¥¥¥French
The restaurant is in Imaicho, an area lined with historic buildings. The chef and his daughter work side by side in both the kitchen and dining room. The menu centres on local ingredients as a way to spread the appeal of Nara. Vegetables are selected by hand at local farmstands to get a feel for what’s in season. The meat, including jidori chicken and wagyu beef, also comes from Yamato, the historic name for Nara. Pinot noir is a grape variety grown in Burgundy, and the restaurant offers a range of Burgundies collected over the years that are now at their ideal drinking age.
¥¥Beef
The owner-chef, a butcher, prepares wagyu. The set menu meal begins with a bold, hearty meat dish. He uses mostly Yamato beef for his customers to get a feel for Nara ingredients. His creative touches include slicing it thin and pressing it between sheets of kombu and making minced meat into gyoza dumpling. Even the last dish features wagyu, and includes chopped beef and curry. Creative dishes and attractive presentations make this a popular spot.
¥¥¥French
This restaurant brings a little Edo era charm to the town of Imai. The interior of an old townhouse has been renovated and features both the nostalgia of old materials and a modern touch. Chef Reiichiro Nambu seeks to convey the flavours of the ingredients in a natural way. He exercises restraint with the seasoning and oil to prepare light dishes and puts much effort into a single set menu that brings out the very best of the ingredients.
¥¥¥French
An auberge perched high on a tranquil plateau. The name is a mashup of ‘sens’ and ‘vie’, ‘sense’ and ‘life’, intended to convey the bounty of Nara’s land and the richness of its culture. Beautifully presented, modern cooking crystallises ideas born of dialogue with the food producers, potters and woodworkers of Nara who work with the restaurant. Sensibility thriving amidst the refreshing, lush natural beauty of the Yamato plain.
¥¥¥Italian
Toshikazu Kamei is a ‘chef of the soil and water’. As an agriculture student, he researched vegetable growing and water quality. He grows the vegetables himself and uses the right water for each dish. Having prepared data on the water that goes best with each ingredient, he blends different kinds to achieve the right hardness and pH. Kamei applies a variety of cooking methods to each ingredient, creating variations and revealing new aspects. His vegetable soup, prepared with only water and salt, also follows this idea, letting even delicate vegetable flavours come through.
¥¥¥Japanese
This Japanese restaurant is located in Nara’s oldest soy brewery. The head chef works together with the 18th generation owner and prepares a menu focused on soy sauce and vegetables. Soy sauce is used with everything from the appetisers to the sweets, such as the Miwa somen with soy sauce espuma and takikomi-gohan with unrefined soy powder. The theme is modern Japanese, and some of the dishes draw inspiration from Chinese and French cuisine.
¥¥Japanese
The friendly welcome by the Koyamas will make you feel at home at this restaurant with no sign outside. The wife is the chef and her husband is the sommelier. Wine and sake are paired with the set menus. The dishes are based on dashi from kombu and katsuo, and Western elements are incorporated for a touch of creativity. Not only is there synergy between the dish and the sake, but the husband-and-wife team makes for a sense of easy-going togetherness.