Kyoto has seen an increase in restaurants offering two contrasting styles: those with omakase degustation menus and others with a list of dishes diners are free to choose from individually. Nominokoji Yamagishi weaves these two styles together, first serving four dishes of elegant Japanese cuisine made from the same exquisite seasonal ingredients and dashi found in the kitchen of Michelin-starred Tominokoji Yamagishi, followed by an array of dishes guests are free to choose from an extensive menu of over fifty items, much like at an izakaya. But the resemblance ends there because the chef’s ingenious treatment of ingredients brings new excitement to dishes like potato salad with smoky pickles, dashi-flavored omelet, and karaage fried chicken.

After taking your seat at the counter, you will be served a four-course chef’s menu, which includes some choices. One possible appetizer is a small bowl of Nagano Koshihikari rice topped with Hokkaido salmon roe dressed in soy sauce. The skillfully prepared sashimi dish may be kamasu barracuda in the yakishimo style in which the skin side is briefly seared, then topped with a dashi gelée featuring refreshing sudachi citrus juice, and served with chrysanthemum in the form of flowers and edible greens, mibuna wild mustard greens, and tonburi – an ingredient often referred to as “land caviar” and known as belvedere fruit in English.

Before moving on to the vegetable course, you can choose from four meat dishes, including skin-on pork belly rubbed with five-spice powder cooked low and slow before being cut and fried into mouthwatering pieces. It is served with zasai mustard plant stems tossed in Chinese chili bean paste. Or you may like to try the seared Iwate-raised wagyu served with herbs and ponzu punctuated by grated daikon.

Now that you know the quality of these flavors, it will be next to impossible to choose from among the fifty dishes on the à la carte menu. Traditional Japanese offerings like daggertooth pike conger with matsutake mushrooms and braised blackthroat seaperch can be ordered alongside creative versions of potato salad, gyoza, and even Chinese-style seabass. In addition, there is an assorted sushi platter featuring the day’s freshest fish, like mackerel, tuna, and sea bream. All go wonderfully well with the beverage selection, as do tummy-filling dishes like mullet roe soba and rice topped with a farm-fresh egg. One especially popular finishing dish is the squid yakisoba. The chef places special orders for thin ramen noodles that he steams before tossing in oil with cabbage and squid legs and a signature sauce that includes a touch of curry powder.

INGREDIENTS
Japan’s most premium ingredients feature in the opening seasonal dishes that pay homage to Tominokoji Yamagishi. They are supplied direct from that restaurant after selection by the highly discerning eyes of chef/owner Takahiro Yamagishi. All other ingredients are sourced from trusted fishmongers and greengrocers to support a diverse menu featuring Japanese, Chinese, and other Asian flavors. They are prepared for affinity with the omakase dishes and through careful calculations about menu flow.

Much like an izakaya, the drinks menu at Nominokoji Yamagishi is extensive, with beer, sake, and shochu all available, as well as primarily French wines by the glass from 1600 yen and bottles of Champagne from 20,000 yen.