Kyoto : Hashidate | はしたて

February 2014

Kyoto, Japan

Hashidate (はしたて), is named after the famed Amanohashidate, one of the three scenic views of Japan (Nihon Sankei) which also includes Matsushima and Miyajima. It is operated by the same people behind Wakuden and it could be seen as a more casual and affordable dining alternative to the Wakuden chain of restaurants which specializes in kaiseki.

As expected from a restaurant named after the sandbar located in Miyazu Bay, the restaurant spots a number of seafood dishes along with several Wakuden classics such as their pickled vegetables, warabimochi and tai sashimi.

I visited the restaurant twice during my trip to Kyoto and fortunately, both were a treat by our sensei. For my first trip to Hashidate, I had the Hiru Gentei Menyu (昼限定メニュー), 1680 Yen which comes with a bowl of rice and noodles with pickled vegetables and a chilled vegetable salad with tofu crumble. Along with the rice were their signature duck meatballs. It was a rather filling meal for one person.

On my second visit to Hashidate, I decided to go for their signature Tai no Goma Miso Donburi (鯛の胡麻味噌丼), 1575 Yen which is a donburi using koshihikari rice harvested from the Tango Peninsula of Japan topped raw sea bream and wasabi served with a broth that you pour over the donburi and enjoy with their house miso paste. It is a very refined dish with subtle flavours and rather tasty with the miso paste. I enjoyed this much more than the lunch set, the simplicity and how well the flavours came together was amazing.

The restaurant also serves Wakuden’s signature Renkonmochi (れんこんもち) with kinako and kuromitsu  (black sugar syrup) but another speciality is the Renkonkashi Saiko (れんこん菓子 西湖) , a kind of glutinous rice cake made of lotus root and sugar then wrapped in two pieces of bamboo leaves.

What made my second visit particularly memorable was a chance encounter with architectural photographer, Iwan Baan and his companion, Jessica Collins as well as Anton Garcia-Abril, an architect from Ensamble.

Hashidate

はしたて

京都市下京区烏丸通塩小路下ル東塩小路町

スバコ・ジェイアール京都伊勢丹3F

The restaurant is located at the SUVACO section of the Kyoto Station near the turnstiles at the JR West gate along the overhead connector over the railroads. It is next to the Nakamura Tokichi (中村藤吉) shop.