Wa Yamamura

Wa Yamamura is a close-​to-​perfect chef’s counter kaiseki experience; if you’re looking for a somewhat modern take on classic Japanese cuisine, this is your spot. Tucked back down some very plain-​looking residential streets is the humble-​on-​the-​outdide restaurant, but inside is a hive of awesome Michelin-​3-​Star activity.
Service was absolutely incredible– they hand-​wrote a menu for me in English with bright colors, and after the meal was completed the chef took literally ten minutes to sign the menu by hand with three different types of ink as a keepsake. Truly world class.
The food was adventuresome, interesting, and highly seafood-​and-​vegetable driven. Lots of very delicate knife work and extremely fresh ingredients; for a course-​by-​course description, check this out:

We stopped by for a kaiseki dinner here after a trip to Nara to visit the Todai-​Ji temple. It is very close to the Shin-​Omiya station of the Kintetsu-​Nara line, easily within walking distance of this train station. We had to circle a couple of times around the block until we found the restaurant. There is one person there that can speak English, so you can make reservations yourself or have the hotel concierge do it, which is a lot easier. We tried avoiding taking pictures because we wanted to experience the dinner without distraction, but we couldn’t help take a picture of the Hassun (several small dishes arranged on a plate with maple leaves that had changed color, reflecting the fall season). We sat at the counter in front of the chef-​owner who was preparing sashimi preparations throughout the meal with a defined precision. The wife was warm and welcoming with a great smile, and the servers were very good about helping to tell us which dish we were having. At the end, as we were leaving, both the chef-​owner and his wife came out to escort us out and thank us for coming. It felt as if you had been invited to someone’s house, and they were warmly saying goodbye to you.
We had the special kaiseki dinner. Kaiseki is a traditional seasonal progression of food that was founded in the nearby Kyoto area. In all likelihood, your dinner will be different from ours as it is adjusted to reflect the best ingredients of the season. In general, you get something like an amuse bouche, sashimi, some small dishes, grilled dish, steamed dish and you usually end with some sort of rice dish. I think when you have kaiseki, you need to re-​calibrate your taste buds if you are coming from a Western perspective. Flavors are more subtle and you are meant to taste the seasonal ingredient. This is reflected in the amuse bouche which was clean slightly acidic dish made with crab and okra. It won’t jolt your taste buds awake but be a more gentle reminder that dinner is to start soon.
Th most stunning presentation was the Hassun which includes several small dishes. It was laid out and decorated to reflect the fall season with maple leaves that had changed their color. Each is a small bite, like a multi-​course tasting menu on one plate. The standouts were the raw fish with vegetables which was savory and acidic/​bright and the sesame tofu with uni on top. Unlike some preparations, you could easily appreciate the uni in this preparation.
The best dish of the meal was the grilled tile fish, simply served in a thick starchy sauce. The meat was tender and tasty but much more impressive was how much flavor was in the skin of the fish. It was more flavorful than some of the other dishes but it reflects the kaiseki idea of focusing on a fresh seasonal ingredient.
The dessert looked deceptively simple but really reflected how good great seasonal fruit can be. It was persimmon, grape and melon (honeydew) in a clear jelly. The grape was so sweet by itself and packed with grape flavor as if it was the best grape you’ve had. The clear jelly was grape flavored and very good.
We’ve included pictures of the menu. The chef-​owner wrote the menu in Japanese at the end and presented it to us. They were also very nice to have an English version written out beforehand so they could tell us which dish we were having. It was a great seasonal exploration of Japan through food, and we really appreciated how warm the people there were. I can still see them bowing and saying goodbye as we rounded the corner to head to our train back to Osaka.

perfect! great kaiseki food, great presentation and great service but came at an affordable price tag. probably the kaiseki place with the best cost performance in Japan! i totally love it

