店 に つ い て
水戸の裏路地で、移ろう季節を皿の上に描く。
The story of a small room in Mito — the hands behind the counter, the season on the plate, and the quiet we keep for the people who sit down with us.
板 前 · 大 塚 誠 一 郎
素材の声を聴き、
素直に引く。
The name 「美味 (bimi)」 carries the itamae’s promise: no ornament for its own sake, only the honest drawing-out of the true flavour an ingredient already holds.
Every morning he goes himself to Nakaminato (那珂湊) harbour in Ibaraki, choosing live fish landed at that day’s dawn — fish that still carry the cold of the water and the scent of the tide. The knife changes with the turning of the season, so that each one reaches the table in its most beautiful form.
ITAMAE
大塚 誠一郎
板前 · 大塚 誠一郎
Seiichiro Otsuka spent more than twenty years between Kyoto (京都) and Tokyo, learning traditional washoku the long way. He returned home to Ibaraki to open a room of his own — a hidden dining room, kept small on purpose.
“What we serve is not a formal course to be endured. It is home cooking, made with as much care and honesty as I have — simmered slowly, grilled patiently over binchōtan — to sit beside whichever sake you choose tonight.”
「一口の肴に、一雫の酒。それだけで、夜は満ちてゆく。」
一期一会の空間
The room is built from timber that has aged for decades, warm and unhurried in the way of a kominka (古民家 — an old Japanese farmhouse), lit low by paper lanterns. It suits a solitary cup of sake as easily as a quiet evening with someone you care for.
テーブル席 · 半個室
A quiet half-private room, screened by latticed wood — the seclusion an evening asks for, whether you are entertaining colleagues or sitting down with family.
カウンター席
A long counter of solid wood, close enough to follow the rhythm of the knife and each dish as it is prepared — made for drinking alone, unhurried.