Eight small courses, one season

Kaiseki at Home

All year, the menu changes completely each season · €130 to €260 per guest

A seasonal Japanese sequence for eight: a first bite, sashimi, a clear soup, something grilled, something simmered, rice with pickles and a restrained sweet.

The menu

Course by course

01
Sakizuke
One seasonal bite with the first drink, served cold in a small dish.
02
Sashimi
Three fish, cut in three ways, with real wasabi and a soy worth the name.
03
Suimono
A clear dashi broth with one piece of fish and one seasonal vegetable. The test of the kitchen.
04
Yakimono
Grilled fish or poultry, salted hours earlier, served with one pickle.
05
Nimono
A simmered dish, vegetables or fish, served warm rather than hot.
06
Agemono
One fried element, light, served the second it leaves the oil.
07
Gohan
Rice with pickles and miso, which ends the savoury part properly.
08
Mizumono
Fruit, a set jelly or a light sweet. No cream, no chocolate.

Preparation

What happens when

Two days aheadOrder fish for a specific landing day, soak kombu, start pickles.
The day beforeCeramics chosen and laid out, dashi tested, sweets made.
The dayFish collected in the morning, dashi made, rice washed, everything cut within the hour before service.

Service

How to serve it

Courses come in a fixed order, one at a time, at controlled temperatures. Guests are seated together and stay seated. Fewer guests is better: eight is the practical maximum for one chef and a hand.

At home

A five course version for six

Buy one excellent piece of fish rather than three ordinary ones, and make the dashi yourself. Everything else is restraint.

Dashi: soak 20 g kombu in 1.2 l cold water for an hour, heat to just below a simmer, remove the kombu, add 20 g katsuobushi, wait two minutes, strain. Season with a little salt and light soy only.
Sashimi: 400 g of one sushi grade fish, sliced against the grain, served on a cold plate with grated wasabi, soy and nothing else.
Suimono: dashi, one piece of lightly salted fish per bowl, one slice of seasonal vegetable, a strip of citrus zest.
Yakimono: salt a fillet of mackerel or sea bream for thirty minutes, pat dry, grill skin side first until it blisters.
Rice and pickles, then cold fruit with a spoonful of its own juice.

Editor’s tip: If the fish is not good enough to eat raw, change the menu, not the fish.

Plan it

Quantities and timing

How much to buy

Quantity Calculator

Guest count, service style and menu shape turned into a shopping list in kilos, litres and pieces.

Open

Does this menu work?

Menu Composer

Build a menu course by course and see the balance: weight, technique, temperature, colour, repetition, oven conflicts and a wine suggestion for each course..

Open

What happens at 19:40

Service Timeline

A backwards plan from the minute your first course leaves the kitchen: crew arrival, prep, table setting, briefing, doors, courses, speeches, coffee and strike..

Open

Formats