I'm sure the website didn't exist (at least not in English) when I was there nearly 8 years ago. However the convenience of it now is that it explains the dishes I ate much better than I can.
http://www.hiraso.jp/lang/english.html
It's refreshing to know that I ordered all the dishes they now list on the website as their specials. How progressive was I...
In case this information disappears for whatever reason, here's what is says:
Kakinoha zushi
- Kakinoha zushi is descended from the traditional sushi dish “Nare zushi”. Nare zushi is the origin of the sushi in Japan, and used rice for the fermentation process. This was the wisdom from the ancients, so as to preserve the sea products in an inland place like Nara.
- Kakinoha zushi is a treasure of sea and thoughts of people, wrapped in a persimmon leaf which has many benefits and was invented as a medication by ancient Japanese.
- Our ancestors never forget to thank the lives we are taking so we can live. Kakinohazushi contains treasure from the sea (a mackerel), the mountain (a persimmon leaf) and the land (rice). It plays the trinity harmony and remains the wisdom of ancient people. Please enjoy tasting the sense of history and remembrance of the venerable Nara.
Cha gayu
- Cha gayu is rice porridge made with rice, roasted green tea and salt.
- This is also a local cuisine which you may enjoy either hot or cold. A very simple meal but not poor, inelegant but a rich dish. I recommend you to take a time to taste it. It is a gentle meal for your health. You will feel the richness of this meal and would love to have it in everyday life. Each little piece of rice in a bowl contains rich flavours of roasted green tea and expanded with tea moist in beautiful golden brown colour.
Ayu zushi
- Another local cuisine you may like to try is Ayu zushi, this is a traditional style of sushi from ancient times in Yoshino Nara. This style of sushi is one of our specialities and we have been serving this dish to the Royal Family for years.
- Ayu zushi is a very unique style of sushi and is served with a whole cooked river fish on top of the sushi.
- We have two types of Ayu zushi, one is marinated ayu fish with sweet vinegar, which you may enjoy a freshness of the fish and refreshing vinegrated flavor, the other is baked ayu fish which is seasoned with our original soy sauce based sweet sauce.
My memories were the fish:rice ratio was quite low in the zushi. There was a strong fermented/vinegar flavour overall.