Kashiwaya Osaka Senriyama
Reservations at 3-star Michelin rated restaurants are hard to come by. Even harder is finding one that will allow young children to dine with you. For our recent trip to Osaka, I had all but written off the possibility of going to a Michelin restaurant at this level since we did not have any extended family traveling with us that could babysit while we ventured off for a meal or two.
But, as luck would have it, there is a 3-star restaurant in Osaka that allows young children to dine about one day per quarter. And, that one day this quarter happened to fall on a day that we would be in Osaka. On top of that, they even offer a special “children’s menu” for your youngster while the adults can enjoy the full course menu. Needless to say, upon learning this information, I had to make a reservation.
Kashiwaya has held its 3-star rating since 2010 and is one of just three restaurants in Osaka with the highest Michelin rating. All the seating is in private rooms - which probably is what allows them to host children from time to time - and makes for a very quiet and focused dining experience. There are three menus to choose from, all following a rough kaiseki format but with varying levels of ingredients and courses. We opted for the top level course for our visit which ran us about 46,000 yen ($308) per person.
Here is what we had for our visit on October 9, 2023:
The “children’s meal” offered at 5,500 yen ($38 USD)
As I mentioned before, on the special dates that Kashiwaya allows children they also offer a children’s menu. The bulk of the menu comes in the form of these osechi-esque bento boxes filled with a variety of items. Certainly a stark contrast from American “kids menu” offerings.
Saki-zuke: Ise robster marinated with syutou and kanzuri, yam, kiku(chrysanthemum petal) and mizuna greens
Kae: Scallop/sea urchin/wasabi, Bonito/Chinese chive bud/mustard vinegar miso, Squid/quail egg/tonburi
Ni-mono-wan: Pike conger, matsutake-mushroom, kikuna-greens mixed yuba-tofu, kiku soup, red plum
Kaiseki cuisine is always driven by the seasons, so season ingredients show up in every course. This is the first appearance in the menu of matsutake mushroom, a prized seasonal ingredient from Japan.
Otsukuri: Filefish, liver, chive, grated radish mixed with chili, 3 colored petals
Atsu-mono: Hot mushroom soup with 3 skewers - Seri rolled in nori, swimming crab rolled in yuba, ricotta cheese and mustard
Hassun: Abalone and liver, shitake-mushroom, yam, kiku simmered ayu with roe, kiku flower, bulbil, salmon roe with radish in sudachi cup, shira-ae (snow pea, maitake-mushroom, konnyaku with tofu)
Yaki-mono: Grilled tilefish with fermented shrimp paste, white runner bean
A Kashiwaya signature dish. Amazing. Probably the best bite of cooked fish with the best crunchy skin texture I’ve ever had. I could’ve eaten a whole tray of these.
Hachi-mono: Barracuda, turnip, gingko, lily bulb, cloud mushroom, with roasted sake sauce, sudachi, yuzu
Gohan: Steamed rice mixed with matsutake-mushroom
Shiru: Oseto-grunt, mitsuba, yuzu
Mizu-mono: Japanese pear, persimmon, Pione grape
Kashi: Yam, red bean, chestnut
As one would expect of a 3-star Michelin restaurant (especially in Japan), service was excellent and attentive. The meal moved along at a good pace with no big lag between courses. We found the food to be good to excellent depending on the course. Kashiwaya is our 4th 3-star kaiseki style experience in Japan. While the fried fish was a knockout dish (among one of the best bites I’ve had in a long time), overall I felt Kashiwaya would be in ranked 3rd among the similar restaurants we’ve been to so far.
It is amazing to have been able to share in this type of experience with my daughter. Although she is too young to fully understand or appreciate what it means to eat at this type of restaurant, I was happy that she could participate in something that I personally love doing.
Kashiwaya Osaka Senriyama
2-5-18 Senriyamanish
Osaka, Japan
Ph: +81 6-6386-2234
https://jp-kashiwaya.com
