Fermented Kaiseki Cuisine by a Former Sushi Artisan
Feb 06,2025
Feb 06,2025
The Noge-cho District in Yokohama has long been known by those who like to imbibe for its string of lively traditional bars and eateries, including izakaya pubs, soba shops, and yakitori joints. Recently, these have been joined by upscale Italian restaurants and bistros, boosting the area’s popularity among trendy youth. On the day of our visit, we dropped in at Kintaro, popular for its fermented kaiseki cuisine, and spoke with its owner, Kakuchi Sunao.
Kakuchi Sunao, the owner of Kintaro, spoke with us
As soon as you enter the shop, you come face-to-face with a long counter and stools, a raised tatami room at the back, and a shelf lined with bottles of saké. At first glance, it might seem like just another of the many similar shops in this district. Most customers, however, come here specifically for the unique cuisine available only at this establishment: the fermented dishes crafted by owner Kakuchi Sunao, a former sushi chef. Above all, Kintaro’s calling card is its fermented kaiseki course that lets you sample a-la-carte items that include fermented foods, a soup, and original sushi offerings dubbed “kin-sushi” [bacteria sushi].
“I started this restaurant 10 years ago,” says Kakuchi. “Back then, there wasn’t nearly as much interest in fermented cuisine as there is now.” From the very beginning, Kakuchi has always served dishes that make full use of fermented foods — what he calls “kin-shoku” — such as miso, soy sauce, pickles, yogurt, and natto [fermented soybeans].
“Our fermented kaiseki course, for instance, features six or seven dishes, all related to fermentation. These include a single dish using homemade miso, natto, kimchi, or other fermented foods, a soup, nukazuke pickles, and our own kin-sushi. We prepare the fermented foods so they reach their peak flavor on the day of the meal. Customers who know this will contact us about three days in advance, saying, ‘I’ll be coming on such and such day’.”
On the day of our visit, Kakuchi prepared several small bowl dishes and kin-sushi for us.
This small oyster and brown-rice miso dish goes perfectly with saké
“This dish features oysters marinated in miso. The oysters are topped with brown-rice miso that we make with black soybeans. Oysters are often prepared with soy sauce-based fermented seasonings, but today I tried a miso base. This miso is low in salt. Since nearly all our customers drink saké, they love this small dish.”
Kakuchi prepares large batches of two or three varieties of miso at Kintaro every winter.
“Because we blend the completed miso types in various ways, we actually use around six or seven different miso flavors in our cooking.”
Deep-fried tofu with smoked bonito miso is another popular dish
“This dish features blocks of deep-fried tofu topped with smoked bonito miso. I create a number of miso-based snacks each season, but I always have smoked bonito miso on hand. It goes amazingly well with saké, naturally, as well as rice.”
Mozuku seaweed and scallops pickled in saké lees and koji. Kakuchi wants to showcase delicious ways to eat mozuku besides the ordinary mozuku seasoned with vinegar.
Another go-to at Kintaro is the scallops pickled in saké lees and koji rice malt, which is served with mozuku seaweed.
“We use fresh mozuku, not the typical vinegared kind. Fermented seasonings like salted koji and saké lees bring out the most of the scallops’ umami flavoring. Together, the scallops pickled in saké lees and koji and the mozuku make a perfect pairing.”
Kintaro also sells jars of its smoked bonito miso and scallops pickled in saké lees and koji that we tasted on our visit. They are very popular as accompaniments to rice or saké.
Kakuchi, a former sushi chef who calls himself a fermentation fanatic, employs all his skill and knowledge to create his original kin-sushi. Kin-sushi is undoubtably Kintaro’s most well-known dish. Featuring an assortment of staple fish like tuna with a variety of seasonal fish, it is served at the end of the kaiseki course.
“Starting from the far right, you have spear squid. It is topped with our homemade soy sauce. I describe it to customers as soy sauce you can eat, but its proper name is hishio [a paste-like soy sauce byproduct]. We brew our soy sauce using soybeans and koji. The liquid pressed out from the mash is the soy sauce, while the remaining soybean paste after pressing is hishio. This soybean paste is incredibly rich and pairs wonderfully with squid. This particular sushi lets you fully savor the deliciousness of hishio.”
