Obanzai: Kyoto Comfort Food
One of the many cuisines unique to Kyoto is obanzai. To locals, obanzai is good ol’ fashioned Kyoto comfort food. This cuisine makes use of local, seasonal ingredients cooked without the unnecessary frills of upscale cuisines. But don’t let these dishes’ simplicity fool you—they are deceptively tasty.
Although obanzai is home-cooking, there are tons of fancy restaurants in Kyoto nowadays that specialize exclusively in the cuisine. The restaurant we ventured to was called Kyoya Kiyomizu.
The interior of our destination was rustic and humbling, yet traditional and elegant. The seasonal menu was handwritten, and every item begged to be nommed. But as unfortunately our stomachs were not quite the bottomless pits we wished they were, we narrowed down our selection to a handful of plates, many of which were creative twists on some classic dishes: Kiyomizu Salad, string konnyaku dressed with shishito pepper and baby sardines, fried wheat gluten in a dashi sauce, corn tempura, fried taro, stewed pork cubes, and some edamame for good measure. There’s always room for dessert, which is why we topped everything off with an order of the piping hot sweet potato ice cream and the grilled wheat gluten with green tea ice cream and brown sugar syrup. In this cuisine, there is no single “main dish”; you dine by ordering a variety of “side dishes”, which in turn leads to a varied and nutritious meal experience.
Not only was our food soul-soothing, but the atmosphere in which we leisurely nibbled was like a second home. The most charming part of obanzai is that it’s down to earth. This cooking doesn’t put on airs like its Kyoto culinary cousin kaiseki. It embodies humility and the Japanese concept of wabi, or the beauty of simplicity, yet it feels somehow like an extravagant experience. That very contrast just might be one of the highlights of the obanzai experience.
株式会社KINSHA