Kichisen

Kichisen is a very famous restaurant in Japan and my first Michelin 3 star restaurant in Japan. It appears Kichisen is very popular among the locals because Taian, Hatsune Sushi, Ryugin, and Narisawa were all impressed when they found out I dined at Kichisen. They didn’t think a foreigner would know about Kichisen and my foodie card has the stamp of approval from the Japanese. However, I didn’t tell them Kichisen was chosen by flipping a coin.
Does that give me the right to be a total pretentious food snob? Absolutely. Does it give me the right to say your restaurant list is crap? Absolutely. Does it give me the right to say you have no idea what you’re talking about? F*ck yeah. Do you actually believe this sh*t? Probably.
Anyway, Kichisen is the traditional Kyoto style Kaiseki restaurant with a lot of traditional dishes. Yoshimi Tanigawa is the head Chef. He was on the 1999 Iron Chef and defeated Masaharu Morimoto, the former Executive Chef at Nobu. Now, I know a lot of my American readers know of Morimoto. He has multiple restaurants in the States.
Now, the food. The progression of the meal was perfection. The Japanese have this mastered like how they mastered weird and sadistic TV shows. The progression of the flavors from the initial drink offering to the dessert was paced correctly. Here are my favorite courses:
1) Clear Soup w/​Peas — This was followed by the Plum Sake and doesn’t sound much. The peas were dense with a firm texture. The clear soup is where the dish shined. I came in still trying to cool down from the heat and walking around Kyoto. The clear soup made my body temperature go south faster than the real estate crash in the United States. It had a very similar taste to Chrysanthemum tea without the processed sweeteners and sugars. It was one of the most refreshing dishes I’ve ever had in life.
2) Sashimi — The sashimi platter with fatty tuna, tuna belly and toro. The pressed Kyoto style of the fish tasted incredibly clean and fresh. It melted in my mouth without any rice to break down the fish like your typical nigiri. The simplicity of the ingredients was exquisite. It’s like the old cliché or saying «Keep It Simple, Stupid» that a lot of people don’t understand.
3) Kinako Dango — The little warm, sweet, and chewy substance was divine. The texture of the dessert was extremely soft and pulled off the stick without leaving any residual leftovers. It wasn’t overly chewy and texture melted away as you chew. The greatest thing was the powder didn’t get everywhere like cocaine when you sneeze.
The thing about Kichisen was the seasonal ingredients and dishes were perfect. It was a hot day in Kyoto and the beginning of Spring. The dishes were extremely refreshing and not overwhelming at all. It tasted extremely clean and subtle flavors of the ingredients were showcase like Al Bundy’s trophies at Polk High.
Lastly, Japan is currently my favorite destination for food. The ingredients, subtle taste, expertise, and preparations of the dishes were amazing. Kichisen and a few other Japanese restaurants made me fall in love with Japanese food and dining experiences. It’s pretty amazing how Japanese Chefs are able to capture the pure essence and flavors of the ingredients.
Final word: This isn’t the place for you if you’re into flavors like a Big Mac or BBQ sauce.
US 2015 Michelin 3 Stars Count: 10 down. 2 more.
2015 Michelin Rated Restaurant Count: 11
San Pellegrino 2014 World’s 100 Best Restaurants Count: 5
San Pellegrino 2014 World’s 100 Best Restaurants Count: 7

