Kyoto's Most Talked About 1-Star Michelin Restaurant

Napaman got in... and it's sensational!

We had the opportunity to dine at Kiyama, a 1-star Michelin restaurant, in Kyoto, last night.

I wanted to make those into Food Porn happy by editing the 100+ photos I took during our 13-course meal, dining at the 11-seat, Japanese-style, sushi bar.

The chef (above), Yoshiro Kiyama, earned his stripes at one of Kyoto’s most prestigious restaurants “Wakuden.” His contemporary, inventive take on Kaiseki cuisine includes using fresh well water to make his stocks and soups.

Rather than draw out this story to be as long as the dinner was, I will keep comments tight; this will largely be a photo montage of our meal.

Steamed rice with Nobiro chives, geoduck and rape blooms. Served with a perfectly chilled sake….

Firefly squid cake in a watercress, buckwheat (soba) sauce (the crunchy little bits were deep-fried buckwheat bits… so good, they could be eaten as a cereal!) The chef added an ample amount of apple juice to give the dish a subtle, fruited accent. And yes, it looks like matcha tea (below), but it’s NOT.

Paired with a 2021 Gavaisson Blanc de Blancs, Cotes de Provence.

Bigfin reef squid, served with a fish sauce marinade; the dish was texturally enlivened with crunchy spring cabbage and lotus root. The mass in the middle is tofu, accented with butterbur. That is NOT a typo — butterbur. This leafy plant, butterbur, is an Eurasian plant of the daisy family that grows naturally by streams. The large, soft leaves were once used to wrap butter, hence the name.

Here’s a new one on me: Baked tofu, textured with the sperm of blowfish. served with mountain asparagus, seaweed, and ginger, served as a soup.

Blowfish, also called fugo, is that dastardly fish whose liver is completely poisonous. One smear of the liver will kill a 250-pound man. But the Japanese, who like to live on the edge, admire the white, buttery flesh of the fugu fish, so it is prized in the restaurant kitchen. Last night’s tofu, containing fugo sperm, glistened, while sporting a jelly-like appearance and an oozy, slightly slimy texture.

Sashimi of the day, served with vinegar’d onion, purple stem mustard and fish bone shoyu. The fish of the day actually turned out to be TWO fish of the day — sea bream and a prized, aged yellow tail tuna. This course was paired with sake.

Black throat sea perch, grilled with horse radish paste, served with Teiregi watercress. Paired with a New Zealand Clos Henri Sauvignon Blanc.

A bit of comic relief… the chef and his sous-chef grilling elements of a pending course…

Green asparagus, butterbur, broad bean (like a lima bean crossed with edamame), and soy pulp salad. A sensational blend of different flavors and textures. I’m beginning to think this guy Kiyama knows what he’s doing in the kitchen….

Fried conger eel with rice crumbs, dressed with charcoal grilled bamboo shoot, mixed with kinome leaf and Sansho pepper shoyu. I’m not often partial to eel, but last night’s version was the best eel I’ve ever been served anywhere.

Paired with 2019 Blanc + Noir (that’s the name of the wine), which is, fittingly, 50% Grenache Blanc and 50% Grenache Noir, from France.

We opted for the mixed pairing; some courses were paired with wine, some with sake. None with beer, though I can think of several courses that might have been ideal for such a pairing.

Fish of the day simmered in sake lees, served with mountain-grown vegetables. Followed by five different versions of rice, each with a different protein, marinade, dusting of dashi, tipple of ramen, or odd (to us, anyway) things with which to end a meal — mugwort cake, sardines, and soft, runny egg.

What really impressed me was the price for this extravagant dinner.

Back home, it’s not uncommon to pay $1,000 per person for food alone and an additional $500 per person for a wine pairing at a 3-star restaurant like Single Thread, French Laundry, or Quince, in San Francisco, at which, all of them, I’ve dined many times.

So let’s tally it up; back home, dinner per person is $1,000 for food, $500 for wine pairing, tax (10%) and tip (20+%)… so you’re looking at nearly $2,000 per person.

The cost of dinner at Kiyama? $260 per person, all in (there is no tax on food and tipping is discouraged). And this price included four delicious sakes and four sensational white wines!

Kiyama is at 1F, 136 Kinuyacho Nakagyo Ward Kyoto, a 5 minute walk from Marutamachi Station on the Karasuma subway line. Tel: 075-256-4460.