鯛の匠 (Artisan Sea Bream) ～Sea Bream Ochazuke (boiled rice with green tea)～
Ochazuke (boiled rice with green tea) is one of the Japanese cuisines with smooth texture. You can have the feeling as if having a gourmet treat even you eat ochazuke with tasty pickles only; you want to eat ochazuke as a nice ending of a drink gathering. I always wonder why people usually have such feelings.
Out of my curiosity I searched about ochazuke, and then I found that the culture of ochazuke first started since the Heian period. At that time, it was popular to use hot water to make “Yuzuke (boiled rice with hot water in winter)”, while cold water was used for “Mizuke (boiled rice with cold water in summer)”. In the Kamakura/ Muromachi period, ochazuke became available in banquets; and in the Edo period, ochazuke was popularized also partly due to the widespread of tea culture. While ochazuke was popular as a handy dish; on the other hand, it was also developed as an authentic dish emphasizing on water and food. Nowadays, with the product “Ochazuke seasoning” manufactured by the Nagatanien (a food product manufacturer of Japan), everyone can enjoy ochazuke at home.
For such historical ohazuke, do you know there is a specialized ochazuke restaurant in the Arashiyama of Kyoto? However, that restaurant offers ochazuke different from those offered in izakaya (Japanese bar). The menu served is “Sea Bream Ochazuke”!
In “鯛匠－HANANA－(Taisyou －HANANA－)”, the famous dish is the simple but luxury sea bream ochazuke, eating together with sea bream sashimi and special sesame sauce. For the set menu “鯛茶漬け御膳 (Taichazuke-gozen)”, there is sashimi of sea bream, vegetables of Kyoto, a sea bream dish, rice, house pickles and desserts, which is a set with great varieties of dish. The pursuit of ingredients is needless to say, the way of eating, the combination of ingredients, etc. are also being considered carefully. Similar to the famous food of Nagoya “Hitsumabushi (Rice with eel)”, there is a sequence of enjoying the dish in a tasty way.
1.First of all, eat the sashimi of sea bream with the special sesame sauce.
2.Then, put the sea bream fully dipped with sesame sauce on the rice to eat.
3.Finally, pour green tea into the rice and eat the ochazuke.
Not only the eyes or the tongue can enjoy the food, you can use all of your 5 senses to feel the aroma and the texture etc. The dish is simple, so the each ingredient looks even more outstanding.
Apart from ochazuke, Kyoto-style grilled sea bream, pasta with sea bream and Kyoto Kujo Leek are also available. A salad of the Bagna Càuda style is set together with the pasta, named “京の生花サラ (Kyoto-style flower arrangement salad)”. I enjoyed a nice salad in the HANANA-style decoration.
Please go and have a try when you visit Arashiyama area. Desserts are also available in the menu♪
Homepage of the鯛匠HANANA
http://hanana-kyoto.com/top.html