The Kyoto Food Expo was held at Kyoto Takashimaya SC for six days from Wednesday, May 2025th to Monday, May 5th, 14. This event brought together Kyoto's gourmet food, including gourmet food and sweets from restaurants and Japanese and Western confectionery shops throughout Kyoto Prefecture, and bread from popular bakeries. In a special space, there was a dashi tasting experience from three of Kyoto's most representative restaurants, which changed each day, making it a great opportunity to enjoy the skills of chefs who have inherited traditions and the rich food culture.

Additionally, from the 14th (Wed) to the 16th (Fri), there were lectures by Kyoto chefs, who shared valuable insights on traditional techniques and the future of Japanese cuisine.

Takuji Takahashi [Third-generation owner of Kinofu] - Finding newness within history

This is the final installment of our three-part lecture report. On this day, Takuji Takahashi, the third-generation owner of the traditional Japanese restaurant Kinobu, took the stage to talk about the "essence" and "creativity" of Kyoto cuisine.

What is Kyoto cuisine? A fusion of emotion and technique

Kyoto cuisine is registered as a national intangible cultural asset. It is defined as "an expression of Kyoto-ness through cooking, decoration, hospitality, and food that has been cultivated in the land of Kyoto." So, what exactly is Kyoto-ness?

At the beginning of his lecture, Mr. Takahashi showed us the photo below.

"Actually, this is ice cream," says Takahashi. It's made from three different colors of ice cream that have been strained to resemble a golden bun.

The next thing that was projected was a picture that looked like a water yokan.

However, this is not a Japanese sweet, but agar made from chocolate.

"It's difficult to serve Italian or French cuisine in our restaurant. But if we use the exact same ingredients and put some thought into the presentation and presentation, it somehow fits in well in a Japanese restaurant."

This may provide some clues as to what makes Kyoto cuisine unique.

Another example given was yellowtail and daikon radish. It is said that the way yellowtail and daikon radish is presented as a home-cooked dish is completely different from the way it is served in a traditional Japanese restaurant.

"The yellowtail is thinly sliced, and the daikon radish is grated on three different types of grating - finely, coarsely, and on a large grater - and then combined to create a mizore nabe (snow hotpot). The carrots are thinly sliced into rounds and sprinkled with finely chopped yuzu peel to resemble hail. Yellowtail is in season in the winter. Hail falls, snow piles up, and it's very cold. The carrots are left to survive the winter under the snow... This dish is filled with the beauty of this scene."

In Kyoto in particular, it seems that not only advanced cooking techniques but also lyrical expressiveness are essential.

"Some of the customers who come to eat at our restaurant have visited temples and shrines before coming. They come with the atmosphere of their time there, so they can enjoy the food that is imbued with the seasonal atmosphere along with their journey. I think that is the way a restaurant should think."

The conversation then turns to the differences between ryotei and kappo.

"At a kappo restaurant, the chef mainly serves the food that he wants to make at the time, but at a ryotei restaurant like us, we are very passive. It's not good if we can't prepare dishes that meet the customers' requests. That's why anyone who becomes a head chef has to be able to make all of the dishes that have been served since the restaurant first opened - in our case, 347 dishes," says Takahashi.

Inheriting and creating Kyoto cuisine: learning from history and making use of the present

It is often called innovation, but the creativity of Kyoto cuisine is not simply the pursuit of newness. It is the ingenuity that is exerted within a set framework that makes it richly creative.

"As times change, the way we see things changes. That's why we can make new discoveries by looking back at the past," he said, emphasizing the importance of learning from history.

Kinobu also caters to many temples, shrines, and Buddhist temples, and says they learn a lot from them.

"Each temple has its own historical background and preferences, so we create rules for the flavor, color, and how to handle ingredients to suit each one. By being creative and inventive within the constraints, a wealth of creativity is born."

In terms of ingenuity, the restaurant also applies traditional shojin ryori (vegetarian) techniques to cater to the increasing number of vegetarians and vegans in recent years.

"For example, by cooking a pumpkin to look like a sea urchin, even vegetarians can share the same dish with the other guests at the table. They are delighted to be able to enjoy the meal as if they were eating the same thing. How did these imitation dishes, which use different ingredients to imitate the taste, texture, and appearance of the original vegetarian cuisine, come about in shojin ryori? I think it's all about hospitality."

The final topic he spoke about was "creating a specialty dish," which he said is an eternal theme for chefs.

"A specialty dish can only be created if you break away from the mold. We are always creating dishes with the aim of making them into a specialty," says Takahashi, who came up with the "Shark Fin Sesame Tofu."

Shark fin is generally considered a Chinese ingredient, but this dish has lightly changed that perception and has now become an undisputed specialty.

In recent years, his "seasonal roast beef" has also been well-received. "I change the sauce depending on the season, using ingredients such as Japanese pepper, green yuzu, chili pepper leaves, and mushrooms, to give the roast beef a seasonal feel."

Based on what we have discussed so far, we return to the question, "What is Kyoto cuisine?"

In response, he concluded his lecture by saying, "If it is not food that the people of Kyoto can continue to eat in their daily lives, it cannot be called Kyoto cuisine. I believe that Kyoto cuisine is food that everyone thinks is good."

[Kinobu Kyoto Cuisine]
Address: 416 Iwatoyamacho, Shinmachi-dori, Bukkoji-shita, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto
TEL 075-352-0001
営業時間　昼の部12:00～15:00（L.O.13:30）、夜の部18:00～21:30（L.O.19:30）
Regular holiday Irregular holiday
HP　http://www.kinobu.co.jp/

The Kyoto cuisine lecture was held over three days.

The talks by the three speakers gave us a new insight into the rich world of Kyoto cuisine.

Text by Erina Nomura

Erina Nomura
A writer living in Kyoto. After graduating from university, she worked at a production company involved in a variety of media, including publishing, advertising, and the web. In 2020, she went independent and is now working as a freelancer. Her areas of interest include craftsmanship, traditional culture, lifestyle, and travel. As a Kyoto correspondent for Premium Japan, she reports on the latest happenings in Kyoto through the "Kyoto News" section of the editorial department's blog.