The foundation of Chef Yamamoto's cuisine is in the style of the Osaka favorite, Kagaman. In contrast to Kyoto cuisine's elegant, delicate flavors, traditional Japanese cooking in Osaka is about the bright and impactful appearance of seasonal delicacies that guests savor with their eyes and palates. Yamamoto never forgets this foundation, nor is he stuck in the past; he flexibly incorporates new elements in keeping with the times and guests’ needs. His capacity to think on his feet and adjust to any situation was cultivated through a wealth of experiences at small eateries, as a resident chef, and in a hotel.

While staying faithful to Japanese cuisine’s roots in cha kaiseki, a formal meal served before a tea ceremony, Yamamoto inserts creative touches, remains flexible, and makes sure never to be overly enamored with himself. The essence of the dining experience is to delight in expressions of the season through food. This balance of faithfulness to tradition and willingness to try new things is why Nukumi has been so successful in Sapporo for more than 15 years. Nukumi offers three degustation choices, each with about ten dishes of seasonal delicacies, followed by a course of rice with miso soup and pickles, and later, the best seasonal fruit.

There is no menu; everything is determined by the ingredients that have arrived fresh or reached their peak that day. The basic flow starts with a refreshing hors d’oeuvre followed by a small bite of cooked rice or sushi, then a lidded bowl, sashimi, and the hassun course showcasing the best of the mountain and seas. Next is a grilled or fried dish, then a simmered dish, before closing with rice cooked in a clay pot with seasonal produce. With ingredients and flavors changing slightly each day, the chef composes his menu focused on overall balance. The chance to taste unique Hokkaido ingredients adds to Nukumi’s appeal: sushi made with nishin Pacific herring and local rice cultivar Yumepirika; renowned sweet and succulent shimaebi shrimp; and Tamafukura edamame with large, fleshy beans.

Yamamoto ascertains and works to accentuate the best quality of his ingredients. This is more complex than determining when each item has reached its peak; it is about achieving the best flavor combination between the many components. Take, for example, the wanmono lidded bowl dish – the star of any kaiseki course. In a given season, the dish may feature Hokkaido matsutake mushrooms and Awaji hamo daggertooth pike conger in warming dashi. The heady aromas of matsutake emerge when the cap begins to open, but too far open, and the delicious toothsome texture is lost. The chef must consider the flavor, aroma, and texture balance when all these items meet in the bowl.

With presentation an essential element, one course is served on a dish reminiscent of a bamboo basket made for winnowing grain in honor of the autumn harvest season. Accented by autumn leaves and ginkgo nuts, the magnificent display showcases ingredients nestled within pots carved from lemon or sudachi that look like exquisite chrysanthemums. Contrast this with the salt-grilled ayu sweetfish atop bamboo grass and charcoal in a dish brimming with rustic beauty. And then comes the impressive rice course: the chef opens a piping hot stone pot to reveal rice packed with the flavor and flesh of a whole hairy crab. All the hard work of pulling out the meat has been done for you – all you need to do is devour it!

INGREDIENTS
Chef Yamamoto’s criteria for ingredient selection is simple: the most delicious items that season has produced. His food contains generous helpings of local Hokkaido ingredients like wild matsutake and maitake mushrooms, hairy crab, and the deluxe fish kinki (broadfin thorny head) found in the deep waters of the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Fresh fish and shellfish also arrive from Toyosu Market and the markets of Kyushu, as do specialty Kyoto and Ishikawa vegetables, all in the pursuit of the best ingredients Japan has to offer. For the kombu that flavors Yamamoto’s all-important dashi, he uses only Hokkaido products: grade-one, wild Rishiri kombu for his primary dashi, and wild Rausu kombu for secondary dashi.