Nakamura

For our first dinner of our stay in Kyoto, my wife and I had a traditional kaiseki dinner at Nakamura, a restaurant that has been open for six generations and practices very traditional Kyoto-​style kaiseki. Upon entering, we took our shoes off and were escorted to our private room, which was sizable enough to hold 8 people comfortable. The table is depressed, so you actually sit on the tatami mat but still can maintain a normal sitting posture. Our main hostess for the evening spoke enough English such that we could communicate with her, along with some Japanese phrases, but it is definitely much less accessible from a language perspective than what we had experienced in Tokyo. As such, we largely had this server the whole night, with another lady (who spoke no English) helping to serve along the way.
As seems to be custom, we started off with a dash of sake that serves to cleanse the palate, but is also a celebratory way of starting off the meal. We then had a strong tea to start off — very similar to one that we had at a tasting in Ginza, where the tea nearly tastes like a vegetable. The first course commenced with three plates — a root vegetable of some kind that has a full, earthy flavor; grilled squid, which was lightly marinated but retained a bit of the tough texture; and ikura served with crab meat and daikon — I loved this pairing, but I also felt there was too much daikon, whose blank flavor clouded the impact the saltiness of the ikura on the very fresh crab meat. As an aside — one of the waiters basically will stay and watch you eat this entire course, so don’t feel awkward, but make sure to mention just how good the food is (which it is!). Next up was one of the highlights of dinner — white miso soup, served with mochi that was tanned just the right amount on the outside. It’s a house specialty, and the dense flavor of the miso, which is prepared in-​house, really brings to life what is sometimes viewed as a standard Japanese dish. Sashimi followed next, with hamo and sea bream two ways being served — one as the standard fish by itself, and the other having been wrapped in seaweed to absorb its flavors prior to serving. Hamo, apparently being in season, was very fresh and delicious, flaking apart and having a succulent yet textured feel to it. The sea bream that was wrapped in seaweed was the best to me, though; while it’s a very subtle flavor, it really adds another dimension to the fish.
The seafood theme continued with whole ayu (river fish) being served. It’s grilled and then stuffed with ayu roe, making it a very interesting dish to eat. You eat the fish whole (including the head and the tail!), but it was very well-​flavored, with the head typically being a bit more bitter than the rest of the fish. The roe is different from something like ikura; it’s smaller and thus has a crunchiness that is more akin to tempura crunch or sesame seed, but it fits well with the motif of the dish. Next up were matsutake mushrooms (another seasonal food this time of year) and yams — while good, though, they frankly were a bit on the blander side and came across as filler. Next up was an assorted seafood dish plate, highlighted by shrimp that was cooked in egg — almost like tempura, except the egg added a real depth to each bite. I also liked the local vegetables (which looked like spinach) served inside a lemon, allowing the juices to come in and give the veggies a bit of natural acidity. Another soup followed, this time fried hamo and matsutake mushrooms in clear broth — also very delicious, and the fish in particular being perfectly cooked. The main course of sea bream was next — you’re served a very large piece with bones in (so watch your bite). It’s very good, and once you’re done, broth is poured in, and you basically have another bowl of soup to enjoy! While very cool, I feel like you only capture the flavor of soaking bones in broth over a longer period of time — so this feels a *tad* gimmicky, as there’s only so much flavor you can get that quickly. The last main course was gohan (cooked rice); ours was a bit dessert-​leaning, as it was served with red bean and chestnuts. While good, it also came off as having a bit of a duller flavor compared to some of the other dishes.
Overall, the meal was very delicious, and the service and intimacy of the setting is great. That said, because a few of the dishes missed the mark for me, I’ll be giving Nakamura 4 stars overall. I love the use of local and seasonal ingredients, and there are really only a few tweaks required to make the meal consistently outstanding across the board. Like most of these Michelin-​starred restaurants, it’s going to be expensive (I think our meal was JPY 25,000 per person), but you get an excellently executed traditional kaiseki meal. It’s a great experience overall, and definitely one I would recommend for a small group of friends.