On the Menu

On the Menu

"Paris East is a difficult epithet for Kyoto to live up to, but in many ways the elegant sister cities do seem to be of the same flesh and blood—not least in that both serve up their nation's haute cuisine. The presence of the imperial court was the original inspiration for Kyoto's exclusive yusoku ryori. Once presented on lacquered pedestals to the emperor himself, it's now offered at but one restaurant in the city, Mankamero.

The experience not to miss in Kyoto is kaiseki ryori, the elegant full-course meal that was originally intended to be served with the tea ceremony. All the senses are engaged in this culinary event: the scent and flavor of the freshest ingredients at the peak of season; the visual delight of a continuous procession of porcelain dishes and lacquered bowls, each a different shape and size, gracefully adorned with an appropriately shaped morsel of fish or vegetable; the textures of foods unknown and exotic, presented in sequence to prevent boredom; the sound of water in a stone basin outside in the garden. Even the atmosphere of the room enhances the experience: a hanging scroll displayed in the alcove and a carefully crafted flower arrangement evoke the season and accent the restrained appointments of the tatami room. Kaiseki ryori is often costly yet always unforgettable.

For an initiation or a reasonably priced sample, the kaiseki bento (box lunch) served by many ryotei (high-class Japanese restaurants) is a good place to start. Box lunches are so popular in Kyoto that restaurants compete to make their bento unique, exquisite, and delicious.

Because it's a two-day journey from the sea, Kyoto is historically more famous for ingenious ways of serving preserved fish—dried, salted, or pickled—than for its raw-fish dishes, though with modern transport have come good sushi shops. Compared with the style of cooking elsewhere in Japan, Kyoto-ryori (Kyoto cuisine) is lighter and more delicate, stressing the natural flavor of ingredients over enhancement with heavy sauces and broths. Obanzai (Kyoto home cooking) is served at many restaurants at reasonable cost. Organic food is the latest trend, and in some more eclectic restaurants chefs are experimenting with traditional cuisine to create fresh, new, and unexpected dishes, while retaining the light and subtle flavors. Tsukemono (pickled vegetables) and wagashi (traditional sweets) are two other local specialties; they make excellent souvenirs. Food shops are often kept just as they were a century ago—well worth the trip if only to browse.

Kyoto is also the home of shojin ryori, the Zen vegetarian-style cooking, best sampled on the grounds of one of the city's Zen temples, such as Tenryu-ji in Arashiyama. Local delicacies like fu (glutinous wheat cakes) and yuba (soy-milk skimmings) have found their way into the mainstream of Kyoto ryori but were originally devised to provide protein in the traditional Buddhist diet.

Kyoto is famed throughout Japan for the best in traditional Japanese cuisine, and although the city has been slower to pick up on international cuisines, it does have a few fine European and Asian restaurants.