Although I have never been to Japan, I've always dreamt of visiting the country and being immersed in its culture.
Stepping into Kigo, a fine-dining Japanese restaurant located in the heart of the Dubai International Financial Centre felt like a close enough taste.
First impressions
The entrance is an unassuming black door, tucked next to the Four Seasons Hotel DIFC. My guest and I were greeted in the dimmed, cosy reception by Japanese waitresses dressed in traditional kimonos. About 90 per cent of Kigo's staff of 30 people are Japanese, which, based on 2021 data, means almost one per cent of the Japanese population in the UAE works at Kigo.
Ascending the stairs, the 44-seat dining room was akin to being invited to an intimate family dinner. Besides the few tables carefully arranged around the room, there is a chef's sushi counter made of rare Aji stone, a fine-grained granite sourced from Japan's Kagawa Prefecture. There is also a Japanese-style room for private dining parties.
The menu
Kigo offers two options for set menus, Sushi Omakase and Seasonal Kaiseki, both of which change seasonally.
We were the first to be there at 9pm, one of three seating times, and were warmly guided to our table to begin a 12-course signature Kaiseki meal, traditional to Japan and a cornerstone of culinary creativity.
With a multi-course menu, the chef prioritises using seasonal ingredients and aesthetic presentation to create a unique experience. This specific menu is based on autumn in Japan, and will be on offer until November, when the restaurant will switch to its winter menu.
A collaboration between chefs Izu Ani, Akinori Tanigawa and Daihachiro Ebata, with dishes made with the finest ingredients imported directly from Japan twice a week, the Dh2,500 set menu is an experience to splurge on, combining culinary brilliance and extraordinary flavours.
Our first dish, the sakizuke, was a Kuruma prawn, or Japanese tiger prawn, freshly cooked and placed on a bed of tangy jelly, paired with a piece of smoked aubergine and topped with flowers, giving it an earthy flavour.
Next was the owan soup course. The broth had an umami fish flavour, made with pike conger, an eel that is often eaten in Kyoto during the summer. The soup also had matsutake, a type of large, brown, wild mushroom treasured in Japanese cuisine. It had a unique, almost floral flavour and paired wonderfully with the eel.
The third course, mukozuke, meaning "placed to the side", is a tray dish typically served in a seasonal kaiseki meal. It included two main plates of flounder, squid and seared bonito sashimi. The squid was citrusy, while the bonito had an unforgettable rich smoky quality.
For the fourth course, or the hassun, the chef presented his specialty dish. A decorated autumn-inspired seasonal plate with elements from the mountain and the sea. It is typically eaten from hot to cold, symbolising the flow of the seasons, emotions and food altogether.
My guest and I started with the beef, which was carefully arranged in a ramekin. It was warm and quite rich with a velvety texture and a hint of ginger. Next was the black cod, marinated in miso and lightly torched at the top for a smoky touch. Then was the perfectly ripe persimmon, served with other pickled vegetables in its own ramekin and roasted sweet green chilli soaked in sesame oil. Finally, the sweet potato was the perfect conclusion to the tray, successfully achieving a delicious balance between sweet and savoury.
The fifth course was nigiri sushi, a piece of otoro and chutoro, fatty melt-in-your-mouth buttery tuna fish, holding an incredible amount of flavour. A generous drop of caviar was gently placed by the chef as a special touch.
Course six, ryoko, was one of my favourites and an ode to the end of summer. Cold, thin rice noodles were soaked in a zesty kelp broth and topped with a Toyama white deep-sea shrimp and paper-thin slices of lemon wedges. Eating this dish was thoroughly refreshing from start to finish, from the sweet shrimp, to the palate-cleansing lemons and the cooling noodles in broth.
The next course was shiizakana, a thinly-cut Kumamoto tender A5 wagyu beef sirloin, which was cooked very briefly in a shabu-shabu, Japanese hot pot, and dipped in a tart ponzu sauce. The ponzu balances the sweetness of the beef, and its brief cook-time preserves its tenderness.
The eighth course was agemono, a deep-fried dish, which was beltfish in this case. Crispy, buttery and most definitely truffley, this made for the perfect bite with its generous coating of shredded truffle.
The ninth course, oshokuji, had a very homely feel. A warm, deeply-comforting bowl of slow-cooked rice and salmon with wild mushroom, topped with salmon roe pearls. The keiji salmon, also known as the "phantom fish", is a rare delicacy caught in Hokkaido, and tasted truly luxurious and delicate thanks to its high fat content of 20 to 30 per cent.
The final bowl, the tomewan, was a delicious miso soup with fresh yuba or tofu skin.
For the mizugashi or the water dessert, we tried the sweetest and most refreshing melon I had ever come across.
And to finish our meal, we enjoyed a ceremonial-grade hot matcha, produced by Japanese tea producer Hoshino Seichaen, which was served with a yuzu citrus pairing for a deeply-satisfying sweet and earthy ending to a fantastic meal.
The standout dishes
After experiencing all 12 courses, I had to thoroughly think about which stood out to me the most, and decided that the fourth, sixth and ninth courses are unforgettable. A dazzling balance between traditional, refreshing and comforting, these dishes will always live in my memory.
The verdict
There are moments in life where one experience can completely transform your perspective. Over the course of an evening, Kigo was successful in that by offering rich Japanese culture, boundless kindness and delicious food made with top-quality ingredients.
It is not an experience one can splurge on every day, but that's what makes it so special.
Kigo, Four Seasons Hotel DIFC; 04 506 0388; open Wednesday to Monday, from 6pm until midnight.
This review was conducted at the invitation of the restaurant
