My date took me here because he wanted to impress me with how much money he has. He said the only people who know of this restaurant are the ones that need to know it. Now I am one of those people and I'll explain why dinner here may not be worth the staggering price.
I loved the restaurant's concept. We were seated in an individual room and head server was dressed in a pretty kimono. Ambiance was of traditional Japanese mansion style. The table looked aged with unfinished and plates looked like they belong to museums.
$300 9-course meal, which had required 1 week advance reservation, consisted of sushis, soups, cooked fish and many dishes I was not familiar with. They tasted good but for someone like me who doesn't know anything about cooking it seemed like a waste. But exotic ingredients and they way they were combined and cooked were unique. They tasted like nothing I had before. The most memorable thing from the dinner was how those dishes looked. They looked like artworks!
Each plate had tiny amount of foods. I know this is normal for tasting menus but the chef's exercise on how little food could be served on each plate was on a different level. Some dishes literally had a couple of bites. What good is good food if I could have only a taste of what it could potentially be in full form? Some dishes felt anticlimactic as I couldn't fully enjoy all the different flavours. But the dishes came out in timely manner.
After dinner we opted for tea party on the house in a different room. That was a memorable experience but we had to kneel during the whole time, which hurt my legs. The tea was very bitter. But supposedly it is good for health.
After all was said and done dinner came up to more than $1000. With so little food I didn't even feel full. If you're wondering, I kindly refused his offer and paid for my own meal.
All in all Kaiseki is a restaurant for those who know their foods and those who can appreciate good foods when they see them. Me dining at this restaurant was like giving an illiterate East of Eden and telling him to read all the pages. If you have too much money and want to feel good about it this restaurant is good for that purpose too.