Roan (露庵) Kikunoi (菊乃井), Kyoto
I wanted to book “Kikunoi Honten” however I did not manage to get a single-person seat there. The booking agent suggested me “Roan Kikunoi”. Roan Kikunoi is located on a very narrow road next to the river and a bridge. The restaurant was half-full when I joined. I got a counter seat. The wall has an interesting writing of “風花雪月”.
Seat
There were many chefs working behind the counter and the back kitchen, all supervised by, I think, Yoshiharu Murata himself. I requested the most expensive set when booking, and the menu looked fun and nice. Both the English and Japanese menus were printed in a very nice Japanese-style paper, which were a nice touch.
Menu
The first canapé “tea tofu” was a very Japanese start; in contrast to strong sour or sweet flavours, it had very fresh and toned-down flavours mixing of tea and bean. It was of paste texture, which melted and spread in my mouth, rather than tofu-jelly texture. The drizzle of flowers was fun, though did not add much to the taste.
Dadacha-Mame (green soybeans) “tofu“, beans sauce, Shiso flower
Then it came to my absolutely favourite of the evening, “Sashimi of blue fin tuna with egg yolk sauce”. The blue fin tuna itself tasted like butter with lovely fresh tuna taste of a good balance between the muscle and fat. The light mustard interestingly served a similar function to wasabi; I was surprised the use of mustard here. The egg yolk sauce was amazing! It mixed very well with creamy tuna and added a layer of saltiness over the relative plain-flavour tuna. When I finished the tuna, the chef provided a small spoon for me to also finish all the sauce.
Sashimi of blue fin tuna, mustard, soy marinated with egg yolk sauce
The first hot dish after the soup was “Grilled abalone with sea urchin”. As a Chinese, Abalone (鮑) has a special place in the dining table, because it is considered one of the expensive ingredients. However, Abalone has a unique umami-based taste and a very solid yet chewy texture. It is more like a plain but a very posh canvas. The chef simply grilled it and paired with cooked sea urchin. It was packed with umami, yet nothing was really surprising.
Grilled abalone with sea urchin, sweet pepper, eggplant
The main dish of the night was “Shabu Shabu”, that is, a single person hotpot where you need to cook the food yourself in a hot soup. The ingredients were sliced wagyu beef (not a surprise), some leaves and mushrooms. I was told do the leaves and mushrooms first then beef and then drink some soup. It was entertaining, i.e., I had to cook myself, and the sesame and ponzu (citrus-based) sauces were nice, however, I was not impressed at all.
Shabu Shabu (hot pot) of beef, mushrooms, Mizuna (Kyoto arugula), sesame sauce, ponzu sauce
I should have mentioned the restaurant served dishes in a very fast pace, and I found it was a bit too rush. It was an interesting set of kaiseki where all the dishes had a great presentation, yet I think (1) it lacked connection to the chefs when I seated in the counter, and more importantly (2) some dishes were a bit formulaic, exactly stereotypical kaiseki. If I looked back, I would highly recommend the blue fin tuna with egg yolk sauce, which, I suspected, is a dish that has been kept on the menu for a long time.
🐼 Score: 4/5
