EAT > Etto, Kyoto (18/20)

West of the Imperial Palace, in the quiet residential grid behind the Kyoto Prefectural Office, a narrow stone path leads off Aburanokoji-dori and keeps going. At the end of it, past the kind of approach that only Kyoto townhouses seem to manage, is Etto: eight seats, one counter, one chef and an omakase of Italian cooking shaped by the Japanese seasons. It opened in August 2024 and within months had been picked up by the MICHELIN Guide.

AMBIENCE >

The building is an old machiya, renovated for the restaurant, and the long approach does what it is meant to do: by the time you reach the door the street has gone. You pass a purpose-built wine cellar on the way in, and through a window at the back of the room there is a small Japanese garden with a tsukubai water basin.

The room is built around a single, full-depth counter that runs flat into the open kitchen, so there is no pass and no line between where the cooking happens and where you eat. As the MICHELIN’s inspectors put it well: it is hard to tell where the counter ends and the kitchen begins. With only eight seats, the evening runs at the pace of the kitchen, in two seatings, and conversation with the chef is part of the meal. There is also a private room.

We joined with a large group of six, in part to celebrate my fathers 90th birthday but also my sister (and her husband Ed) who joined us from New York. So we made something of a noisy bunch and it was perhaps ideal that it was just our party seated at the long counter.

EAT >

There is one menu: an omakase course of around eight or nine dishes that changes roughly every two months. Chef Seiya Tatsumi cooks Italian food with a Japanese sensibility and is happy to borrow technique where it suits him: wagyu over charcoal, pasta built around squid, a bagna cauda turned into a soup.

The opening was an amuse of two bites. The first ginko nut, pistachio and bottarga a tasty cube of flavour, the second a pile of sweet shrimp, basil and finger lime (an Australian treat) which was the perfect sweet from the shrimp and balls of zest from the finger lime.

The opening antipasto misto is the signature. They are served on a Kiyomizu-yaki platter scattered with seasonal leaves, it is built like a kaiseki hassun: five small, salty and sour bites designed to get the wine going. Past versions have included eel with black garlic on gnocco fritto, a grilled-eggplant bianco mangiare, scallop cured in shio-koji, marinated sardine and a little white pizza sandwich of prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella and peach.

Our selection consisted of fois gras, conger eel, beef cheek and truffle (in a perfect black ball resembling a truffle), scallop and lotus root and bonito with beetroot and black garlic. The plates are commissioned from TOKINOHA, the Kyoto ceramic studio, and they are part of the show.

From there the course moves through pasta, fish and meat.

We start the main courses with a large bowl of autumn vegetables. A salad with vegetables and dressed with a salad soup, mixed together the flavours complement each other and there is a satisfying crunch in the salad and squish in the roasted vegetables.

Barracuda was served in gnocco fritto much like a hot dog with a peperonata (sweet and slippery) the combination was outstanding. The fish cooked over the hibachi fire holds its crunch and is sweet and soft inside.

A first pasta bavettine with sea urchin and grilled eggplant, rich and delicious. The pasta (a clear point of pride) is al dente and filling. At this point fresh bread rolls arrive out of the oven with a fresh olive oil. A dish of longtooth grouper with young ginger and dried tomato was another triumph of flavour.

The meat is Japanese Black wagyu grilled over charcoal, served with grilled figs a lovely complement.

A final pasta the tagliolini was served with Kyoto Nanatani Duck and local chestnuts served both in the dish and grated over the top.

Desert was made of grape, goat milk and a hint of earl grey tea. Petit fours to finish.

DRINK >

Tatsumi is also a sommelier, and wine is central to the experience. The cellar holds about 350 bottles, mostly Italian, and you are invited to step inside and choose. There is a wine pairing for those who would rather leave it to the kitchen, plus beer, sake and cocktails.

We found a reasonable Burgundy Chardonnay to start, a Piedmonte Nebbiolo to follow and a Marsannay Burgundy Pinot Noir to finish. All reasonably priced.

CONCLUSION >

Etto is a very Kyoto kind of restaurant: hidden, small, personal and serious about its craft without being solemn about it. The counter puts you in the kitchen, the antipasto misto is a calling card, and the cellar gives a wine lover plenty to explore. Book well ahead and allow the evening to run its course.

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Image Credit | ALMANAK

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