STAYAI

A Japanese restaurant at the foot of the Minoh mountains. The head chef weaves the turning of the seasons into his menu. Hassun platters are arranged on large plates using several small dishes, then garnished with leaves gathered on the mountainside. Tempura, prepared with rice oil, is light in texture. If you reserve a seat on the ground floor, the tempura master will fry each piece right before your eyes. Dine with relish on the bounty of nature, serenaded by the murmuring Minoh River.

Techniques from every genre of Japanese cuisine are used for tempura; items may be pre-cooked or lightly scored and seasoned to bring out their natural flavour before frying. Keen to highlight Kansai ingredients, the chef stocks octopus, pike conger and tilefish. Osaka flourished as a centre of cotton production, so the chef cooks with a unique cottonseed oil in solidarity with producers. A beacon of Naniwa food culture to the world, with imaginative twists.

Scrupulous attention is paid to the ceremonial space, cuisine, serving vessels and sense of the seasons. The chef learned his guiding principles at a restaurant in Hozenji Alley. Entrusted with preparing the appetiser platters, he became schooled in the knowledge and aesthetics of Japanese cuisine. Aiming for artistic beauty in all aspects, he grows his own flowers to decorate the sukiya interior and collects seasonal serving vessels to delight guests. Technique, experience and sensibility all merge to create assortments of dishes that celebrate the seasons and their festivals.

The crockery forms an essential part of the cuisine of Miyamoto. From a collection years in the making, each item is carefully selected to complement the item served on it. The arrangements remain simple to let this harmony shine, and there is a refreshing honesty in the chef’s unstinting use of ingredients. He honours the customs of Japanese cuisine yet cooks unbound by theory; he aspires to run a restaurant where he freely creates what is simply delicious. House-made udon is prepared according to the season. The purity of white rice cleanses the soul.

The star of the menu is the bounty of the Hokuriku region. Seafood is delivered from the chef’s native Ishikawa Prefecture; seafood from every part of Ishikawa express the shifting seasons: Noto abalone, Nanao egg cockles, Chirihama oysters, and Kanaiwa male snow crab. As he cooks on an earthen charcoal brazier, the chef holds forth on their particular qualities and the passion of the fishermen with whom he does business. The restaurant name derives from the historic Higashi Chaya district of Kanazawa. From behind the counter, the chef waxes eloquent on the charms of his birthplace.

The chef interprets the seasons through kaiseki, adding twists and tricks that make the cuisine his own. To express each season, appetisers are accompanied by leaves collected on hill and dale and a slim strip of paper is inscribed with a seasonal phrase. White rice, cooked in clay pots, is specially selected and treated. Rice grown in serpentinite soil, with its rich mineral content, is seasoned with salt and soy sauce to bring out umami and flavour. In a unique touch, scorched rice is served like a rice cracker. The basics of Japanese cuisine are safely guarded, yet imagination has room to r

Over half a century since he opened his restaurant, Yoshifumi Mori remains vigorously engaged in food preparation. His passion seems unquenchable: with rice flour and salt, he created a seasoning that melts away like snow. He makes wine and even grows rice. Scouring every region of Japan, the chef seeks out unknown ingredients and introduces them to the world. All this has led to Mori being honoured by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. Like a steel plate polished until gleaming, he continues to sharpen his culinary sensibilities.