葉歩花庭（Habuakatei）  神楽坂・牛込柳町/和食（Kagurazaka-UshigomeYanagicho/Japanese）

神楽坂のメインストリートから一本奥まった軽子坂周辺には、様々なジャンルの小さな飲食店、昔ながらの料亭、やや大きなオフィスビル、そして民家が隣り合っている。一見ミスマッチながら何となく調和しているのは、この街故か。そんな坂を上りきり、さらに少し進んだ右手の奥、袋小路のようになった静かな場所に「葉歩花庭」は佇んでいる。

この名前を最初に目にした際には、どう読むのかと戸惑う方が多いかもしれない。シェフの名字（＝羽深）と、「葉が歩んで花となる。葉の部分を軽んじては、良い花は生まれない。」という生け花の教え、そして「四季を食すことの喜び、季節ごとの美しさを皆様と共に楽しめる庭のような場所でありたい。」という思いを掛けて、「はぶかてい」と読む。何故、生け花？それはシェフの奥様が園芸家であり、上記の言葉は生け花の師匠からの大事な教えであるから。ちなみに店の内外を彩る四季折々の植物は、全て奥様の手によるものである。

そんな季節の緑と自然の光が柔らかく交錯するエントランスを通り抜けると、左手がカウンターと厨房、右手が３つのテーブル席。ふんだんに使われている古木の発する「気」のせいか、良い意味での緊張感に加えて、山中にある工房を訪れたような不思議な温かさが感じられる。

羽深シェフが供するのは旬の素材にこだわった会席料理。しかも「店名に込めた生け花の師匠の教えは、そのまま料理にも当てはまります。」と言うとおり、素材の良さだけに頼るのではなく、良い料理（＝花）をテーブルに届けるまでの細かい仕事（＝葉の部分）が、前菜から〆のお食事、デザートまできちんと施されている。

さて先程から「シェフ」という表現を使っているのは、かつて氏が都内の有名ホテルで料理長を務めていた際の名残から、現在も店でそう呼ばれている為。だが、そんな彼のバックグラウンドは、従来の和の世界だけにとらわれることのない柔軟な発想にも多いに表れており、極めて自然にイタリアンやフレンチの技法が使われているのはもちろん、「ワインを飲まれる際には、事前に言って頂ければ味付けを変えます。」という対応もさらりと行われている。

料理はもちろんのこと、店の佇まい、サービスまで、全てが凄く丁寧で高いレベルなのだが、羽深氏の人柄からか、決してそれをひけらかすことはない。そこから生まれる「上質な居心地の良さ」故に、接待等のビジネスユースも、親しい人とゆっくりと和食を楽しみたい時も、自信を持ってお薦めしたい。そして個人的には、本当に近しい人とゆっくり訪れたい一軒である。

Only a short walk from Kagurazaka’s well known sloping street of shops, there is yet another sloping street of choices called Karukozaka, not quite as well known and lying in the shadow of the more famous Kagurazaka. The joy of this neighborhood and true as well on Karukozaka, is the wonderful range of choices of places to dine. Surprisingly, one can even stumble upon a very traditional ryotei tucked neatly among the houses and office buildings. This landscape may sound somewhat chaotic, but this area actually sees all these shops, homes and buildings coexisting harmoniously and patiently waiting for our visit. It is a beautiful neighborhood to stroll through in the evening.

To find this gem amongst the various doorways and windows, you will go up on the slope of Karukozaka and turn right into a small and unassuming alley where you easily will come upon Habukatei. The fact is that even if you were a Japanese kanji reading expert, you may still have a hard time reading the four characters properly to pronounce the name. In truth, most Japanese find the characters in the name Habukatei to be quite a challenge.

Chef Habuka very appropriately named his restaurant Habukatei which means Habuka Garden. However, instead of using exactly the same kanji characters as his name, he selected different characters to phonetically create the same name. While the combination of characters still reads Habukatei, they now mean a garden of leaves and flowers. This change was inspired by an adage from the world of Ikebana, or traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement. The adage teaches you that beautiful flowers are an extension of the surrounding leaves. To make flowers beautiful, one has to patiently and painstakingly nurture the leaves as well.

At Habukatei, during each season, patrons are treated to a display of flowers of the season and the changing colors of the leaves. It should therefore be no surprise to learn that Chef Habuka’s wife is an Ikebana artist. In fact, all the plants and flowers you see at the restaurant are arranged by her every season.

Inside the restaurant, as you enter, you see a row of seats along the kitchen counter on the left hand side. On the right hand side, are more spacious tables. The variety of types of wood used in the interior decoration will likely conjure up a feeling of being temporarily transported to a far off village in the quiet countryside.

Chef Habuka presents traditional kaiseki cuisine with very carefully selected seasonal ingredients. He admits that the traditional Japanese flower arrangement adage he learned from his wife is also very applicable to his cooking. Instead of solely relying on the ingredients he selects, he understands he must also pay close attention to detail in every step of his cooking.

While we use the word chef for him, the person in his position in a Japanese restaurant is not typically referred to as chef. He is however most commonly recognized as simply Chef Habuka, just as he worked for a renowned international hotel as executive chef. This experience has given him complete exposure to the many other types of cuisine, including French, Italian, and many more. Of particular note is that if you are a wine aficionado, please do feel free to let him know in advance that you would like to drink wine with his cuisine. He is always more than happy to tweak the tastes of his dishes for wine, instead of more traditional Japanese drinks.

The atmosphere, the service, and certainly the food, are indicative of the realization that every aspect of this restaurant is of the very highest standard. Chef Habuka, however, is truly humble and very down to earth. Habukatei is going to a place you will want to either take important business clients or to simply come to enjoy extraordinary quality Japanese cuisine with your friend.