Ootomoro Ryotei

Ootomoro, a long-established ryotei restaurant in Kanazawa founded in 1830, traces its roots to the gozensho chefs who worked in the kitchens of the Kaga Domain. These culinary samurai prepared elaborate banquet cuisine for the feudal lord, samurai working in the castle, and distinguished guests visiting from other domains. Ootomoro preserves an extensive collection of culinary books and documents, primarily from the Edo period, written by the chefs of the time. Based on these records, the restaurant recreates the prestigious banquet cuisine once prepared on behalf of the Kaga Domain and serves it to guests today.

One such dish is kijihamori, a game dish in which the head, wings, and feet of a pheasant are arranged to recreate the bird in flight and presented alongside roasted pheasant meat. This stately dish was intended to demonstrate that the entire pheasant had been used. Another striking specialty is pheasant kotsuzake. Hot sake is poured into a bowl containing roasted pheasant meat and then set alight, producing blue flames.

Tai no karamushi is a local dish made by stuffing sea bream with okara, the soybean pulp left over from making tofu. Cutting open the fish’s belly was considered unlucky because of its association with seppuku, so even today, the tradition in the former castle town of Kanazawa is to open the fish from the back. At Ootomoro, guests can savor dishes once eaten by samurai in an elegant traditional tatami room.