Table Presentation and Obanzai Meal at Kyoto’s “Asanoya”

A curated salon – tableware for life

“Beautiful things that snuggle right into life.” This is the Asanoya gallery’s concept. Under this guiding mantra, proprietor and longtime traditional utsuwa ceramics buyer Mabi Tojo curates a handpicked collection of tableware made by a variety of artists. It’s important to her that the tableware’s real charm be presented in its element: serving food. That’s why Asanoya offers cooking and presentation classes.

Itsukiwan bowls nestle weightlessly in hand.

Itsukiwan “May bowls” are a star piece in Asanoya’s lineup, produced on commission by Keikatsu Nishimura. Being the top lacquerware artist in Kyoto means being a giant among giants, and his feather-light bowls have built his reputation on the silky-soft touch and elegant patina that make them exemplars of the historic city’s traditional style. Mr. Nishimura’s bowls are thrown by hand, planed masterfully down to the absolute limit of smoothness like the traditional alms bowls used by the monks of old.

A homey, spacious kitchen is the stage.

Of course, the itsukiwan bowls take center stage in this plan. Learn to bring them to life fully with home-cooked meals and gorgeous plating.

Sumptuous, traditional seasonal Kyoto fare, obanzai 

Chef Tojo begins with an explanation of the menu, walking you through every step of her seasonal vegetable-rich obanzai. Here she makes a fried zucchini tofu fritter called hirousu, as unorthodox for its use of the Western veggie as for incorporating its flowers as a wrap. “As a traditional food, obanzai has been unfairly regarded as plain or unimpressive. But a simple creative flourish can completely change that.”

Unexpectedly large zucchini flowers are stuffed chock full of hirousu tofu fritter goodness.

Each dish is built from the ground up, based on deliveries of freshly-harvested vegetables from local suppliers like Yoshida Farm in Keihoku, just north of the city. As a result, the food lineup changes from day to day. Chef Tojo raised three sons while working as a buyer, using the tricks of the trade to streamline and simplify the cooking process. It’s stunning to witness her ability to transform a simple Japanese dinner table staple into a work of art, as much for their attractive presentation as for their ease of preparation.

As a mother of three, Chef Tojo teaches with the housewife in mind.

Making perfect donabe rice – every time

On the Wabunka plan, you’ll learn to prepare mouth-watering donabe rice with the instincts of a professional. “The trick to really getting it right every time,” says Chef Tojo, “is to cook with all five senses at attention.”

The rice gets a gentle wash.

With Chef’s Tojo’s method, the cook is fully present in the process. Rather than relying on fixed measurements or timers, she takes into account the day’s air and water temperature, along with the behavior of her stove and the qualities of the rice being used. She generally recommends 200ml of water for each go of rice, or 1.2 times more water than rice. Starting on medium heat, the gurgling of the pot and appetizing aroma of rice cooking are her signals to cut the heat and let it steam.

A continuous high-pressure jet of steam signals the rice is done.

“I recommend a deeper Iga-style donabe pot, but the whole point is that nothing special is required. You can do this with whatever you have at home.” The beauty of her process is in its ability to immediately reproduce her lustrous donabe rice in your own kitchen.

The result is silky, fluffy rice.

Selection and plating with artisanal tableware

Chef Tojo’s go-to for main dishes is a 7-sun plate. In the traditional Japanese system, 7 sun is 21.2 cm or 8.3”. She prefers hers on the deeper side, soups and sauces won’t spill, and most foods are beautifully framed. Based on her guidance, you will choose an utsuwa dish from her artisanal collection on which to plate your main dish.

7-sun plates for various sensibilities

Food is plated to be easy to grab with chopsticks. Additionally, the higher up it sits from the plate surface, the more an attractive three-dimensional sense of depth emerges, drawing out the aesthetics of triangular patterns in nature. Spacing is another important feature, reducing crowding to give each item its own spotlight. 

The principle of triangular forms guides beautiful plating.

Top tier meal time, on original itsukiwan lacquerware

Guests will delight in a tasting on Asanoya’s must-try itsukiwan lacquerware. Already popular dishes such as shiro-ae dressed kabocha squash, edamame suri-nagashi purée, and veggie vinegar-marinade fish nanban-zuke are elevated even further by gorgeous plating. Ae-mono dressings benefit from conical shaping and flourishes like bursts of tomato red in otherwise brown dishes. Fluffy, lustrous donabe rice contributes delicate sweetness. The tasting finishes with a Japanese omotenashi tea time, with traditional seasonal sweets and tea.

The quintessential Japanese meal, one soup and three small dishes alongside rice

This is Cinderella fine dining: humble everyday fare bewitched into opulence by presentation. With Chef Tojo’s masterful grasp of plating, you’ll learn the power of elegant tableware to transform a meal. And you’ll be able to bring that magic home to your own dinner table.

Elegant utsuwa tableware heightens the aesthetic of traditional seasonal sweets and tea