Chef's Cut: The Art of Kaiseki with Niki Nakayama

Here's Niki Nakayama, chef-owner of LA kaiseki restaurant n/naka, plating a selection of poetic dishes from her beautiful 13-course tasting menu and intimately explaining what kaiseki means to her.
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[@curacha9753]

Finally, after so many months of trying, I got my reservation at N/Naka!

[@NarutoFreak1]

What'd you do to get the reservation?

[@NickSinghSG]

Her plating skills are amazing. Holy smokes.

[@Thesajlem]

i could watch this all day long
awesome!

[@seekingthetruth3410]

I love how playful she is and has fun . I do the same with my Mediterranean menu , you cant be stuck on what is traditional. i use all local produce and shop for it everyday , everyday is a new day of food

[@DavidMod98]

As a former culinary student back in San Francisco, I've had the most grateful opportunity to work and mentor under some of the finest old school chefs in California. some of my instructors came from classic french kitchens all over the world New york, San Francisco, France, England, Germany...ect. As a young student I'd cling to them and absorbed every recipe, every food critique, advice, techniques and philosophies of food. I'd always ask my chef instructors about how they felt about the evolution of the culinary world and overall food in today's restaurants. they'd always say to me that food has become more of a aesthetically pleasing to the eye rather than the pallet. a lot of my chef instructors would coin this phenomenon as "Insta-dining". a lot of them felt like a lot of today's restaurants are lacking in innovation and creativeness in the flavor and texture aspects of culinary. People tend to use high quality ingredients in their food without really elevating the ingredient itself or their dishes to new forms of umami. I really enjoy Japanese food and have respect for Japanese cuisine. a lot of my instructors insisted that asian cuisine was a big avid of this aspect of culinary. that it used a lot high quality ingredients but little to none innovation in depths of new flavor profiles and textures. It's just a lot of beautifully well plated pleasing dishes utilizing high quality ingredients. There isn't any changes to these ingredients that enhances or brings it to a new form of flavor.

[@manaforcefield5376]

DavidNYC98! are you kidding me ? the evolution of food? bra food culture started in the east. then moved west. and by East meaning all of Asia.

[@yumikotoyama838]

DavidNYC98! I belong to a group of people who follows the way of tea, and kaiseki is a major part of our learning and teaching. I take to heart what you have said and feel that you are spot on. We (the global market) are heading into food that are forced to be beautiful and many cases very architectural. That's what sells these days. I sometimes think kaiseki needs to be redefined. It isn't much about cooking and coming up with new flavor(please don't get me wrong I love new flavor). It is appreciating Ichigo Ichie the freshness of seasonal bounty ...cooking is minimal; the least part of it and flavoring is simple Katsuo and Konbu carries throughout.....kaiseki is to wave off the hunger for a bowl of tea. It is to appreciate the moment and kaiseki is just one segment of it. When you can experienced the Chaji, it will be clearer. I hope you will.

[@sidorakmine]

because sometime, people put more effort in growing the ingredients, and as a cook, your job is to respect the quality and not mask it with too much flavor/cooking. And again, people eat with their eye first, then smell, hearing, and taste, if you want to charge people with huge amount of money for the food then you should put more effort into every aspect of dining, not just the taste.

[@qinwoodruff969]

Amazing.

[@kishigohei]

Great video

[@Altazmuth]

Beautiful plating and music selection, but the music is too loud.

[@LMTR14]

only french cuisine can stand beneath japanese fine dining in my eyes. kaiseki plating is usally the cream of the crop really

[@jessicaxia4413]

yes French and Japanese cuisines are the best in the world

[@californiasteven]

3:19 what is the name of the serving tray used

[@omkarthapa3977]

Which brand moribashi did u used please

[@keithgoh2705]

Anyone know what's the name of the piano piece that starts at 2.17?

[@michaelwiggler511]

4:00 how this box is called ? I want to buy some for my cooking parties

[@californiasteven]

MIchael Wiggler long single-tier bento box

[@ishgotrealishgotreal992]

At 3:34, did she placed a canabis leaf in the plate?
Sorry if im not recognizing the leaf well but, it really looks like a canabis one.
Please awser. :)

[@wilfredoUbatuba]

IshGotReal ishGotReal it's japanese maple

[@deagannghiem3595]

It’s called shiso

[@fishingforcompliments9779]

3:58---need to know if that's a knife cut or a stencil(presuming the former, since the carrot looks almost raw)

[@ayuyohanes7149]

I use to make it with flower shaped cookie cutter. But idk how she did it.

[@lynnchia1657]

May I ask what is the title to the background music?

[@jonnyluvyto7959]

+Lynn Chia Lake Yarina - Josh Grrels, :D

[@lynnchia1657]

+Jonny Luvyto thank u very much :)

[@lingjuanyang9088]

👋👍👌

[@Thesajlem]

whats the name of the music?

[@jonnyluvyto7959]

+Thesajlem Lake Yarina - Josh Grrels, :D

[@Thesajlem]

+Jonny Luvyto thanks!

[@CuisineArt]

1:57 woah I want that tool what the hell is that called!?!?

[@CairoRocha]

+Moses Jerome plating spoon

[@violentinstincts]

japanese nouvelle cuisine

[@okaseiji0302]

斬新な盛り付けはとてもよいが指輪がどうも気になる[衛生面で]。

[@AyeYuTSD]

3:34 Ayyee! lol

[@ayuyohanes7149]

Hahaha ikr, look alike marijuana. It's momiji (acer palmatum), maple leaf.

[@ping5825]

((((；゜Д゜)))

[@aditiyasusanto2300]

MAU NGEBATIK BOS? PLATING PAKE CANTING

[@jacksun64]

华而不实，人类走向终结！