthemum sauce
Barracuda grilled in cedar, duck breast grilled with sansho pepper
This was presented as a huge plate for our table of 4 (which acted as a beautiful centerpiece), and subsequently dished out onto 4 individual plates.
Individual portions... no less presentable than the huge plate!
Red leaves on the side were from Japanese Maple tree (called Momiji) and we were right on time to catch the autumn foliage in Kyoto during our trip!
Another bundle of surprise! Barracuda wrapped in cedar wood.
Prawn consomme
Pure, wholesome goodness from prawns...
Salad of persimmon, daikon radish, carrot, chrysanthemum petals and mitsuba herb, vinegared mackerel, gingko leaf-shaped ginger, yuzu
Mochi (glutinous) rice with salmon roe, black beans skewered on pine needles; napa cabbage soup, black walnuts
Noticed the single black bean in the center? It was tiny in size but bursting with flavour...
The salmon roe was really fresh and bouncy, with a touch of natural sweetness... quite unlike the usual salty ones you get in Singapore.
If you hadn't guessed it by now... yuzu, persimmon, chestnut and gingko were in season during our visit!
The yellow leaf (see picture below) which was used as a decoration in many of the dishes came from gingko tree.
A small piece of traditional Japanese confectionary made with chestnut and red bean to accompany the matcha below.
It was the perfect ending... :)
The service was excellent throughout dinner. We had a pretty Japanese-style room to ourselves. Our friendly and attentive server could speak English (the restaurant had asked if we could speak Japanese when we made the reservation). Our tea cups were constantly being topped up with piping hot ocha, and the cups would be changed once the tea had turned cold.
The dinner lasted almost 4 hours. Portions were generous but definitely too much for us! PS had much fun playing with her new toy, Canon 500D, which explained the wonderful shots posted above. Lucky Big had benefitted from helping PS finished half her food (ha!)... and Lynn simply loved all the yuzu dishes!
To top it all, the lady boss (i.e. Chef Murata's wife) came over to our room to have a little chat with us! She couldn't speak English well, but we could feel her warmth and sincerity! It was an amazing dining experience from start to end... Kikunoi is definitely worthy of its 3 stars' status :)
What were our damages for the night?! We opted for the cheapest set menu... it came up to be around 18,000yen per person after tax and service charge (that's close to S$300). After dinner, we all felt a tinge of regret for not choosing the more expensive menus, as it is unlikely that we would get a chance to revisit Kyoto any time soon!
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