小暑 Minor Heat · 温風至 — the warm winds arrive · 7–22 July
Hoshigiku is a kaiseki counter at the end of a lane off Furumonzen-dōri, Gion. Each evening we serve eight courses of what Kyōto has to say this week — and only this week.
UNROLL THE JULY MENU京都 祇園 · 会席
We cook shun — the few days in which an ingredient says everything it will ever say.
Sweetfish in the second week of July is not sweetfish in August. A menu is our letter to the guest about exactly where the year stands, so it follows the seventy-two old micro-seasons, not the twelve months. When the warm winds end and the hawks begin to learn to fly, this page will be rewritten.
The counter seats eleven because that is how many bowls one pair of hands can send out while the dashi is still breathing.
浅野宗一 — Asano Sōichi, chef. Eighteen years at a ryōtei on the Kamo river before lighting these charcoals in 2019.
Sesame tofu ground at dawn, set just firm enough to tremble. Junsai — water-shield buds — in a chilled dashi jelly, a thread of fresh wasabi from Ōhara. A cold first bite, to lower the temperature of the day you carried in.
胡麻豆腐 · 蓴菜 · 大原山葵 — served at 8°C
Five small declarations of early July on a sumi-glazed tray: grilled ayu skewers, a green plum simmered in its own sourness, pickled shoots of new ginger, junsai in jelly, a cube of the morning's sesame tofu. If the whole meal were lost, this tray alone would tell you the date.
鮎 · 青梅 · 新生姜 — the tray sets the theme
Tilefish and lean tuna, cut thin and laid over shaved ice in hand-blown glass — in summer the vessel must be as cold as the fish. One shiso leaf, soy pressed from this spring's first batch. Nothing else.
甘鯛 · 赤身 · 紫蘇 — glass by Tsujimura studio, Shigaraki
Hamo — pike conger, the fish of the Gion festival — its thousand bones cut twenty-four times to the inch so the flesh blooms like a peony in the broth. First dashi of Rishiri kelp and katsuo shaved to order. This bowl is the exam every Kyōto kitchen must pass in July; we would rather you judge us here than anywhere.
鱧 · 一番出汁 · 梅肉 — the lid is lifted at the counter
Ayu from the Katsura river, salted an hour, grilled slowly over binchō until the fins turn to frost. Eaten whole, head to tail, with tade-vinegar — the bitterness of the river weed against the sweetness of the fish that ate it.
桂川の鮎 · 蓼酢 — caught the same morning
Kamo eggplant — the round heirloom grown only in this basin — halved, scored, fried in sesame oil and glazed with two misos, one white and one red, sweet against smoke. The single course where the kitchen raises its voice.
賀茂茄子 田楽 — heirloom of the Kyōto basin
New-crop rice steamed in a clay pot with grilled hamo and new ginger, opened at the counter so the first steam is yours. Red miso soup, three pickles from our own crocks. In kaiseki the rice is not a side; it is the destination.
鱧ご飯 · 赤出汁 · 香の物 — second helpings are expected
White peach from Yamashiro, barely chilled, under a clear kuzu veil with a syrup of the green plums you met in the hassun. Thin matcha, whisked by whoever of us your evening belonged to. The meal ends where the month began.
白桃 · 葛 · 薄茶 — the plum returns
18:00, Tuesday — Saturday
Doors at 17:45. The eight courses take a little under three hours. We ask the whole counter to begin together, as one table.
¥38,000 per guest
Eight courses, tea and water included. Sake pairing from our cellar of eleven Kyōto brewers, ¥9,000. We adapt for allergies with a week's notice; we cannot cook around soy or dashi.
Gion Furumonzen
Higashiyama-ku, Furumonzen-dōri, the third lane east of Yamato-ōji. There is no sign — look for the single lantern and the star chrysanthemum curtain.
We answer every request ourselves, by email, within two days — usually while the rice is soaking. Requests open on the first of each month for the month following.
Your letter has reached the counter. We will reply within two days — if the month is full, we will offer the first evenings of the next season.