EMBA KYOTO GRILL Four Seasons Kyoto - Nouvelle Japanese-Inspired Grill

Kyoto has such a vibe to it and just about every luxury hotel brand has a footing in this incredibly popular city, so it was not a surprise that the Four Seasons Kyoto has been welcoming guests since 2016 and its signature restaurant EMBA Kyoto Grill piqued our interest to see what angle they could spin. mylifestylenews writes.

The Four Seasons Kyoto is tucked away in the serene and well-preserved Hagashiyama district that is reknown for its historical streets, traditional wooden architecture, temples and shrines offering a quintessential glimpse into old Japan that can be easily accessed by metro with a short walk and just minutes away by car to the famous Kiyomizu-dera temple. The hotel prides itself as a contemporary oasis nestled around Shakusui-en, an 800-year old heritage pond garden with an unrivalled setting for cultural ritual and culinary exploration and we had the opportunity to explore their signature restaurant EMBA Kyoto Grill for dinner.

Upon arriving at the hotel's long driveway entrance, there was very little lighting and seemed too dark alongside with the soaring bamboo wall fencing. Once we entered the main lobby we could not easily locate signage of its very dimmed lighting and we approached the front desk for assistance. We were then told to head one floor down via the large staircase with illuminated glass handles to witness the grandeur of the lower lobby with furniture and lounge chairs as well as low table settings sitting on a green carpet. The bright wooden wall with built in lighting illuminates the entire area and the ceiling high windows allow you to look at the serene pond garden during the day.

In terms of first impressions, EMBA Kyoto Grill looked very sleek visually, with the identical colour tone wooden floor at the entrance which segued into the main dining area. The design is a very open plan, with the main entrance thoroughfare a wide space that leads you up to a hostess desk and into the main dining room proper, but to the left of the entrance is a long marble restaurant bar that seems to be a poignant interior hallmark for this restaurant that runs along one wall as the main bar with the outdoor terrace and garden behind it. Once again, due to the minimal lighting it was difficult to get a sense of what was directly outside in which guests are supposedly to marvel at the heritage garden pond, but perhaps only when daylight appears.

While there was no staff member at the entrance of EMBA Kyoto Grill, we waited a good 5 minutes and then decided to proceed by walking ourselves into the restaurant proper to catch someone’s attention (it turned out the hostess desk was in the restaurant proper), which then resulted in us being ushered to our reserved table after checking the required prior reservation.

Further leading towards the end of the restaurant on even a darker lighting mood was another stairway leading back to the ground level. Dark wooden dining furniture may not enhance the overall atmospheric ambience especially at night and at the end of the restaurant is the gigantic cellar wall that looked rather attractive that at least added a sense of brightness to the darkness in the main dining room.

The elevated white marble flooring with a couple of semi-private banquette booths was along the right side looking across the main dining area to the wall of windows on the other side, affording views of the spot lit trees outside amidst the alfresco dining. The restaurant also seemed to lack that “WOW” element in the interior design, save for a few marble set pieces and as a Four Seasons hotel brand, we expected a bit more of an elevated space with luxury touches as well as accents of architectural detail and object d’art.

While EMBA Kyoto Grill touts itself as a modern steakhouse that serves premium grilled meats alongside fresh seafood, we did not get a sense that it was, as the interior design elements did not create the prestigious steakhouse grill atmosphere, which might have something to do with the fact that the restaurant also doubles up as the breakfast room. It looks instead more like an all-day dining than a signature restaurant. A set menu was prepared for us so we had a chance to sample a few contrasting dishes that began with a home-made sourdough with a delicious creamy charcoal butter.

 

<Bluefin Tuna Tartare with Hand-cut Chutoro, Citrus, Avacado & Yuzu Pepper>
A delicious start to our menu and a beautiful presentation as well. The medium-fatty cut of the tuna belly was delectable in texture and flavour, balancing the richness of the fattiest otoro and the leanness of akami, offering a hint of sweetness and buttery flavour with the Yuzu pepper providing a nice kick along with the avacado and citrus. It was playfully garnished with a black charcoal cracker in the shape of a whole fish bone.
 

<Charcoal Grilled Cauliflower Sesame Crusted with Mint Yoghurt & Sesame Sauce>
The cauliflower as a vegetable can be a little bit boring, but this rendition created a flavourful dish and the char-grilled flavour, sesame crust and yoghurt added a nice counterpoint. The presentation was very considered and overall extremely enjoyable.
 

<Lobster Soup, Kujo Scallion, Kinuhikari Rice & Caviar>
A lovely presentation with a little “frou frou” as the lobster bouillon is to be poured in front of you when served on the soup plate which only consisted of a small block of Kinuhikari rice for its delicate, slightly sweet and a soft but firm sticky texture, topped with caviar, sweet and tender Kyoto’s Kujo scallion as well as small edible flowers. The redolent lobster flavour was so unctuous, yet the addition of the caviar, scallion and rice had not much of an impact on the palate, so may be purely for show. 
 

<Japanese Wagyu Beef Tenderloin>
While the provenance of the beef from Hokkaido Prefecture was not specified when served (as we did expect such specificity since they had done on previous menu items), the wagyu was reasonably cooked to order in medium rare as requested and expected that was so tender and flavoursome on the palate no less. It didn’t take long to finish as it was pretty good and the piquant béarnaise sauce was an ideal accompaniment together with the shoe string variety of Truffle French Fries, Garlic-Fried Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli, that  made a perfect sidekick for the steak.

 

<“Homare” Green Tea & Mizuyokan>
The Homare Green Tea and Mizuyokan (a form of chilled red bean water jelly) is a beloved traditional sweet in Japan that was nicely presented with some light and delicate flavours. An apricot sorbet was also served and you could enjoy each separate ingredient on its own and combined.

The evening was quite enjoyable and the food was quite consistent with some courses excellent but the robotic service was a little bit of the let down - some staff came to our table quite switched on but others seem disoriented as there was not one designated team member that took charge of table service and everyone seemed to be offering their extra hands to other staff members at the same time. Moreover, quite often when we questioned what some of the ingredients were they had to go back and ask, so not entirely seamless by having the product knowledge well informed. This Japanese-inspired Grill ticked a few boxes from the food front with quality produce well executed. It would have been more memorable with a bit more thought on the supposed steakhouse manner with a more luxurious dining experience in a sophisticated ambiance and exceptional, personalized service.

Tried & Tested:

Location: 4/5
Design & Decor: 3.5/5
Food & Beverage: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Value For Money: 4/5
Experience: 4/5
 

EMBA KYOTO GRILL Four Seasons Kyoto  

445-3 Myohoin Maekawacho

Higashiyama Ward,

Kyoto, Japan

Tel: +81 7 5541 8288

Reviews are based on actual day of visit and experience. mylifestylenews reserves the right of final decision in case of any disputes. All images are photographed by mylifestylenews team without any photoshop enhancement and are the property owned by mylifestylenews unless otherwise stated.