Aman Kyoto is located on the grounds of Honami Koetsu. The Japanese restaurant Takaan adds a touch of elegance to this undeniably wonderful facility. There, an overwhelming experience awaits, with dishes prepared by a two-star Michelin chef.

Aman Kyoto is located at the foot of Takagamine in Rakuhoku.

Takagamine Village (Koetsu Village) was the place where Honami Koetsu, a connoisseur of art in the early Edo period who had an enormous influence on his time and future generations, lived.

As you know, Koetsu's family business was appraising, polishing, and cleaning swords. At the same time, he was a master of pottery, lacquerware, calligraphy, and tea ceremony, and was also a producer of the Rinpa school. In short, he was like Leonardo da Vinci. Even today, some of the tea utensils and lacquerware he made are valued as national treasures.

When you come here, away from the hustle and bustle of Kyoto city, you can truly feel the spiritual energy of the place where the extraordinary artist, Koetsu, made his home.

The head of the Japanese restaurant "Takaan" is the owner of Kanazawa's "Zeniya"

Just past the entrance of Aman Kyoto, on the right hand side, is the Japanese restaurant Takaan. Since April 2020, the restaurant has been led by Executive Chef Shinichiro Takagi, the second-generation head of Zeniya, a long-established two-star Michelin restaurant in Kanazawa.

His career as a chef began during his time as an apprentice at Kyoto Kitcho, so when he was approached by Aman the year before he opened his restaurant, he thought, "I don't want to cook in Kyoto. I want it to be in Shiga Prefecture at the very least (laughs)."

Although he began his training in Kyoto, he has also studied abroad and is fluent in languages. More importantly, he is one of the few people who can view Japanese cuisine from an international perspective. His friendship with French cuisine giant Alain Ducasse is one example of this, but he also has a wide network of contacts with leading chefs overseas.

The good news is that Takagi's sharp cuisine is available to guests, not just those staying at the hotel.

Stonework inside the facility, like Machu Picchu

A word about the hotel as a whole.

Aman Kyoto occupies a vast site of approximately 4000 square meters. If natural forests are included, the site is said to be approximately 32 square meters. The site was originally owned by a wealthy textile merchant who made his fortune from Nishijin textiles, and he had planned to build a textile museum there.

The trees are lush, the stream that stretches all the way to Kinkakuji Temple (Kinkakuji Temple) is babbling, and the whole area is covered in moss. The highlight is the stone paving and huge stonework that took about 40 years to design and build. They even have a sense of dignity.

Although it is called "Forest Garden," it gives an impression that is even greater than that. It is not deep in the mountains, but it is definitely a forest. You will be under the illusion that you have suddenly entered the ruins of Machu Picchu. By the way, walking around the garden is limited to guests staying at the hotel.

The accommodation buildings and other facilities are stylishly scattered throughout the hotel, blending seamlessly into the natural beauty of Japan.

Although the building is new, I thought it was a super-class, high-end resort that rivaled the world-renowned British manors or the palaces of Indian maharajas. In other words, it is one of the world's top resort hotels.

Returning to Takaan, let's introduce some of the dishes.

Before the meal, we were served "Soukou," a pure rice sake from Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City. It had a great balance of spiciness, sourness, and sweetness, and a rich rice flavor.

An astonishing bowl whose true value gradually emerges

The bowl of soup that came after the appetizer of uruyaki, giant clams, and prawns seasoned with Tosa vinegar was shocking.

First of all, I was drawn in by the beauty of the visuals. In the pitch black bowl, a pure white Aburame (rockfish) from Awaji Island topped with Japanese pepper is in the center, and cherry blossom petals are floating around it. The petals are floating because the soup stock is lightly thickened with kudzu. The pale pink color is adorable.

The impact is in the taste. What's amazing is that it doesn't have a strong, immediate impact. There are many dishes out there that are strongly salted and have a strong flavor. But this bowl is different.

The only seasoning is a little salt in the first stock of bonito and kelp. The fat of the rockfish, Japanese pepper, and cherry blossom petals add a delicate balance of flavor. As a result, the soup has a light taste like cherry blossom petals.

This juice gently seeps into the cells of your mouth, soaking deep into your soul. You'll want to keep drinking it forever... that's how you feel.

