Aman built a resort inside a forest in northern Kyoto, then gave its kitchen a quiet thing to do. This spring the kitchen answered with one cut of beef.
The road from Kyoto Station climbs north for about thirty minutes, past Kinkaku-ji and the temple crowds, until the city thins into cedar and maple. Aman Kyoto sits at the foothills of Hidari Daimonji mountain, in the old Takagamine district, behind a gate most drivers miss. The forest was already there. The architecture was laid into it.
This is Aman's second house in Japan, designed by Kerry Hill. Dark timber pavilions stand in a secret garden of moss, stone paths and stacked rock walls, the kind of ground that takes decades to settle. Suites are spare and full of light. Spring water rises near the property and feeds the private onsen and the spa.
Courtesy of Aman — Taka-An, Aman Kyoto
The kitchen
Taka-An takes its name from Honami Koetsu, the artist and polymath who shaped Takagamine four centuries ago and, from there, the cultural life of Japan. The restaurant reads as a homage to him. A counter of pale wood runs under a low gold ceiling, with seats for a handful of guests and a private room that looks onto the moss garden.
The chef is Takagi. He grew up in Kanazawa, trained at Kyoto Kitcho, and in 1996 went home to run his family restaurant, Zeniya, which earned two Michelin stars and holds them still. At Taka-An he cooks omakase, so the meal follows the day and the season rather than a fixed card. No two services are the same.
The forest was already there. The architecture was laid into it.
The Splendid EditThe beef
The new menu turns on Kyoto Hirai beef, a name kept quiet even inside Kyoto. The cattle are raised on natural spring water, and the meat is finely marbled, with a sweetness that gives way on the tongue. Taka-An's kaiseki tasting menu builds the rest of the meal around it, with complementary dishes and wine pairings chosen to hold the line rather than crowd it.
At lunch there is a five-course version, the Hirai beef oju kaiseki. A warming soup opens it. Then seasonal simmered vegetables, and a charcoal-grilled Hirai hamburger with a soft trace of smoke. It is a small menu that knows exactly what it is doing.
Around it
The Living Pavilion handles the rest of the day, Western and local cooking served in fire-warmed rooms with a terrace open to the maples. On the terrace the chef grills three selected meats over coals. In the evening the house pours complimentary aperitifs, Champagne through to sparkling sake, with snacks to match.
Most guests come to Kyoto for the temples, and Aman keeps sixteen UNESCO World Heritage sites within reach of the gate. The pleasure of the place is that you do not have to leave it. A morning in the onsen, an afternoon in the garden, a seat at the counter after dark. The city waits where you left it.
Aman Kyoto sits in the Takagamine district of northern Kyoto. Taka-An serves omakase lunch from ¥20,000 and dinner from ¥50,000; the Kyoto Hirai beef kaiseki lunch is priced separately. Reservations through aman.com.
Photography courtesy of Aman — Aman Kyoto