The chef wows guests with a wealth of ingredients produced predominantly in his native town of Minami-Kayabe near Hakodate and from Hokkaido’s entire rich natural landscape. The cuisine at Kowari is a chef’s tasting course of around ten dishes. It begins with four amuse bouche plates, followed by pasta, two exquisite Hokkaido seafood dishes, a meat dish, rice or pasta, and dessert. The details of each are dictated entirely by daily deliveries. Replete with originality and excellent flavor diversity, the dishes contain premium produce like fish, shellfish, crab, and abalone, which the chef has access to thanks to his Hokkaido roots. Dessert always comprises a mini sundae with seasonal flavors. On a recent day, that meant a piña colada-inspired concoction starting with coconut ice cream made from pure Hokkaido milk combined with pineapple.

Ayu sweetfish from Amanogawa is grilled over charcoal and served with cucumber and kombu flakes. Hokkigai Sakhalin surf clams from Hokuto City are heated just enough to release the incredible flavors. A pasta featuring seikogani snow crab from Funka Bay combines flesh from male crabs with an abundance of eggs from females and is topped with butterbur shoots sauce. Ravioli containing shiitake from Fukuda Farm in Nanae and sumptuous duck confit is topped with homemade ham and blue cheese sauce. Wild Ezo abalone from Hakodate is accompanied by morels and a Shaoxing wine sauce.

INGREDIENTS
Bountiful fish and shellfish come to Kowari from off the coast of Minami-Kayabe in Hokkaido. Even increasingly harder to obtain ingredients, like makombu giant kelp, come here from a fisherman friend of a childhood classmate. Ayu sweetfish are caught in the pristine waters of the Amanogawa River, which runs through Kaminokuni town in the Hiyama region, located on the Japan Sea side in Hokkaido‘s southwest. Organic vegetables and sumptuous pork are delivered directly from Onuma Akari Farm.