Kyoto

An extraordinary invitation prompted my trip to Japan this past June: A chance to spend a month training in the kitchen of Hyotei, the hallowed 400-year-old ryotei in Kyoto. Hyotei is no ordinary restaurant.

I've been in Kyoto for almost a month now, and while most of my dining has been <i>makani</i> -- restaurant staff meals -- I've had a couple of chances to squeeze in some great dinners (details on my restaurant training soon).

A few years ago I got a glimpse at the high art of tempura cooking while visiting Kyoto at an elegant restaurant called Tenyu, and I never forgot it.

I was thrilled that Saveur included my item about Mrs. Sachiyo Imai in their latest "Saveur 100" list. Scholar, educator, TV host, and most importantly, accomplished cook, Mrs. Imai has worked tirelessly for the past quarter century to preserve Kyoto's traditional food culture. She is amazing. I wanted to share this piece I wrote about her efforts to save Kyoto's obanzai cooking:

At last month's terrific Japanese food symposium at New York (please see my post), I met one of the guest chefs from Kyoto, a man named Tetsuo Takenaka. He...

During a remarkable meal at Chef Nakahigashi's revered restaurant in Kyoto a couple of years ago (read my post about the chef), he served me a cup of steaming...

Wandering Kyoto's narrow lanes at seven in the morning, I passed a row of machiya -- the city's centuries-old traditional wooden merchants houses. Lights shone...