Nominokouji yamagishi – An Indian travels to Japan 2023 (Kyoto)

This is a part of a 3 part series of ‘An Indian travels to Japan 2023’.

Read the earlier posts here –

Part 1

Part 2

Food type – Omakase, Chef decides what he/she will feed the guest (vegetarian & / or non-vegetarian)

Address: 293-3 Shimohakusanchō, Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto, 604-8085, Japan

Contact details: +81 75-366-4882

Instagram: https://instagram.com/nominokoji_yamagishi?igshid=MTk0NTkyODZkYg==

Facebook: NA

Reservation site: https://je.omakase.in/r/yo256802

Michelin Guide Link: https://guide.michelin.com/en/kyoto-region/kyoto/restaurant/nominokoji-yamagishi

Description:

Our Trip to Japan was organized by our foodie & avid traveller friend, Neil Patil, of Veena World. He made great recommendations of food for the trip. This particular dinner was pre-booked & pre-paid by Veena World for us with 100% pre payment. On the dinner evening we just paid for the sake we had.

We were curious before going here since it was our first experience of a Michelin Star restaurant in Japan.

The instructions seemed quite strict.

The booking is at 7 pm. Please reach 5 minutes before that.
If you reach late, you might be a in a queue.
If you reach after 7:30 pm, the booking will be cancelled & no alternate dining offered in lieu.

The other instructions included:

Do not wear strong perfume
Do not click photographs or videos without chef’s permission
Do not talk on cell phones at the restaurant

We started from our hotel (13 minutes drive) at 6 pm & went walking to Kyoto station to board a taxi. The queue for the taxi was very very long & we boarded a taxi at about 6:40 pm. We landed at a spot that google maps showed us at 6:55 pm, paid the taxi driver & he left.

It was then that we realized that there was no people around. We were in a neighbourhood with houses on all sides. Quite a few doorways on both sides of the lane looked like a business establishment but we could not understand which was our restaurant. Reason – 100% of all letters & numbers were written only in Japanese. Google translate showed some other name.

With no one around, we walked into a designer showroom & asked the store in charge. He said ‘You have come to the wrong place. They have shifted. Please go to xyz location (he showed us in our phone map). So we walked 10 minutes, reached there & it was déjà vu. Another place with many houses & everything written in Japanese.

We walked around the building to its rear & saw (through the glass window) a bunch of chefs working in the kitchen. We waved at them, we tapped the glass but they could not see us. So at 7:15 pm we decided to walk back to the old spot & try random.

We just knocked a door that was in the spot where the taxi dropped us. Someone opened the door. We asked & it was this place!!!!

As we sat down on high stools around a small food bar, we started cooling off & slowly started noticing the set up. The Chef was 100% hands on into each & every dish. The assistants were doing some of the prep work. Plating, final finishing & also serving to us was mostly being done by the chef. A young English speaking Japanese lady served the drinks & took back the plates. She also tried to explain the dishes.

The food

So this is how the evening went.

The chef would cook something in the open kitchen in front of us & serve that to us.
The lady would come to explain the dish in English
At times we would have to google to clarify / show a picture on our phone to be sure we understood right
Chefs & his crew used clean hands (no gloves) to make & serve food.

First dish was Grilled Milt. It looked like brain but it was something else.

Milt is the seminal fluid of fish & mollusks, and certain other water-dwelling animals which reproduce by spraying this fluid, which contains the sperm on the roe (fish eggs). So technically, milt can also be called sperm sacs or testes that contain the semen.

The grilled milt was served on a bed of rice & broth. First time in life. Never ever had before. The milt had a creamy texture, had smoothness with a slight resistance & had a distinct flavour. Fabulous experience.

Next came Que & bonito fish sashimi. This was again new to us. One was served raw & the Other had just been put partially on flame. The raw fish slices had an iridescent colour hue.

A very different sashimi experience than the ones before. Really nice

The next dish was Fugu fish with bones & fins. We really did not believe when this was served. Reason – Long back we had read that fugu is a fish that the Japanese & the Koreans love. Fugu can however be lethally poisonous to humans due to presence of a chemical tetrodotoxin.

Read more about fugu here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugu

Earlier guests had to sign a bond before eating fugu at restaurants ‘If I die due to Fugu poisoining, the restaurant will not be responsible’. Now, by law, certain parts of the fish that contain the toxin have to be thrown away & certified fugu processing license holders can only cut the fish. The Chef needs a license to cook this & the restaurant needs a license to sell this. We heard from the Japanese tour guides that they love fugu.

We had a tough time initially to manage fugu with chopsticks. Then with some effort ate up every piece of fish in a way that the dog who got the food remains would curse us. J Loved the simple, soft, juicy white fleshed fish.

Next dish was Suimai – it was the best ever suimai we have had in life!! The pork, mushroom & onion filling was very juicy & it had the perfect amount of super flavourful sweet & savoury sauce in it.

Tofu yuba (skin) & Chinese cabbage came next. Again, tofu skin was a new dish for us. I personally loved the tofu skin more than tofu!!!

After this we ate the best fried chicken (with skin) wing we have ever had in life. Juicy to the core, fattened chicken, great buttery mouth feel. Crunch of deep fried outer side contrasted with the super soft meat within

A small dollop of Miso & fish paste was served with bell pepper. We were advised to have this together. The paste had very strong flavours & slightly high salt, when I tried just as it is. The pairing with bell pepper balanced it beautifully.