For many, Japan has been considered the origin for fruit and vegetable carving. These elaborated decorative garnishes is called Mukimono and can be traced back to ancient times.

Sources say that it all started back when food was served on unglazed clay pottery in the Japanese cuisine. For sanitary reasons, the food was plated on top of a piece of leave instead of being placed directly onto the clay. Artistic chefs then experimented with folding or cutting the leaves into different shapes to create better presentation.

From the 16th century forward, the art has developed into a very important part of Japanese chef’s training. A chef would carve a piece of fruit or vegetable into traditional images like flowers or fans, and other times they would work on the skins. These carved out decorations would be served along with food on the same plate.

If you pay a visit to our gourmet Japanese restaurant “Yunosato”, you will probably see a lot of well decorated dishes like the one below.

Do you recognise the vegetable garnish anywhere?

That’s right – resting among the squid sashimi is the delicately crafted spring frog! Created from a sole piece of cucumber, the frog looks like it’s ready to leap out of the plate.

Next time when you visit Yunosato at Dai-ichi Takimotokan, you can count on having a Japanese meal not only satisfying to the tastebuds but also beautiful to the eyes.