Hamo
Photo: さえぼー · CC0

History

Hamo arrives in Kyoto from June to August across the Awaji Strait. The fish has hundreds of tiny bones, so Kyoto chefs developed honegiri, a slicing technique that cuts each fillet at millimetre intervals without severing the skin. The bones soften when quick-poached; the flesh flowers open like a chrysanthemum. The dish became the summer marker of Gion Matsuri, served at every ryotei in July alongside ume-su plum vinegar. Hyotei and Kikunoi serve the canonical version.

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Common allergens: Fish

Make it at home

Yield 2Hands-on 30 minTotal 45 minDifficulty Advanced

Ingredients

  • 400g pike conger eel (hamo) or substitute with conger eel from a Japanese fish market
  • 1 tablespoon umeboshi pickled plum paste
  • 60ml rice vinegar, 30ml mirin, 15ml light soy
  • 1 strip kombu kelp
  • Sliced cucumber, myoga ginger and shiso leaves to serve

Method

  1. If using whole eel, ask the fishmonger to honegiri-slice the fillet: 1mm cuts along the length without severing the skin.
  2. Make a kombu dashi by cold-soaking kombu in 600ml water for 30 minutes; bring to 80C and strain.
  3. Combine umeboshi paste, vinegar, mirin and soy for the ume-su dipping sauce.
  4. Bring the dashi to a gentle simmer in a wide pan.
  5. Drop the hamo fillets in pieces; they will curl and flower open within 30 seconds. Lift immediately with a slotted spoon and shock in iced water for 10 seconds.
  6. Plate the bloomed hamo on a bed of cucumber and shiso; spoon ume-su over and serve with myoga slices.

Tip from the editors. Honegiri is the entire dish. If your fish supplier can't do the bone-cutting, choose a different fish; the technique is what makes hamo edible.

Where to eat hamo

Hamo in Kyoto

Kikunoi Honten 3 ★ ★ 4.9

¥¥¥¥ Tasting Lunch from ¥22,000; dinner from ¥38,000KaisekiHigashiyamaChef Yoshihiro Murata

The defining three-Michelin-star kaiseki room in Kyoto. Third-generation Yoshihiro Murata runs Kikunoi Honten, a 1912 ryotei below Kodaiji. Priced at ¥¥¥¥.

SignatureKaiseki, Hamo, Ayu

Book1 to 3 months ahead

Directions Book

Hyotei 3 ★ ★ 4.9

¥¥¥¥ Tasting Lunch from ¥23,000; dinner from ¥33,000KaisekiNorthern HigashiyamaChef Yoshihiro Takahashi

An Edo-era teahouse at the gate of Nanzen-ji in Kyoto, restyled as a ryotei in 1837. Located in Northern Higashiyama. Led by chef Yoshihiro Takahashi.

SignatureMorning gruel, Hyotei tamago, Hassun

Book1 to 3 months ahead

Directions Book

Gion Sasaki 3 ★ ★ 4.8

¥¥¥¥ Tasting Dinner from ¥40,000KaisekiGionChef Hiroshi Sasaki

Hiroshi Sasaki runs a teacher-and-apprentice kitchen on Komatsu-cho. Counter seats deliver a 12-course kaiseki with a freer hand than the old ryotei.

SignatureKaiseki, Crab, Charcoal-grilled wagyu

Book2 to 4 months ahead

Directions Book

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