Seigen: Kyoto, Japan

There's a tiny restaurant in Kyoto that I keep meaning to tell you about. It's called Seigen, and it's an authentic washoku restaurant run by a husband and wife. I dined there last October when I was on vacation with my family in Japan. I didn't write about it earlier because I don't quite know how to describe the food and the flavors at Seigen. Even now, as a write this entry, I can't decide what words to use.

Maybe it's because traditional Japanese food, unlike any other kind of cuisine I've experienced, is so perfectly subtle. The flavors are bold only in their simplicity. The textures and aromas are at once distinctive and harmonious. There are layers of delicate bitterness and umami and understated tang--tastes you wouldn't recognize or even notice unless you really tried. Washoku makes me think of the scene in Disney's Ratatouille when Remy the rat eats the cooked mushroom with the cheese for the first time. Each flavor has its own shimmering note and color.

That's what the food was like at Seigen. We enjoyed an exquisite seven-course meal (I forgot to take a photo of steamed fish and scallions in soy-citrus broth) prepared by the restaurant's proprietors. The dishes were beautiful. The ingredients were fresh and seasonal. The chef used persimmons and yuzu and chestnuts and little citrus-y, edible flower petals in ways I could never have imagined.

I'm certain that this blog post doesn't adequately describe the cuisine at Seigen. So if you're ever in Kyoto, please go there and have a meal. Then you'll know what I mean.