Cover Chef Teruhiko Nagamoto (Source: Nagamoto)

With 'shun' cuisine at the fore, ex-Kashiwaya head chef Teruhiko Nagamoto's new venture is a vessel for Japanese history and tradition through hyper-seasonal cooking—done in his own way

For all the rarefied, hyper-seasonal ingredients on show throughout a meal at newly opened kappo-style restaurant Nagamoto—from buttery shirako (cod fish milt) to Miyazaki wagyu and Yamaguchi abalone the size of a man’s fist—the most laboured-over course, that in any other restaurant would be a bridging dish to rest the palate, is a simple dashi stock. Yet in the open, spotlit kitchen, chef-founder Teruhiko Nagamoto treats the simple combination of kombu and katsuobushi boiled in water with a reverence that a Chinese chef might otherwise afford to a bowl of Buddha Jumps Over The Wall, first preparing the kombu stock and katsuobushi stock separately for the guest to compare the flavours, then marrying them together with a steamed fish cake laden with Matsuba crab, baby turnip and citrus peel.

Read more: Nagamoto, a Kyoto-Style Kappo Restaurant, to Open on Central's On Lan Street

Tatler Asia
Above The interior of Nagamoto with its show kitchen (Source: Handout)

It’s a telling example of Nagamoto’s favourite maxim: “shimpuru izu besto!” That the Kyoto native has arrived at this conclusion after nearly 30 years in the culinary trade, a significant portion of which was spent at three-Michelin-starred Kashiwaya in Osaka and its two-Michelin-starred Hong Kong outpost, is almost prototypically Japanese. Indeed, where Chinese cuisine adds flavour to ingredients through sauces, marinades and the like, haute Japanese cuisine strips back each dish to the purity of the produce, and by association, the essence of the four seasons.

Tatler Asia
Above Making the dashi (Photo: Gavin Yeung/Tatler Dining)

Newly opened in Central’s 18 On Lan Street and vertically sandwiched between the likes of Mono, Arcane, Ryota Kappou Modern and Zest by Konishi, Nagamoto is in good company. At first glance the restaurant hews traditional, with its calligraphed signboard and ever-changing ikebana display both created by Teruhiko’s hand. But it’s in the subtle details where the restaurant carves out its own space.

Being located far outside of Japan, Teruhiko is afforded the space to develop Japanese cuisine outside the traditions of kaiseki or kappo—the latter format is more casual, where guests are seated at a bar counter ordering tapas-like dishes, the order of which is decided upon in conversation with the chef.

Instead, he’s focused on his interpretation of shun cuisine, an all-encompassing culinary concept that highlights seasonal produce at its utmost peak. “This word describes the exact moment that a vegetable is at its very best, a fruit at its most succulently sweet, fish at its most flavourful. Serious chefs take great pride in the celebration of shun, and it is central to the culinary world,” writes Japanese-American food researcher Risa Sekiguchi.

See also: Tatler Dining Awards 2022: The Nominees

Tatler Asia
Above Cod milt with mizuna (Photo: Gavin Yeung/Tatler Dining)
Tatler Asia
Above Sashimi platter (Photo: Gavin Yeung/Tatler Dining)

Nagamoto’s opening menu is called Kisaragi, after the olden name of the second month of the year in ancient Japan. Over a procession of 10 courses, guests sample a cross-section of Japan’s best at this liminal period between late winter and early spring: the sakizuke opener of impossibly rich cod milt poached in sake, followed by grilled surf clams in butterbur sprout miso and citrus sudachi, and later, a main of Miyazaki wagyu shabu shabu where the star ingredient are in fact the meaty Kujo heirloom spring onions from Kyoto.

Tatler Asia
Above Hassun platter (Photo: Gavin Yeung/Tatler Dining)

Japanese traditions are woven throughout the menu, especially in the Hassun platter of small dishes. Alongside monkfish liver with konan pickles, and tempura of pond smelt and aralia sprouts, the addition of Inari sushi— sushi rice stuffed inside fried tofu pouches, literally “fox sushi”—is a nod to the festive food of Kyoto’s fox-worshipping Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine, which hosts the Hatsu-uma harvest festival during February; while a humble combination of soybeans with yuzu, carrot and radish references the practice of throwing soybeans at ogres during the festival of Setsubun, similarly in early February.

Teruhiko, who grew up in a culinary family—his grandmother ran a dumpling shop while his parents owned a nabemono restaurant—in the seat of ancient Japanese culture in Kyoto, is intimately familiar with the tapestry of traditions and meaning surrounding food.

Tatler Asia
Above Matsuba crab claypot rice (Photo: Gavin Yeung/Tatler Dining)
Tatler Asia
Above Seasonal fruits and sherbet (Photo: Gavin Yeung/Tatler Dining)

“It’s necessary to learn about Japanese history to fully understand why we use certain ingredients at certain times,” he says. “How can I present old techniques to people who aren’t familiar with Japanese history so that they can understand? I hope that through my cooking, I can transmit that traditional culture.”

At Nagamoto at least, Teruhiko wants to make the first step of that journey as simple as taking a sip of that prized, yet sparingly simple dashi stock.

Nagamoto, 8/F, 18 On Lan Street, Central, Hong Kong; +852 2520 5218, instagram.com/nagamotohk


NOW READ

Destination Kennedy Town: The Founders of Shady Acres Are Moving In with Two New Ventures

Natsuko Shoji Named Asia’s Best Female Chef 2022 by Asia’s 50 Best

L’Envol’s Olivier Elzer is Opening Clarence, a Modern French Restaurant in H Code

Topics