Kadohama Goma-Tofu Sohonpo: Sesame Tofu Kaiseki on Koyasan

Overview

Goma-dofu, the sesame “tofu” of Japanese temple cooking, contains no soya at all: sesame paste is set with kudzu starch into a dense, faintly elastic block. On Koyasan it is the local speciality, and Kadohama Goma-Tofu Sohonpo is the name most closely tied to it. The shop's sesame tofu is offered as shojingu, the daily meal presented to Kobo Daishi at Okunoin, where he is held still to be in meditation.

Two kaiseki lunches are served, each 1,900 yen. Kongo Kaiseki sets out nine kinds of sesame tofu in a square nine-compartment box, from the plain block through a tempura version to something closer to a dessert; Taizo Kaiseki uses a round vessel modelled on a mandala, with one large piece under a mild mushroom sauce at its centre. Both come with kayaku-gohan and a clear soup. Lighter dishes run from fresh sesame tofu at 250 yen to Ryujin udon with tempura at 1,000 yen and a soft serve made from that morning's soya milk at 410 yen.

The shop opens 9.30am to 5pm with no fixed closing day, though it shuts occasionally without notice. Lunch begins at 11am and queues are normal, so book through the official site. The sesame tofu can also be ordered online and keeps for thirty days. Come by the Nankai Koya Line and cable car to Koyasan Station, then fifteen minutes by bus to Atagomae; drivers need about forty minutes from the Katsuragi-nishi interchange, with free parking at Atagomae just north of the shop.