Kikunoi Honten

Founded in 1912 and now in the hands of third-generation chef Yoshihiro Murata, Kikunoi is Kyoto kaiseki at its most refined — private tatami rooms with their own gardens, menus that turn with the seasons, ingredients available only days a year. The name means "chrysanthemum well," after a spring on the grounds said to have bubbled up in the shape of the flower; its water still goes into the dashi. Murata trades in tradition but isn't bound by it, occasionally folding in Western ingredients, and he's done more than almost anyone to carry Japanese cuisine abroad — he was instrumental in washoku's UNESCO heritage listing. Three Michelin stars. A genuine pilgrimage table for anyone serious about kaiseki.