This is probably what they call "zanshin" in Japanese cuisine. The next day after I got home, or the day after that, I would gulp and think, "Oh, that bowl was delicious," and yearn for it. In other words, it was elegant and refined to the last.

Another thing worth mentioning is probably the quality of the water. It is smooth and has a fine texture. I thought that the quality of the water must have been one of the factors that made this bowl stand out. I heard that Kyomi Pass, which is said to be one of Kyoto's famous water sources, is located nearby, and that Koetsuji Temple uses Takamine water for its tea.

No three kinds of sashimi platter

Kyoto cuisine can sometimes feel like it is forcing its sophistication on people, but Takaan's cuisine feels like it is at home in nature.

The head chef, Takagi-san, is a giant at 190cm, but perhaps because he practiced kendo, his posture is beautiful and slender, with a steady center of gravity. And he comes to score a point with a natural poise.

What he aims for is not Kyoto cuisine. While remaining true to the traditional Japanese cuisine, his dishes are the result of thorough consideration of how to make the foreigners who make up 90% of his guests feel the food is delicious.

For example, when it comes to sashimi, I never order a three-kind platter because it would be hard to tell what I've eaten. Therefore, I only put one or two kinds on a plate.

When I ate there, the Awaji Island sea bream and charcoal-grilled oyster sashimi were served on a plate, one of each type. It must be fun for the guests to see the process of grilling the shellfish over charcoal right in front of them.

Also, it is natural that there will be differences in the literacy of guests when it comes to Japanese cuisine. For example, some guests will dip fillets of fish into soy sauce.

Chef Takagi makes every effort to ensure that people of all levels of proficiency in eating Japanese food do not make mistakes. For example, he encourages people to hold the plate in their hands. Another thoughtful touch is to dilute the soy sauce for sashimi with dashi. This prevents people from using too much soy sauce, and allows you to enjoy the flavor of the ingredients even more. There are no mistakes and the food can be enjoyed properly. It really kills two birds with one stone.

The sake that was served was "Hidakami," a Junmai Ginjo from Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture. It was a little dry but well-balanced, making it a perfect drink to have with a meal.

Transforming bitterness and astringency into a universal taste

For example, let's think about the bitterness and astringency found in Japanese ingredients. They are probably not universal flavors that everyone likes. Let's say there is a question of how to turn them into a universal dish. One answer to that question is the two pieces of sushi made in front of me, especially the marinated tuna.

Japanese adults love butterbur sprouts and wasabi, but foreigners are not familiar with them. So, I pickled butterbur sprouts and wasabi stems and leaves in soy sauce and served them on top of marinated tuna fillets, unifying the dish with soy sauce. The rice is seasoned with rice vinegar.

The sticky umami of the tuna, the freshness of the vinegared rice, and the bitterness and astringency of the soy sauce all blend together. This trinity of combination transcends the narrow boundaries of Japanese and foreign, creating a wonderful universal taste. Please, give me another piece.

Next, the guests were excited to make "Wakame and Yuba Shabu-shabu" with their own hands. It was interesting to see the black wakame seaweed turn green when placed in a pot of boiling water on the stove. The marinade was excellent.

That said, Takagi thinks of it more as a "warm vinegared dish" than "shabu-shabu" (laughs).

Going to the Blue Note in New York in my first year of high school

To digress, the background music was modern jazz throughout the concert. A song from Coltrane's album "Ballads" was also played. Takagi first encountered jazz when he was 16 years old and studying abroad in the United States.

One day, while I was wandering around Manhattan, I saw a live music venue with a long line, so I decided to go in. It was November 1986. I had no idea, but the venue was actually one of the jazz clubs called "Blue Note". It happened to be a three-day concert by Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, and Ella Fitzgerald. It was a live performance that any jazz fan would drool over.

On the first day, I didn't know who Sarah Vaughan was, but I was a rosy-faced high school freshman whose soul was captured by her vocals in the first song. Of course, I went to the remaining two days.

I'm amazed that he was able to enter such a place so easily by himself. Apparently, the boy Takagi was 16cm tall at the age of 187 (laughs). However, the world of jazz that he fell in love with in this way is still alive in him as a form of culture.

