Hassun (*), Kyoto

This was my first time trying a kaiseki meal. Rather than the traditional private room-style kaiseki experience, this was a bit more informal in that we were all seated at a counter where the team of chefs made the food in front of us. There’s room for about ten or twelve people in the restaurant
I was here for lunch – which lasted a bit over 2 hours.

The focus of kaiseki is really on seasonal ingredients that are only served at their absolute peak. I noticed this a few times where ingredients would show up across multiple dishes; each in a different form and cooked in a different way. Noticed this especially with bamboo shoots in my meal.

There are several courses, so I’ll go through each and include my thoughts

1. Tofu skin, nori, miso soup, and wasabi. Very small dish, but the silky tofu skin was very nice; as was the soup
2. Bamboo shoots, tamagoyaki, mochi, smoked salmon in egg yolk, rolled unagi, mountain vegetable tempura. This is essentially a combined appetizer plate, with several mini-dishes in one. Of these, my favorite were the rolled unagi and salmon in egg yolk. The tamagoyaki was also excellent. Each of these different bites had a very unique nature to it
3. Akami and sea bream with wasabi. Basic sashimi, but high quality. The fresh wasabi was incredible.
4. Dashi with sea bream, japanese pepper flower, and mochi. Again, loved the broth
5. Bamboo shoots, scrambled eggs, japanese butterbur in miso soup. A little odd to me – I’m not sure the flavors of the eggs (although done well) really work with the vegetables. Bamboo shoots is a bit plain for my taste as well, although these were steamed well
6. Chicken with kogomi and chrysanthemum. Also not my favorite. This uses pulled chicken, which tastes fine, but the portion of chicken feels a bit small for what should be a larger dish.
7. Grilled trout with soy sauce, bamboo shoot rice, and vegetables. Probably my favorite dish. The trout is grilled exceptionally well, with a super crispy skin. It’s so tender despite being lean that it’s very easy to eat with chopsticks. Seasoned super well also
8. Half grapefruit. Bit of an interesting dessert. Eating grapefruit flesh is not what i’m used to. It tastes fine.
9. Grapefruit juice. The half grapefruit you just ate is squeezed out, and you drink the juice from that. Feels like a highly concentrated version of the prior course

The experience overall was very good. There was one English-speaking chef, to whom I was able to ask a ton of questions about the food and we had several conversations throughout. Since there’s no written menu – this was essential to understanding what was actually in each dish. I didn’t interact at all with the other chefs, but I was still able to view the food being made up close and plated, which was still pretty col

Taste-wise, I do appreciate the seasonality and simplicity of the ingredients, but I think I prefer more complex flavors. That’s obviously not what kaiseki is going for – so I would say this restaurant does a good job at what it sets out to do; but when looking for a rich combination of tastes and textures, this is not the place to find it.

A lunch sitting here was only around 13,000 yen, so the price wasn’t bad at all. I will say the portions and number of courses are on the smaller side; so you may not feel completely full after leaving. Sometimes it’s nice to not have to plan your entire food day around a fine dining restaurant though.