Why You Should Try The Kaiseki Dining Experience

The kaiseki dining experience is a Japanese tradition that is one of the most highly regarded food experiences in the world. Originally designed to honor traditional and seasonal washoku (Japanese cuisine), the multi-course meals have become a visual and spiritual oasis for the soul as well as an homage to the evolved palate. 

While we highly recommend traveling to Japan to enjoy the kaiseki dining experience in its homeland, California natives and wine country tourists can experience an 11-course, kaiseki meal at SingleThread, a three-star Michelin restaurant, located in the heart of Healdsburg. 

Japanese Kaiseki Meals Explained 

The Japanese tea ceremony is at the core of the kaiseki ryori, although it has significantly evolved since those relatively humble beginnings. What used to involve simplicity, ceremony, and simple foods has now been embellished to maintain simple and ceremonious reverence while celebrating the best and finest ingredients and dishes that Japanese haute food entails. 

Here are some of the foundational tenets of a kaiseki dinner, and the reasons why you should try to have a kaiseki dining experience whenever chance allows. 

Enjoy beautiful and peaceful surroundings 

Long before Americans embraced eating raw fish (sashimi) they were seduced by Japanese food’s simple and beautiful presentation. For many, it was the local Japanese restaurant – rather than a local French restaurant, that proved how important presentation (art) is to the diner’s enjoyment. 

For the Japanese, that presentation begins with the interior design and decor of the eating establishment. Any restaurant that prides itself on offering a kaiseki experience can also pride itself on a calm, beautiful, and nature-inspired design that allows diners to feel peaceful and free of distraction – enhancing their sense of taste. 

Delight in multiple small courses 

While there is no set number of courses required, you’ll rarely sit down to a kaiseki experience with less than nine courses. The idea is to take diners on a symbolic and traditional food journey, using a series of small plates. Each of the plates consists of just a few bites (at most), to ensure the diners’ aren’t overly full at the end of their meal. 

These courses are organized and presented according to their cooking method and typically arrive in a fairly traditional order, although kaiseki chefs have free reign to alter the courses as they so choose: 

• Aperitif (shokuzen shu). This is a small beverage to start the meal. It is normally a non-alcoholic beverage (tea, for example) but can also include an alcoholic beverage such as sake, shochu, sparkling wine, or the bartender’s select cocktails.  
• Appetizer (zensai). Here is where the courses may be stretched out as the zensai can be any number of small, bite-sized hors-d’oeuvres. Pay attention to this course as most kaiseki chefs create appetizers that foreshadow the dishes yet to come. 
• Soup (suimono). The soup here will be quite simple, featuring a sumptuous broth that is adorned or decorated with very little – perhaps some tofu, seaweed, blossoms, or very thinly sliced vegetables. 
• Sashimi (otsukuri). Diners are typically presented with an assortment of thin slices of exceptional-quality, raw fish. While Americans are used to slathering their raw fish with soy and wasabi, experienced Japanese diners know that sashimi should be enjoyed with minimal embellishment so the palate can detect all of the subtle, creamy nuances of these delicacies. 
• Small dish (oshinogi). As you wait for various main courses, your server may offer you a small dish for the evening. It’s just a little something seasonal (and divine) to keep your palate happy until the next series of dishes arrive. 
• Boiled dish (Nimono). Unless specified otherwise, the nimono consists of meat and vegetables that are boiled, stewed or simmered, and served with a balanced sauce – often using soy, a cooking sake or vinegar, and sugar. 
• Grilled dish (yakimono). Here in the Bay Area, kaiseki diners can enjoy local grilled fish from the river or the sea or may find grilled, free-range wagyu beef in their dish.  
• Deep-fried dish (agemono). Unlike most fried cuisine, Japanese fried foods are prepared with a light tempura batter. The combination of the light batter, a clean fryer, delicate sauces, and small portions allow you to eat and enjoy all of the multiple layers of flavor without guilt or feeling too full. 
• Steamed dish (mushimono). The most common dish served as the mushimono is a Japanese “comfort food,” called chawanmushi. It is a savory egg custard that traditionally contains fish stock and small pieces of mushroom, chickens, ginkgo nuts, and other delights. It is served in a small, tea cup-like bowl with a lid and eaten with the accompanying small spoon.  
• Vinegared dish (sunomono). A perfect compliment to the agemono and mushimono dishes, the vinegary tang of the sunomono lightens things back up. You’re most likely to be served seafood or vegetables prepared in a vinegar sauce, which is different from the pickled items yet to come. 
• Shokuji combination. When you go to your favorite sushi restaurant you probably start your meal with miso soup, a small assortment of pickles, and then rice to accompany your meal. During your kaiseki dining experience, the miso soup, a small dish of rice (gohan), and an assortment of pickled vegetables (tsukemono) appear together towards the end of the meal – right before the dessert. 
• Desserts. The sweets served at the end of your kaiseki dinner will be light and fresh. Perhaps a sorbet, some perfectly ripe fruit, or another light dessert. That said, kaiseki meals served in other countries may offer more western-style desserts or may even offer a dessert menu for the diners to choose from. 

Connect With Superb Seasonal Foods And Ingredients 

The kaiseki menu will alter by season, month, or even by the day, depending on what the local farms and purveyors have to offer. Japanese households celebrate seasonal foods, and the kaiseki experience is a top-tier version of that. 

Eating what is ripe and in season today is the only way to ensure everything tastes its very best. That is a standard we wish all restaurants adhered to, regardless of whether they offer a kaiseki dining experience or not. 

Interested in having your own kaiseki dining experience at one of the world’s only Kaiseki restaurants with three Michelin stars. Make your reservation on TikTok today.