Kaiseki meal: worth the price?

No doubt kaiseki meal is a work of fine culinary art, meticulously prepared with high-grade ingredients. However, do you find it worth the price? Otherwise, would you prefer to go to a good quality restaurant and order several top dishes?

I think the experience is definitely worth the expense, especially if you've never had kaiseki ryori before. Choosing a few different dishes at a nice restaurant just isn't the same, even though the cost might compare.

As a tourist, if you aren't planning to stay in a nice ryokan with the meals included (which are usually kaiseki style), then springing for a special kaiseki ryori meal could be a great experience. And If the price is important, there are cheaper kaiseki sets that will still give the experience without draining the wallet so much!

Just be sure to double check the menu so that you can really enjoy the course.
No point going for kaiseki if you don't eat half of what were served.

I have personally tried kaiseki during a ryokan stay. It was a crab course (local product). While the service and experience was outstanding, the amount of food served was too much. I saw plenty local restaurants served crab dishes with less price.

This time I'm going with my parents. At the hotel we will stay, there is an option to include kaiseki meals served at the restaurant at the cost of 4500 yen per person. While it's relatively cheap for a kaiseki meal and we can eat any Japanese food, with 3x4500 yen we can order a more variety food e.g. deluxe sashimi set plus other dishes e.g. hot pot, fish dishes etc at local restaurant. It is at a small city known for its fishing port, so seafood is fresh and cheap. I'm still considering whether taking the hotel's kaiseki worth the price.

I wonder what price you are looking at. As suggested, you can easily enjoy quality kaiseki in reasonable prices, especially at lunch time.

Meanwhile, you can't really compare it with going "to a good quality restaurant and order several top dishes". They're two totally different things.

The beauty of kaiseki is that you get this balanced course meal designed by the expertise of the chef, and served in balanced plates by the best-trained service people. And just as it is with many expensive restaurants, the service, location and scenery is often part of the price.

So do I think that kaiseki is worth the price of a few thousand yen? Of course it is. Is it worth ten thousand yen? Sure, if it's someone's birthday. Did I think a Michelin kaiseki was worth it? Not really. I just thought it was fancy rather than tastey, like some of the Californian cuisine restaurants in Southern California. I don't trust those stars they put on.

(I've only ever experienced kaiseki in ryokans, so my comments are only related to that setting, not having it in a kaiseki restaurant.)

For me, whilst being on the expensive, side a stay in a ryokan which includes a kaiseki dinner is VERY good value.

The variety and quality of food, the fabulous presentation, the luxurious experience of being served in a private space by "your" server, the chance to eat foods that I would never knew existed, and certainly wouldn't know to order in a restaurant, the chance to try local specialities, the fantastic plates, dishes, etc, the chance to eat in a lovely Japanese room, or sitting round an irori....they are all things that either I simply aren't available where I live, or, to the extent that some of these experiences are available (albeit mainly not to the standard that they are in Japan), they are hugely expensive.

If we said that a fairly expensive ryokan would be JPY30,000 (and, of course, pretty good ryokan are available for around half that price, I'm taking an expensive example to highlight the point), then that's around GBP180. However, it includes a kaiseki dinner (which, even if you could get it, would be well over GBP100), a great breakfast (say GBP 15 or 20), onsen bathing (not available here, but if you equate it to a trip to a spa then you're talking anything upwards of GBP30), and a night's accommodation in what is probably a memorable building.

It's a lot more than it costs to stay at a business hotel and go out for kaiten sushi, but I think it represents exceptional value and is worth saving my money for, as a treat.

"I'm still considering whether taking the hotel's kaiseki worth the price."
it is true that if you take a dinner out of the hotel, it costs less. hotel's restaurant is more expensive.

The first thing to be aware of is that there are two different words that are both transliterated as 'kaiseki' in Romaji.

懐石 is a special type of meal that's originally based on tea ceremony cuisine. Individual seasonal dishes are prepared with various cooking methods - e.g. a raw dish is followed by a simmered dish, followed by a steamed dish and then a grilled dish and so on. Usually the service style is very formal, and this type of kaiseki is usually served in a ryokan or a restaurant that specializes in kaiseki.

会席 on the other hand is just an extra-fancy prix-fixe menu.

If your kaiseki meal is in your hotel restaurant, as opposed to a specialty restaurant, it might be the second type.

Still though, five thousand yen is a pretty decent price for a full-course prix-fixe meal. Whether or not it's worth the money depends entirely on the restaurant. You might want to check it out on Tabelog to see if there are any comments or ratings.

Generally speaking, hotel restaurants deliver less value for money compared to stand-alone restaurants, but they're more convenient if you're already staying in the hotel.

Thank you for sharing your opinions.

It's true that the kaiseki presentation, quality and service is top notch and good to be experienced once. Paying 6000-8000 yen per person is still within my acceptable budget, but it's tough to afford meals over 10k yen for more than 2 person, unless it's for some special events e.g. anniversary.

The hotel we'll stay offers different class of meals and how it's served: at the hotel's restaurant, at a private room in the restaurant, and in the guest room. The only time I had the crab kaiseki served in the room left the room, towel, and yukata smelled crab which lingered until the next day. Thus, although not very exclusive, we may prefer the option for the restaurants.

@Umami Dearest:
Interesting, I though "kaiseki" has only 1 meaning. The one we will have is "会席", but I think for the given price, it's still quite a good value to introduce kaiseki to my parents :)

t I think for the given price, it's still quite a good value to introduce kaiseki to my parents :)

Once again, it's not kaiseki cuisine, in this case the word "kaiseki" is just a term for their fanciest level of full-course menu. It will probably be a good meal though, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Reinstating my initial query about kaiseki, we have decided to go for real kaiseki in Kyoto restaurant. Some restaurants are quite affordable and they offer different course meals.

As there will be 3 of us, is it allowed to order different course meals in one table? For example 2 sets of 8-course meal and 1 set of 10 course meal. We would like to try the different courses.

Also, when having different set of kaiseki cuisine, is it polite to share the dishes? For example, one set has a tofu, another set has fish, so we split the tofu and the fish to allow each other tasting the food.

"As there will be 3 of us, is it allowed to order different course meals in one table? For example 2 sets of 8-course meal and 1 set of 10 course meal. We would like to try the different courses."
generally, Yes. you can.

"is it polite to share the dishes? "
of course, it is not polite, as you are afraid.
however, you can exchange the dishes in secret (without saying anything), because tasting kaiseki is your challenge and adventure.