NALY. 天马 AFP 公寓

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.

Located close to the beloved Osaka Temmangu Shrine, the ‘Yu’ in the restaurant’s name is a character in the name of the chef’s mentor. Apprenticing at an old-school Osaka kappo, the chef learned not only cooking skills but also the bold spirit of a chef who holds court behind the counter. Courteous yet charming, his gregarious manner keeps the conversation flowing. The format is omakase, but with the flexibility to indulge diners’ whims.

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

Weave Kansai food culture and Chinese tradition together and you get Kamigatachuka. Ingredients from the Kinki region are prepared using Chinese and Japanese techniques; continuing the theme, items are served on Chinese and Japanese plates and bowls. Vegetarian cuisine, dubbed ‘Naniwa’ (‘vegetable garden’), brings to mind the Kawachi Plain’s fame as a vegetable-producing region. The fare is the self-expression of a chef who was born in Osaka and grew up in a family that ran a Chinese restaurant.

The chef spent years fine-tuning his skills in a Japanese restaurant in Hozenji Yokocho. While treasuring the lessons he learned there, he now blazes his own culinary trail. Mindful of how knife technique can affect the flavour of sashimi, he practises daily and his grounded approach to cooking is reassuring to watch. Bringing together everything he has learned over his career, he expresses it in cuisine of the ‘here and now’. Rather than just copy his mentor, the chef treads his own path in the gastronomic world.

Japanese cuisine reflects a spirit of gratitude for the bounty of nature and of prayer for people’s happiness. The chef values that spirit, pouring it into every dish he makes. The menu, woven from annual festivities, unfolds as a tale of the seasons. Skills honed at a ryotei live in the chef’s painstaking preparation and every detail of arrangements. The origins and customary usages of each cup and plate, related by the proprietress, add grace notes to the meal.

This restaurant explores the possibilities of Chinese cooking and wine. The name of the shop incorporates the phrases ‘Chinois-Fume’ and ‘Chinese Futurism’, announcing a cuisine that fuses the two. This spirit is reflected in the amuse-bouche arranged on a display shelf for tea utensils, tofu skin and vegetables in Peking Duck style, sauces fragrant with Shaoxing wine. Applying French techniques to Chinese fare, the house experiments with wine pairings. The menu, enigmatic and poetic, lends a playful mood.