Established in 1914, Tofu Kaiseki Kusumura (豆腐懐石くすむら) is a shop of old standing in Nagoya, which has been committing in producing great quality of Tofu, for more than 100 years. Not only producing Tofu but also they currently serve Kaiseki Japanese style meals in the restaurant adjacent to the factory. This enables the customers to enjoy the freshest Tofu from the factory.
The quality of Tofu is amazingly different from what we usually get from supermarket, because they only use soybeans grown in Hokkaido and Aichi, using the freshest ingredients with top skills. The quality of Tofu has been recognized as one of the tops, which resulted in devoting them to Ise Jingu Shrine, the top Japanese shrine.
We have interviewed Mr. Tsuge, an executive chef.
Credit: https://kusumura.co.jp/
Q
First, could you tell us why you have started serving Muslims?
A
Tofu itself is a food which can be consumed by the people who has special dietary preferences, not to mention Halal or Muslim-friendly meals. The fact that even vegetarians or vegans can consume our main product, Tofu, became a strong motivation to adapt to the people who has dietary preferences. I believed that our shop has to adapt to the new changes, even though we have more than 100 years of history.
Q
Tofu is a perfect food for those who has religious or health restrictions. However, we feel like Tofu can be too plain, especially for the foreigners coming to Japan. How are their reactions?
A
From my observation, a lot of foreigners have already tried Tofu in their own countries. But I cannot deny that Tofu is more like a healthy food than a tasty food for them.
When these people first try our Tofu, with a bit of doubt for the quality, they get surprised and tell me “I have never imagined that the Tofu could be this nice!” and finish their meal up. This story not only applies to foreigners; however, this is the moment I feel extremely happy as a chef.
Q
How do you serve Halal or Muslim-friendly meals?
A
We serve in Kaiseki course style, which is the most traditional way of serving food in Japan. The main food here is of course Tofu or Yuba, a film made when boiling soy milk, but there are also fish or meat dishes.
When serving meal, we use halal-certified one and we pay attention not to mix up the Halal and non-Halal seasonings or kitchen tools. The price is comparatively expensive as it is served in a course style, but not a small number of customers come to our restaurant for few days in-a-low.
Credit: https://kusumura.co.jp/
Q
In Japan, most of the Halal or Muslim-friendly meals are all like Indian or Turkish food. It is so rare to see traditional Japanese food being Halal and served in Kaiseki style.
A
Absolutely. I would like all the travelers to enjoy the local meal which they can only enjoy in Japan, because I believe this is the most integral part of the travel.
Q
What do you do for the Muslims other than preparing food?
A
In order to correctly pass the information, we have a paper-based “Muslim-friendly policy”. We have not obtained Halal certificate, but we try to convey as maximum and correct information as possible to our Muslims customers, to make them fully understand and satisfied with our service.
Q
It is clearly mentioned! I believe that there will be no misunderstandings if this paper is shown to your customers. Do you have any message for your customers?
A
Japanese food has to be enjoyed while feeling four different seasons. Tofu could be cooked in various ways according to the season, too. I would be more than happy if you could enjoy our Tofu, feeling these beauties of Japan.
Details of the restaurant
Name：Tofu Kaiseki Kusumura (豆腐懐石くすむら) Address：56, Iida-cho, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 461-0013 愛知県名古屋市東区飯田町56 Genre：Japanese food, restaurant Tel：052-937-0345 Closed：Monday (Open if Monday is holiday with Tuesday closed instead) Others：Private room available
Information as of July 2022.
The restaurant is not Halal certified, so there is a small risk of contamination or unknown haram ingredients included which we cannot be responsible of.