As you take a bite, you immediately taste the sweet squid taste complemented by the gentle hishio flavor. The moment it hits your tongue, you’ll find yourself repeating “delicious” unprompted.
“Next is scallops with a topping of aged saké lees. The aged saké lees tastes amazing when combined with mild flavors.
The aged saké lees can be thought of as being similar to Nara-zuke pickles, says Kakuchi. True to his words, the saké lees flavor reminiscent of Nara-zuke and the scallops perfectly highlight their respective best qualities.
At Kintaro, the miso and many other fermented seasonings are prepared in house
“When people make miso, they usually cover the miso with salt before closing the lid, but we cover the miso with saké lees instead. We spread a thick layer of saké lees on the freshly prepared miso. This prevents any air from coming in contact with the miso, so no mold will grow. Plus, you can eat all the saké lees. As the miso ferments, a liquid called tamari rises to the surface. The saké lees soaks up the tamari, and after one to two months, the originally white saké lees will turn brown. The saké lees we have today has been aging on miso for about eight months.”
Kakuchi says it’s almost like he prepares the miso just to create the aged saké lees.
Both the miso and the saké lees placed on the miso taste wonderful, as you would expect. Blending the miso and saké lees also tastes divine. Kakuchi uses each of these seasonings in different dishes.
“The miso-saké lees blend tastes heavenly on red meat. It’s a treasure that I use very carefully over the course of the year. The miso-saké lees blend goes well with chicken too.”
Kakuchi directs us to try the next piece of sushi: sea bream cured with kelp and topped with sansho peppercorns that have been pickled in soy sauce. Wondering what flavor this sushi will have, we take a bite. What washes over our taste buds is the umami from the sea bream enhanced by the kelp and the refreshing flavor of sansho.
Watching our reaction, Kakuchi asks with a grin: “By the way, do you know what plant family sansho belongs to?” We were stumped. “Sansho is actually a citrus fruit,” he explains. Once he mentioned it, we began to detect a hint of citrus —similar to the refreshing tang and slight bitterness of other citrus fruits like sudachi or kabosu — deep within the sansho flavor.
“People think of sansho as being spicy and it’s strongly associated as a spice to be used in eel and mapo tofu dishes. But it’s really a citrus fruit, and if you marinate it in soy sauce, the spiciness disappears completely. This is why I often serve sansho marinated in soy sauce with white fish.”
The last piece of sushi was tuna, a must-have at Kintaro.
“I pair tuna with green chili miso. The green chili miso’s sharp spiciness complements the sweetness of the fatty tuna perfectly. If you watch sushi chefs, you will see they use about five different amounts of wasabi depending on the sushi topping. For mild-flavored items like squid or octopus, they will use only a smidgen of wasabi. But for fatty tuna, they will use about five times the amount. Tuna goes exceptionally well with that amount of spiciness, so it’s a perfect match for green chilies.”
While we talked with Kakuchi, we couldn’t help but gaze at his beautiful hands as he formed the sushi. When we mentioned this, he said with a broad smile: “When I was apprenticing, I was told that the mark of a sushi chef is beautiful, clean hands. I also eat fermented foods every day, and I have my hands in a nukadoko [a bed of fermented rice bran] daily as I make nukazuke pickles. I think that’s why my hands are so smooth and shiny. In that sense, these hands are proof of what I’ve done. They’re my greatest pride.”
Kakuchi adds plain yogurt to his nukadoko to make it fluffier. The yogurt also makes the nukazuke taste milder and more refreshing.
Kakuchi carries on with his story.
“Probably because I eat fermented foods, I can work every day in good health and I never get colds. I’m living proof of the benefits of fermented foods. So when customers tell me that they have become more health conscious since coming here, it makes me really happy. I want even more people to learn about fermented foods.
“The concept for Kintaro is ‘Enjoy a drink and stay healthy’. I can’t think of anything happier than that. Drinking too much is associated with various health risks. But enjoying alcohol in moderation, eating things that are good for your body, and waking up feeling great the next day — isn’t that the best? I want to keep sharing the deliciousness and wonder of fermented foods with as many people as possible.”