Kaiseki Saryo Hachi to shift operations to Saratoga space
Kaiseki Saryo Hachi, one of the Bay Area’s rare kaiseki restaurants, will move from its current home in a Burlingame strip mall to a new space in Saratoga next year.
Husband and wife owners Shinichi Aoki and Yuko Nammo have taken over a tiny space at 14417 Big Basin Way, where they plan to relocate their fine-dining restaurant around July. They’re building out an intimate space with no more than eight counter seats and a few tables, for more direct interaction between customers and Aoki, the former chef at San Francisco’s Michelinstarred Hashiri. He’ll continue to serve an ever-changing selection of elaborate dishes that draw on both Japanese and local products, from tender baby abalone to poached tomatoes with blanched English peas.
Chronicle restaurant critic Soleil Ho called Kaiseki Saryo Hachi a true hidden gem with Michelin-level cooking: “Imagine walking into a neighborhood coffee shop and finding Alain Ducasse cooking behind the counter.”
Kaiseki is a multicourse Japanese meal that highlights seasonality and different cooking techniques, from steaming to grilling. Reservations for Kaiseki Saryo Hachi’s one-night seatings sell out quickly.
Nammo said they’ve felt somewhat limited in the Burlingame
space, which was originally her ramen restaurant and isn’t quite designed to operate as a kaiseki spot. They shifted to making kaiseki when Aoki lost his job during the pandemic. The couple always wanted to design their dream kaiseki restaurant but were “so used to being turned down” before the coroanvirus by landlords who were looking for tenants with deeper pockets, Nammo said. They stumbled onto the new space during a recent trip to Saratoga; the landlord happened to be there when they walked by, and was ready to take them on in light of pandemic-forced retail vacancies, Nammo said. Before acquiring the new space, the couple had spent time in Saratoga
visiting the Japanese Hakone Gardens. Nammo has also made Japanese macarons for tea ceremonies there.
The couple plans to decorate the new space with local wood, plus Japanese pottery and antiques they’ve collected over the years. The Saratoga restaurant will have a new name, likely incorporating Aoki, but the couple hasn’t decided yet.
Kaiseki Saryo Hachi will continue in its current space until they can open in Saratoga. They’re treating it as a pop-up of sorts, experimenting with different kinds of dishes to see what resonates with customers and what they should bring to the new spot. Last week, they served an entire menu devoted to specialty, premium crab from Japan.