Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Japan 2013 - Tokyo

My wife Joan, the leading dealer outside of Japan in contemporary Japanese ceramics, is leading another ceramics tour for some of her most avid clients. (See my numerous posts from November 2011 for a chronicle of her last tour.)

We are now in Tokyo preparing for the 2013 tour and visiting friends and Japanese art events and dealers. On our second night we were taken to Kuouesu, a counter-style restaurant whose owner-chef enjoys collecting fine ceramics and using them to present his refined food. As is typical of this type of restaurant, there were numerous courses, many of which highlighted autumnal foods and ingredients as well as showcasing the plates and vessels in which they were served.

Here are some examples:




More beautiful food to come as our trip unfolds.

Bobby Jay


2 comments:

Amanda said...

I love japanese food and culture. I felt particularly comfortable in kyoto, walking around like I already knew this familiar place. All I could come up with was that Japan reminded me of France (in a weird kind of way).

Bobby Jay said...

There are striking similarities between France and Japan. With respect to food, but not only food, there is a reverence for seasonality. Diners and chefs eagerly await the season, which we are experiencing now, for matsutake mushrooms, sweet potatoes, chestnuts, etc. In spring it will be takenoko (bamboo shoots), fukinoto (a vegetable that we don't have), early or late katsuo (bonito) - they have going up katsuo, which is caught on the way upstream, and coming back katsuo, which is caught coming downstream after spawning. Food presentation, too, changes with the seasons: at this time of year every meal will feature beautifully red maple leaves on the plate, as well as chestnuts and other fall produce.

I hope some of this comes through in the text and photos on my blog.