Restaurant review: Kashiwaya in Central – Japanese fine dining with the light flavours of spring

The entrance and short walk to the dining area at Kashiwaya are beautiful, preparing you mentally to slow down and forget the busy streets below, so you can enjoy the meal to come.

It’s a pity, then, that we were quickly brought back down to reality by the guests in the adjacent room, whose conversation we could hear through the sliding slatted doors.

We also were seated right in front of the cooking station – a view we normally enjoy – but when the chef left early on in the meal, we were left with a sink to look at.

Although the atmosphere didn’t put our mindset into the season of spring, the kaiseki meal did.

In a kaiseki meal, there’s a set pattern of courses, and the ingredients and tableware reflect the season. Kashiwaya – the original of which is a Michelin three-star restaurant in Osaka – offers three menu options, and we chose Yamamomo at HK$2,300 per person plus 10 per cent (the others are HK$2,800 and HK$4,000).

Because it was early spring, the flavours were light, the meal included a lot of vegetables, and there was no meat.