Japanese Meal Flow: a multi part series!

In case you missed last episode, I'll recap, we were talking about different kinds of dining styles found in Japan. Two weeks ago, we featured "omakase" or chef's choice. 

Today, we will talk about Kai Seki dining. This is a formal kind of meal, and while the food and drink (or tea) have a starring role in this show, the main focus is you and your dining companions. It can feel ceremonial with lots of tradition baked into this meal format, which usually consists of 5 to 8 courses. 

That's a lot of food, right? Well, each course is very small, almost tapas sized, but if you get to experience a Kai Seki meal, come hungry and clear your schedule, because you will be very full and the whole thing takes a long time! One last fun fact about Kai Seki is that you will often find the number "3" incorporated into many dishes. This is viewed as a lucky number and achieves balance. For example, for each kind of sashimi there will probably be 3 slices of each offering or 3 kinds of fish. 

Even within the Kai seki genre there are 2 formats that have different meanings and significance, all called Kai Seki, but they are spelled differently with different Kanji characters (mind blown!) One of them translates directly to "holding a stone," because you are supposed to feel like you have a nice warm stone in your tummy at the end of the meal. So the next time someone tells you, they are “so stoned,” maybe they mean that they just had a very satisfying Kai Seki meal!

Ok the dad jokes are starting which means it's time for me to leave.

Tampopo Kitchen indoor dining has officially opened. We are taking reservations now, and it’s really fun to host customers in our space! Make a reservation here!

Bye!

Josh