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| - I have heard that they have started a kaiseki course, so I have been curious and wanting to try it out, but given that my last experience here was merely A-OK, I have dragged my feet until recently, but here are my thoughts after trying it out.
First of all, Kaiseki literally means "stone in the bosom". This originates from Zen buddhist monks keeping a warmed stone in the bosom to endure cold and hunger during their training as they were not allowed to eat much in the afternoon. Occasionally they are allowed to eat small portions of rice poridge, and such small meals originated the name "kaiseki", as something to wade off hunger.
Kaiseki then transformed to offerings during formal tea ceremonies, and then after hundreds of years it has evolved into what we consider kaiseki ryori now, which is a multi course formal dinner offered almost eclusively in ryoutei, As it inherits a spirit of the tea ceremony, the focus is on service and offering the best that can be offered at the time to serve the customer, the spirit of "ichigo ichie".
As I consider Raku as sort of a high-end Izakaya like place, and certainly NOT a ryoutei, I was curious as to how they can pull off a kaiseki course, but here is how it went. I had to make the reservation at least 3 days in advance, and the choices were 10 or 15-course dinner, and I was told to expect it to take at least 3 hours. As I had to arrange for a baby sitter, I just went for a 10 course meal.
In Japan, ryoutei or high-end Japanese restaurant (something like Kiccho comes to mind) serves their guests in private tatami rooms, which isn't quite possible here, but at least they led us to a private room-like space toward the back of the restaurant, which is nice. It was walled off except for the entrance part, so it is a bit more than a booth to give us some privacy.
We ordered some bottled water from Japan as well as a small bottle of sake as my wife and I don't drink that much, and the course started with yuzu flavored sake aperitif and then:
1) hotaruika (firefly squid) sumiso-ae
2) large plate with asparagus okaki, salmon with egg yolk, corn/potato, grilled egg plant, grilled duck, yamaimo mousse, and fois gras egg custard.
3) squid and ikura with uni sauce
4) soup with chicken tsukune and cherry blossom leaf
5) sashimi of hatsu-gatsuo (early season bonito) and sayori (Japanese half beak)
6) miso glazed grilled huedai (star snapper)
7) fried aji (japanese jack mackerel) in dashi with eringi mushrooms
8) baby abalone
9) kobe beef steak on hot stone
10) shima aji namerou with rice and takana (striped jack tartar).
11) desert of fresh cheese mousse
Whew!! It sounds like a lot, and it IS a lot, but that took us more than 3 hours. Was it good? Yes. Am I thrilled to go back and try it again? No.
Perhaps that is the reason why I live here and despite all the raves I hear and read about Raku, this was my second visit.
I just think that it was a strech (to say it nicely) to call it kaiseki. There are a few things that bothered me and distracted from the meal.
There was a group of young kids wearing baseball caps, with baggy shorts and wife beaters talking very loudly, dropping F-bombs left and right who were sitting relatively close to us. Although we were in a semi-private booth-like space, this was distracting. Do I blame them? No, because as I said before, I consider Raku to be a high-end Izakaya, and not a ryotei. However, this is not quite the setting that I find appropriate to serve Kaiseki, which has Zen buddhism and tea ceremony in origin. It has to be in a serene, zen-like space, and Raku is not it.
In any Kaiseki, there must be a balance of food from sea/land/mountain. As you can see on the menu, 7 out of the 10 ingredients are seafood and the balance is hopelessly lacking.
One of the very important aspects of serving kaiseki food is "Ma" or spacing. 3 and a half hours for this meal? My wife and I felt that this meal dragged way, way too long, and the consideration for MA was absolutely lacking.
One other concern was that my wife has a food allergy to shrimps/clams. I was actually surprised that they didn't ask me that when I made the reservation and I forgot to mention it, but when I mentioned it at dinner, I was told that "oh, we don't do kaiseki for people with allergies"....I told them that's OK, as I will be happy to eat her shrimps and clams, and the only thing that she couldn't eat happened to be abalone, no big deal. However, this strays so so far away from the spirit of kaiseki which should inherit the spirit of "ichigo-ichie", which is at the heart of sadou, or tea ceremony as well a zen buddhism.
In summary, I have a very difficult time calling this meal "kaiseki". The food was good although not exactly "great" either, and kaiseki is not only about the food, but more importantly the experience, and as a whole, the experience was lacking and it was not something that I am yearning to go back for more.
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