Kichisen is a 3 Michelin star restaurant in Kyoto. It was also the worst fine dining experience I had in Japan. The entire meal costed around $ 260 and the food was inferior to every other Michelin-​level kaiseki restaurants I’ve had (e.g., SanGenCha in Kyoto, Ryugin in Tokyo, Kahala in Osaka). After eating at Kichisen, I lost my faith in the Japanese Michelin inspectors. Granted, the food was still good (and with fantastic presentation I must add), but the taste was subpar to other restaurants in the same price range.
Here is my detailed review of each dish:
Plum sake (⁵⁄₅) — Course started off with a small shot of plum sake. This was very refreshing and boosted my appetite.
Appetizer box (⁴⁄₅) — The appetizers (mushrooms, uni, chestnut, apple) were served in a beautifully decorated picnic box. The food tasted average, but the presentation was outstanding. I usually don’t care about presentation but this dish was like an art.
Cold soup (⁴⁄₅) — Wine jello with figs. Again, a very refreshing dish.
Hot soup (³⁄₅) — Mushroom with grated ginger and fish. Very average soup compared to the one I’ve had at Miyoshi and Kahala.
Sashimi course #1 (⁵⁄₅) — Ika (squid) and Hamachi sashimi. The squid was extremely creamy to the point that it tasted almost like a paste. I was told that to make it this creamy, they had to put the squid to sleep for an entire day before killing it.
Sashimi course #2 (⁵⁄₅) — Sweet shrimp with toro. Probably the best sweet shrimp I’ve had, after eating the shrimp, we were asked to suck out its brain juice (which was even more delicious than the shrimp itself).
Kyoto style pressed sushi (³⁄₅) — This was good, but nothing mindblowing.
Crab three ways (cold) (⁴⁄₅) — This dish had 2 pieces of crab legs, a bowl of special crab sauce, and some body meat. The crab sauce was made out of crab brain and crab roe. To eat it, you mix the sauce and dip the leg meat in the sauce. I thought it was pretty decent, but I was hoping for some warm dish at this point, this dish still felt like an appetizer to me.
Grilled matsutake mushrooms and fruits (²⁄₅) — This was supposed to be one of the main courses, but I found it lacking in every aspect. First, the ingredients were grilled in front of me with nothing added to it (no seasonings, no sauces, nothing). Second, the matsutake mushroom did not taste good grilled, it was hard to chew and a bit dry.
Fish soup (²⁄₅) — I’m not sure what this dish was called, but it was a thick fish soup with wasabi on top. It did not taste good.
Rice with mushrooms (⁵⁄₅) — I actually liked the rice dish a lot. It was extremely aromatic and the rice was soft and fluffy.
Apple with sorbet (³⁄₅) — very average.
One of the biggest problems with this meal was that I felt like it lacked a «main course». The grilled course didn’t seem like a proper conclusion to the meal. Also, it was quite expensive for the quality of food I got.

We ended up booking Kichisen as our last lunch in Kyoto, and the concierge at our hotel was able to get us set up with a full-​length kaiseki dinner menu even though it was lunch hour. The entrance is pretty unassuming, as most of the buildings on the side of the road appear more residential, but once inside, it has the familiar feel of a Japanese restaurant — winding tatami hallways that eventually end up with you in one of the private rooms. You don’t sit on the ground directly, but you do sit in chairs that are lower than average. Because my last name is Japanese, I don’t think the restaurant was prepared for a mainly English-​speaking party — so for the most part, we were on our own with regards to figuring out the details of the food. That said, they did bring out a folder with an English-​language history of the kaiseki meal and how it progresses — very helpful (and informative, given we had previously eaten kaiseki in Kyoto). And overall, the service — from serving the food quickly to keeping our tea and water always filled.
As with the other kaiseki meals, we started off the meal with alcohol — first, a sweeter plum wine, followed by the more traditional sake. The first couple of courses emphasized presentation of seasonal fruits and vegetables — in particular the mushrooms served inside an apple core (which added a muted sweetness), and, more impressively, chilled pumpkin soup served inside… a small chilled pumpkin — extremely delicious and very well-​executed. The following soup was fried hamo and mushroom in very clear dashi broth that was both light but still really flavorful. The next course was absolutely decadent — squid sashimi, very creamy, served with tofu and a medium-​boiled egg, making for an absolutely delicious plate, with the squid being of the best caliber. However, the sashimi course next outdid it — thick slices of the highest-​grade o-​toro I’ve ever seen, including high-​end sushi restaurants. Combined with shrimp that really tasted more like sweet shrimp, and this was one of the best sashimi plates I’ve probably ever had.
We moved on to a multi-​part course, where crunchy roe was wrapped inside of black seaweed — a nice change of pace. We were then given a smokeless charcoal grill to lightly grill the mushrooms and gingko nuts we were given — an interesting concept, for sure, but probably the least interesting item on the menu. More interesting (and flavorful) was the hamo that was steamed on the grill next with some light vegetables in dashi broth — very light and clean flavors. But I really liked the gohan that finished off the main course. With some bits of chicken and mushroom, it was really flavorful to start with — and there was a whole bowl of it, enough for two servings each — but the shredded egg that was on top was the first time I’d ever seen egg presented in that manner in any dish, and it was light enough to not really add heaviness, but at the same time, it added that nice, slightly sweet eggy flavor that is done really well in Japan. The palate cleanser was an assortment of fruit, and dessert was very typically Japanese — a slice of red bean mochi, with the red bean flavor and coloring baked into the mochi completely. We then finished off with very strong matcha — a traditional ending to the meal.
In all, this was a fantastic meal and perhaps the best one we had on our trip to Japan. There were no wrong notes hit, and the food, particularly the rice and the fish, were top-​notch in terms of execution and innovation. I’m not sure I’d recommend to all foreigners (or at least make sure they are aware of language barriers ahead of time so they are properly prepared), but if you’re comfortable winging it a bit, it is a meal that you will enjoy immensely.