A Tour of Hyogo's Terroir
The “Hometown” course at “Yamazato Ryori Maekawa” features 9 dishes with seasonal vegetables as the main focus, priced at 12,000 yen.
Surrounded by the Tanba Mountain Range, the Sasayama Basin boasts favorable natural conditions, such as the temperature differences unique to the basin, deep fog that settles from autumn to winter, and nutrient-rich clay soil. These conditions contribute to the abundance of exceptional products from the mountains and fields. “Yamazato Ryori Maekawa,” which opened in April 2020, offers a course menu that highlights ingredients sourced primarily from Sasayama, which has such high potential.
The owner is Tomoaki Maekawa. After training in kaiseki cuisine in Kyoto for about 12 years, he returned to his hometown of Tanba-Sasayama. There, he renovated a 150-year-old townhouse in the castle town to open his restaurant.
The origin of his cooking lies in the kinpira (sautéed and simmered root vegetables) his grandmother made when he was a child.
“The seasoning was strong, yet you could still taste the flavor of the burdock root, and it was so delicious. Even after becoming a chef and eating high-end cuisine, I could never forget the impression I had of my grandmother’s cooking. I thought there should be a place where people can remember Tanba-Sasayama, regardless of whether it’s urban or rural, as a hometown. A restaurant that serves ‘Tanba-Sasayama cuisine’ would be a great idea,” says Maekawa.
Tachimachi, where “Maekawa” is located, is a castle town that still retains historic shops and famous buildings from the late Edo period.
Appetizer of tomato and pike conger roe aspic.
The menu simply lists it as “Tomato.” “We intentionally highlight the main ingredient to shift the focus and encourage guests to fully enjoy it. Of course, there are other components in the dish, but we hope they’ll have fun imagining what they might be,” says Maekawa.
Egg tofu and wild boar clear soup.
White miso-dressed potatoes and homemade venison ham, served with freshly harvested herbs from the garden.
Crop damage caused by wildlife is a serious issue for the town. At “Maekawa,” wild boar and deer are actively used as locally sourced ingredients from Sasayama. “Since some people find the gamey smell of wild meat unpleasant, we put extra effort into seasoning,” they explain.
“Even now, when I feel unsure about cooking, I often think, ‘What would Grandma do?'”
Steamed eggplant and steamed conger eel wrapped around a ginger-infused rice dumpling.
A dish featuring zucchini, baby corn, and gourd prepared as “thunder-dried” vegetables, accompanied by pike conger aspic. Topped with a sauce of tomato and pickled plum reduced with red wine, this is a dish designed to highlight a variety of textures.
Pickled red onion and red shiso, paired with baby potatoes thinned from the father’s farm, and young wild boar served with perilla miso. A dish to savor with seasonal and local flavors.
The course concludes with a three-piece set: sun-dried rice cooked in a Tamba-yaki clay pot, black soybean miso soup, and homemade pickles. The pickles include takana greens, Jerusalem artichoke, takuan (pickled daikon), umeboshi (pickled plum), and “Home Miso.”
The restaurant offers seasonal omakase courses, with two options for lunch and three options for dinner.
Every dish in the course is made entirely with ingredients from Tamba Sasayama. Maekawa incorporates wild boar and deer hunted by his childhood friend in the nearby mountains, processing the meat in-house with careful bloodletting and low-temperature cooking to create homemade ham, served with freshly picked herbs from his garden. He also cooks sun-dried Koshihikari rice, grown with his father, in a clay pot and arranges an assortment of homemade pickles in handcrafted bamboo vessels. While the ingredients and preparation exude a homely warmth, the vibrant and artful presentation, fitting for special occasions, feels like a heartfelt welcome from the entire Sasayama community.
“When guests finish their meal and say, ‘That was such a gentle, delicious flavor,’ it truly makes me happy.”
“When visiting the town of Sasayama, be sure to stop by this ‘mountain village restaurant’ to experience the warm welcome of Sasayama’s land and enjoy a moment of comfort and relaxation.”
Private rooms overlooking the courtyard. There are four private rooms, all furnished with table seating.
Yamazato Cuisine Maekawa
Address: 93 Tatsucho, Tamba-Sasayama, Hyogo, Japan
Phone: +81-90-2065-4595
Hours: 11:30–15:00 (LO 13:30), 17:00–22:00 (LO 19:00)
Closed: Mondays (or the following day if Monday is a public holiday; occasional additional closures)
Website: http://maekawa-sasayama.com/