Takayama (*) Kyoto

Started off our honeymoon with our first fine dining meal of the trip in Kyoto at Creative Dining Takayama. I made resos when they first opened two months ahead on Tablecheck and it was fairly easy to get a table even over Christmas-New years holidays.

The restaurant is located in the same building and floor as Velrosier and only has counter seating for 12, seated from left to right based on time of arrival. Our time slot had 2 families of four and two couples including us with all foreigners and the majority of guests from the U.S. and Canada.

Onto the meal, everyone had a choice for a welcome drink between champagne or a non-alcoholic drink that was included. Also skipped lunch at the recommendation of another redditor on this subreddit and reading other reviews (which was a godsend because we still didnt end up finishing).

QR code: An aesthetic start to the meal, the QR code contained the a link to their instagram which had the menu of the day. Afterwards, it was to be consumed in one bite. With an exterior of white chocolate and sweet/tart juice inside, this was something so simple yet executed well. My husband chose this as his favourite!

Caviar: Personally indifferent to caviar but the crunchiness of the squid ink chip was interesting.

Foie Gras: Plated with seasonal flowers, the foie gras was moulded into two tiny ducks which was a fun touch.

Cracker: Didn’t like this one. The burnt taste from stamping a smiley face overwhelmed any other flavour I could taste.

Starters (From clockwise): Tomato sauce with spam¿, soup, and slightly spicy cured meat with arancini. This was alright.

Cold Appetizers (First five, L to R): Rice cracker with finger lime, prosciutto, salted ice cream, fresh sashimi, and a salted egg yolk cake. I enjoyed the textural and taste profile differences between every dish.

Hot Appetizers (Last five, L to R): Oyster tempura with mini crab cutouts from carrots or beets, tomato with microgreens, corn soup, fish w/ pesto sauce, mini fish bun with homemade tartar sauce.

Fish: I typically dont enjoy eating fish but the cook on this was perfection and the various powders and sauces elevated the dish. This was paired with baked root vegetables.

A4 Beef: Chef personally explained that they utilize the mother cow rather than the baby which is more humane and would previously be considered as an unwanted. Having had A5 on previous occasions, i prefer a leaner cut which provides the fatty taste profile without being overly rich after several bites.

White truffles: These were in season and were used in the upcoming pasta dish.

Pasta: I was thankful the portions were becoming smaller at this point. Simple but delicious. Chef also personally shaved the truffles for everyone individually.

Crab: We were also fortunate that we were able to catch the tail end of snow crab season. The risotto was creamy and decadent underneath.

Mini desserts (L to R): Calamansi or some other type of citrus juice, finger lime shaved ice, mochi, strawberry pudding¿, homemade milk icecream with crunchy topping. I loved how tart and cold these mini desserts were. The shaved ice was so refreshing after having copious amounts of food.

Main dessert: Kumquat topped with something i would categorize as between whipped cream and icecream alongside crumbled meringue.

Petit four: We were so stuffed at this point and chef recommended us to eat four and pack the rest.

Side dessert: A cute strawberry tart with dried flowers we got to take home. Every group received one but ours said Auguri which means congratulations, for our honeymoon.

Tea or coffee was offered at the end.

Final thoughts: I knew going into this meal that it was going to be lengthy and an abundance of food but my husband and I really enjoyed this meal. I also appreciated the sentiment that chef spent some time living abroad in Italy and due to his memories of italian meals feeding you till you were full; he wanted to share that same process in his restaurant.

Moreover, the servers were extremely talkative which aided in cultivating a comfortable ambiance with guests sharing where they were from, other fine dining establishments they’ve booked for their trip, and favourite dishes of the meal.

I would highly recommend Takayama and at the price of $66k yen for two (no alcohol), it was the cheapest fine dining meal of our trip. This was written after our honeymoon and was unanimously our favourite meal.