KIGO’s Spring Kaiseki Experience Launches February 5th In Dubai

KIGO, the refined Japanese dining destination at Four Seasons Hotel Dubai International Financial Centre, unveils its new Spring Kaiseki Menu, created by Head Chef Akinori Tanigawa.

The new seasonal menu, available from 5th February and priced at AED 2,500 per person, presents a refined expression of Japanese Kaiseki dining, rooted in seasonality, precision and restraint, inviting guests to experience a culinary journey shaped by the seasonal rhythms and subtle flavours of Japan. 

At KIGO, spring is expressed through nuance rather than abundance. The menu is shaped around three exceptional Japanese ingredients — seasonal mountain vegetables, Ōmi beef, and the Mitsuoka Kiwami strawberry — each selected for its rarity, cultural significance and ability to capture the moment when winter gives way to renewal. 

Japanese seasonal mountain vegetables, often referred to in Japan as “sansai”, set the tone of the experience. Traditionally the first ingredients to emerge after winter, these wild shoots and greens symbolise the arrival of spring and the transition between seasons. Valued for their natural bitterness, they play a central role in the menu, with Chef Aki using them to bring depth, texture and seasonal authenticity to each dish, allowing guests to taste the first signs of spring. 

The menu opens with Sakizuke, featuring firefly squid with uru wild shoots and young wakame seaweed, dressed in karashi mustard vinegar miso. This is followed by Oshinogi of charcoal-grilled tiger pufferfish milt with sushi rice, and Owan, a delicate Japanese soup of Hamamatsugai clam, young bamboo shoot and Japanese pepper leaf. 

The sashimi course, Mukozuke, presents seared bonito alongside straw-grilled Spanish mackerel, before transitioning into Hassun, KIGO’s seasonal plate. This course brings together an herb roll of Ōmi beef, sweet tilefish steamed with turnip, nanohana rapeseed greens, young bamboo shoot with Japanese pepper leaf, simmered fukumame beans and tempura of taranome mountain shoots. 

Ōmi beef (Ōmi-gyu) is one of Japan’s three great wagyu and the oldest branded beef in the country, regarded as a true heritage ingredient. Extremely rare in Dubai it forms a key highlight of the menu. The ingredient returns for the main course, Shiizakana, where Saikyo miso–grilled Ōmi beef steak is served with white asparagus and snap green beans, allowing its depth of flavour and fine marbling to take centre stage. The experience continues with Tomezakana of snow crab somen noodles, followed by Oshokuji, a claypot rice of Hokkaido oysters and Chinese cabbage, served with miso soup. 

Dessert showcases premium Japanese produce through Tokusen Fruits, led by the Mitsuoka “Kiwami” strawberry, a rare Japanese fruit cultivated by a single farmer in Fukuoka and available only at KIGO. Each strawberry weighs over 60 grams, with fewer than 500 pieces produced per season. The menu concludes with Mizugashi, delicate water-rich Japanese sweets crafted from seasonal fruits, and Hoshino Usucha matcha, bringing the experience to a calm and considered close. 

Set within an intimate, design-led space at Four Seasons Hotel DIFC, KIGO’s Spring Kaiseki Menu is a celebration of balance and craftsmanship, offering guests a thoughtful dining experience that reflects both the season and the enduring elegance of Japanese cuisine.  

For bookings and more information: Email kigo.dubaidifc@fourseasons.com, call +971 4 506 0388 or click here.