This is the cheapest 3-​star Michelin-​starred restaurant I know of. indeed, the price of the cheapest kaiseki course (Y6800) is cheaper than most elite restaurants, even those without any Michelin stars at all.
On the merits, I would say that Wa Yamamura is very good, though not quite at the level of perfection that one might expect from three Michelin stars. Some courses really worked (the «leftovers from making tofu,» despite its unappetizing name, is amazingly good); some courses had room for improvement (the rice with sardines was unexceptional). Still, if you are in the Kyoto or Osaka area, it is very much worth a trip to Nara just for the meal alone (the restaurant is about 15 minutes walk from JR Nara station, and the ride from both Osaka and Kyoto is about 40 minutes).
The service is more causal than Kyoto kaiseki restaurants, but no less helpful or friendly. The staff speak limited English but have write notes with translations of all the dishes. The matron is very nice and will engage in chit-​chat even with non-​Japanese-​speaking guests (it is a testament to her skill that the chatting is far more enjoyable and far less awkward in practice than it looks on paper).

First of all, the food at this small, 3-​Michelin-​star gem out of the way in a residential section of Nara, Japan, was the stunning highlight of our trip. I was absolutely blown away, not only by the quality, but by the modest price for our dinner. The two of us had the special seasonal kaiseki dinner menu, as well as a few drinks a piece, and it totalled about 38,000 yen (about $ 380 USD very roughly?) I can’t imagine getting out of 3 starred places in NYC for under about $ 800 total so I was surprised. Price aside, I would rank this among the best meals I’ve ever had in my life, if not the absolute best.
I’ll try to append photos later if I can.
Our meal started with a sort of gelee of yuzu and dashi, with tomato and shunsai, as well as small cups of umeshu plum wine.
Then there was the suimono (clear soup,) which was hamo-​wan.
Then we had a sashimi of okoze (poisonous rockfish) expertly sliced.
Followed by a beautiful presentation of ise-​ebi (like spiny, pincerless lobster) tail sashimi (served on the shell) along with other fishes. They had prepared the remainder of the lobster and brought it back out with picks so that we could eat the remaining meat and the miso inside.
This was followed by I believe a large presentation of small seasonal dishes, including broadbean, some type of whelk, small octopi, goma-​tofu, etc.
This is where the order for me starts to get fuzzy.
I remember we had 2 each of the most delicious grilled ayu (called sweetfish) that were so sweet and tender that you could eat the entire thing, skulls, bones, and all from head to tale. These came out on the grill and were so enticing I forgot to photograph them.
At some point we had the most tender eggplant with the most perfect uni on top of it. It was, hands down, the best thing that I had ever eaten, and possibly one of the best moments of my life. I had this incredible feeling wash over me at that time like as though my whole life had been leading to that exact second. Kind of silly now, but in the moment it made absolute sense to me.
There was something with yuba tofu sheets in it I believe that I can’t remember what it was. Then there was a choice of seasonal rice dishes (crab zousui, fresh bamboo shoot rice, rice with chirimen sansho) and akadashi miso soup.
Finally, there was fresh strawberry in gelatin and housemade orange juice with incredible yuzu/​lemony depth for dessert.
Throughout this whole meal, the owner/​chef of the restaurant stood behind the counter and chatted with us. It was really an incredible experience. He handwrote a copy of the night’s menu out for us which we’re going to frame. I think that perhaps for those who aren’t that into/​knowledgeable about kaiseki or traditional styles of Japanese food, or who don’t have a palate that appreciates the subtle flavor of some of these preparations, it might not be the right fit. The chef himself had said something to that effect, that his food isn’t for everyone, (not just in the case of Westerners, but including Japanese as well) and there are going to be some people who are going to prefer things like tempura and meat with bolder and defined flavor. There are going to be people who feel that a 3-​star restaurant require the French style of waiter service, and those people may be surprised at the way that this restaurant is run. However, I found this experience beyond incredible and would urge anyone who is interested in kaiseki in the area to visit if they have a chance. The proof, for me, was in the little details, the warmth, etc. Definitely sit at the counter if you can.
They do take reservations and those are necessary to get in, and if you can not speak Japanese, they can still take the reservation if you leave a message. Apparently he has a waitress come in sometimes that speaks English to call people back and set it up.
About 2 mins walk from the station.