A most amazing dinner

The other night our friend in Nagoya graciously offered to take us to dinner at Kamikura, a beautiful restaurant in a mansion in Yagoto.  The chef agreed to prepare a vegetarian course for the ladies and modified the menu slightly for me.  However, a quick look at the website suggested that this was a 'fine dining experience' and therefore a far cry from our typical restaurant.  I know this because the website had photos of a white tablecloth.  There was admittedly a bit of stress leading up to the experience, as Amy and I recognized we needed to instill a bit of etiquette in our daughters.  This point was driven home a week before the dinner when Lily brought her hand down on our dining room table and inadvertently hit a chopstick that went flying into the air and smacked into the wall, leaving a trail of soy sauce in its wake.  "Oooof farooofa," Tessa said, because her mouth was overstuffed with pasta and it's difficult to enunciate with that much penne crammed into your cheeks.  Similar nightmare scenarios played out in the days following.  It was beginning to look like we would not be invited to dinner at Downton Abbey despite the fact that Tessa has been randomly speaking with a British accent.

Despite our deep seated anxieties, we put ourselves together pretty well.

Tessa upon being reminded to eat with her mouth closed.

"Fine, I'm never opening my mouth again.  Starting now!"

Never was short lived.

The restaurant was stunning.  Too stunning.  As we approached the building, Tessa became overwhelmed by anxiety that either a) the restaurant was closed and I would be arrested upon attempting to breach the perimeter, b) the restaurant was open but I would still be arrested upon attempting to enter, or c) she would be associated with me in some way.

To Tessa's astonishment, I was welcomed inside.  We were given a quick tour of the restaurant, including the Western dining room.

Then, unfortunately, it was time to sit down and eat.  Time to see if all of our stern looks and hissing commands and sighs of disappointment had any effect on our daughters' frontal lobes.

The evening was amazing.  I'm not sure who ate dinner with us that night, but it was almost certainly not Lily and Tessa.  The two girls at the table were poised and funny, and not one chopstick hit the wall.

And the food ... I don't know how to describe the experience without using words like sensational and superlative and super good.  Perhaps the best way to describe it ... it would totally be worth it to book a plane ticket (from wherever you are) to Tokyo, take the Shinkansen to Nagoya and the subway to Yagoto and wait outside until they have an opening to have a meal at this restaurant.  

We had a nine course meal along with paired wine and sake.

For those of you counting, there aren't nine pictures here.  I can only say the food was good enough that I forgot I was going to blog about it.