Even so, Takagi's talent for pulling off a meal must be a natural gift. In addition, his fearlessness and strong presence make him irreplaceable as the head chef of Aman Kyoto's Japanese restaurant, Takaan.

At this point, we were served the Petit Manseng Orange 2017, an orange wine from Kaminoyama City, Yamagata Prefecture. It has a citrus flavor with hints of honey and smoky notes. The manager, Mr. Nanakuro, did a great job pairing it.

"Fried bamboo shoots" is a masterpiece

Back to cooking.

Next up was the "Grilled Hakodate Sakuramasu," a seasonal fish. Fillets marinated in sake, soy sauce, mirin, and squeezed sudachi juice were grilled over charcoal. It was similar to teriyaki, but the skin was crispy and the flesh was soft and fluffy. The fish was cooked so that its body fluids were hot and bubbling, and it was really delicious. I was happy to see it served with tempura of cod buds.

The second main dish is the "Charbroiled Hirai Beef Loin." It's not just any charbroiled dish. The sauce underneath the meat is a sukiyaki-style sauce made from sake, soy sauce, and egg yolk. Placed on top of the meat is a pile of Japanese pepper, something you should try at least once a year. It's a delight. The mild flavor of the Japanese pepper, along with the egg yolk, adds depth to the beef.

But that wasn't the end. The "fried bamboo shoots" were waiting for me. It didn't look like much, but it was amazing.

"It's hard for foreigners to understand how delicious bamboo shoots are. Instead of making them into a dengaku dish or simmering them in soup stock, we decided to deep-fry them," says Takagi.

For Japanese people, eating boiled, thickly sliced ​​bamboo shoots is nothing but a joy. As a seasonal vegetable in early spring, it is imprinted on the tongue and brain as something delicious. However, for foreigners, except for those of Chinese or Korean descent, bamboo shoots are nothing more than a strange thing that could be an underground stem or just a stem. How to cook it can be a difficult task.

The answer was to cut the bamboo shoots thinly and deep fry them in tempura batter (tempura is a steamed dish). By doing so, the umami and sweetness of the bamboo shoots are trapped in the batter, doubling their flavor. It really feels like a straight-up battle of the bamboo shoots' flavor. No, it's like a single bamboo shoot piercing your mask head-on! It's a refreshingly simple and new dish.

The order in which it comes after the fish and meat main dishes is also interesting. Normally, it would be natural for it to come after the appetizers at the beginning.

How to take a step beyond Japanese cuisine

One of the characteristics of Japanese cuisine that the executive chef places great importance on is the "24 solar terms." The year is divided into XNUMX seasons, and the vegetables in season correspond to each season. Tonight's dish used uruy, cherry blossom petals, butterbur sprouts, taros, Japanese pepper, bamboo shoots, and more.

The essence of Japanese cuisine, which fully incorporates the sense of the seasons, is maintained without wavering.

At the same time, there are many dishes that "take a step forward," such as soup, sushi, charcoal-grilled beef, and deep-fried bamboo shoots. These dishes are reminiscent of the avant-garde style of Hon'ami Koetsu, who boldly broke with convention while respecting tradition.

This is the result of Executive Chef Takagi's ingenuity.

The last dish is "Takikomi Gohan (rice cooked with sea bream)." "For foreigners, it's hard to tell just from sea bream, so we added shredded egg and sesame seeds," says Takagi. With plenty of shredded egg and sesame seeds, it was a sinful finale that you could eat as many bowls as you wanted. The great thing about the ingredients in the takikomi gohan is that they change depending on the season.

Well, maybe I've said too much about foreigners and Japanese. In reality, there is no such thing as food that only foreigners like. What Takagi is challenging is to please all his guests while teetering between the essence of Japanese cuisine and innovation.

From our perspective as diners, it is precisely because it is innovative, and because we are Japanese, that we are able to gain new insights.

Takaan

Address: 1, Okitayama Juhocho, Kita-ku, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture
TEL: 075-496-1335 (Restaurant reservations 9:00~18:00)
営業時間：12:00～15:00（13:00L.O.）、18:00～22:00（20:00L.O.）
Lunch course: 20,000 yen, Dinner course: 40,000 yen