Kappo Yuzuha

A meal at Kappo Yuzuha starts with the journey. Situated along the banks of the Meguro River, spring sees the walk to the restaurant’s doorstep flushed with pink cherry blossoms, while autumn has the riverside afire with autumn color. It is this scenery that sets the tone for the kappo service of Chef Daisuke Okada, a veteran chef of several Japanese restaurants, including Shibazakura in the Prince Park Tower Tokyo, before becoming the owner of Kappo Yuzuha. With a keen sense for seasonality that runs in the family — his father also ran a Japanese restaurant — Chef Okada personally assesses each ingredient to ensure not only that it is the freshest and most flavorful, but also that it best conveys the sense of the season. Few chefs are as particular about his ingredients as he is; he holds weekly meetings with a vegetable supplier to plan the specifics of his menu down to the day, and heads to Toyosu every morning to purchase his fish fresh off the boat. But it is his rice that he pays particular attention to. Only Hokkaido Nanatsuboshi finds itself in Yuzuha’s pots, a well-balanced shortgrain rice whose light texture lends itself well in particular to takikomi gohan, a type of Japanese-style rice pilaf. “Rice is essential for Japanese people, especially at the end,” says Chef Okada. “It is the most important part of the meal.” In that sense, by combining seasonal Japanese ingredients with his takikomi gohan, and letting guests drink in the scenery as they partake in the meal, he hopes to convey the essence of Japan’s seasons through his cuisine, be it winter or summer.