Sakurada, Kyoto (桜田)

Sakurada is really one of the best restaurants I’ve been to. Since I posted a long and loving review of my initial lunch there, here’s a capsule view of dinner. Highlights from my perspective were:

• The daikon with the tsukuri (2nd row center, next to the tuna). Instead of cutting the daikon into a long sheet and chopping into threads as is normal, they cut it into a sheet and then rolled it back up with green and red bits inside before slicing into those little rounds. Crazy technique.
• Blond laquerware from Wajima (3rd row center). Never knew there was such a thing.
• Other bowls (1st row right, 4th row center), just beautiful.
• The fruit (6th row left). I often make jokes about the ‘simple, humble’ and unsatisfying endings to kaiseki courses, but they are never, ever as good as the strawberry and orange here.

Of course the food was pretty good too…