[akiko]

Ume no Hana is a restaurant that specializes in Kyoto style tofu dishes. Its become so popular in Japan that there are now several branches in many different cities. I've heard that there is also an Ume No Hana in Beverly Hills but its not on their corporate website and I have no idea if the quality is as good as what they are producing in Japan.

Umenohana

I told Chris that we were going to dinner at a Tofu Kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto and you should have seen his face. No reaction, which meant he didn't like the idea but saw that I was excited so wasn't going to say anything. I don't know why he hasn't learned to trust me about restaurant choices by this point in our relationship He now likes brains even more than I do but when I told him about Kebab Cafe specialties the first time he almost had to be dragged to dinner there.



The Umenohana Kaiseki Menu (there were several different Kaiseki course options on the menu but we chose this one as it seemed to give a good representation of Umenohana's signature dishes)



This one dish was enough to change Chris's attitude about Tofu. the first dish is a MILK CREAM tofu. The texture was like fresh cheese and the taste was gorgeous. Yuzu sauce dollopped on the top. the other dish is Yuba, silky wonderful yuba.



This is Yudofu. Tofu covered with sik-like Yuba simmered in water at your table. Once it was done we ladled out pieces and ate with gomashio (sesame salt), soy sauce, and ginger.

A small plate of Kanpachi sashimi was brought to us and then...

[akiko]

Tofu Chawanmushi. Lovely, but no different from regular chawanmushi as far as I could taste.

Ohitashi came next which was spinach in sesame dressing over a sesame tofu with a spongey texture.



This dish is what completely won Chris over as far as tofu is concerned. Tofu Shumai, it was delicious. They had flavoured the tofu filling and the little dumpling was exquisite.



This was tofu "manjyu". But it wasn't anything like a manjyu. Quite dense tofu with a nice crust in a beautiful dashi broth thickened with Kuzu starch (I think it was kuzu starch) with yuba. It was much better than any normal manjyu.



Tofu dengaku. The green one is matcha (green tea) flavoured and the lighter coloured one is yuzu. They were fried and the tofu had a mochi-like consistency



Deep fried tofu. Fluffy light with a crisp exterior. Garnished with lemon in its lovely little squeezer (I sooo want one of these gadgets) and a green chile. A perfect dish.



This little number came sizzling to our table. And when we opened it...



Tofu Gratin



And the end of meal rice, soup, and pickles. Except that this rice was Okowa - a mix of short grain Japanese rice and mochi gome or glutinous.



I chose the Yomogi Tofu Ice Cream for dessert. A little too icy but the flavour was great. And in the corner is an Azuki Bean Tofu Yokan - Chris's choice for dessert, it tasted like a regular (possibly softer in texture) yokan to me.

I'd highly recommend this restaurant, we went in Kyoto but I would think the Tokyo branch is just as good. And the meal is inexpensive for what they give you, I think our course cost between 4000 and 5000 yen each before drinks. And there were several Kaiseki courses cheaper than that option (for you fellow Londoners that's less than £25!!!)

[Miguel Gierbolini]

Wow. Thanks Akiko. Is anything like this available in New York?

[akiko]

Unfortunately Miguel, I don't know of anything in NYC. You need to go to Beverly Hills to the Umenohana there to get something to this kind of quality.

Although, I've been hearing that NYC restaurants have gotten into making their own tofu. Have you heard anything about that? Do you know where it's being done?

I'll ask my friend who I heard about it from.