For people who bemoaned the closing of Kyo-Ya and Kacho, the revamped and renamed Wasabi Bistro — it's now Wasabi & Nadaman — fills the haute-Japanese hole the two restaurants left behind.

Nadaman is a big restaurant chain in Japan, with 57 locations there, along with branches in Hong Kong, mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Two years ago, said manager Masanobu Sangawa, the company formed Nadaman USA, with the intention of expanding into the U.S., and its absorbing of Wasabi Bistro is its first American foray. Wasabi Bistro owner Kumi Izeki remains a shareholder in the company, but management is now all Nadaman.

Its Hawai'i restaurant doesn't follow in the hip footsteps of restaurants such as the new Kaiwa or Nobu. Like Kyo-Ya, Nadaman is old-school, with older waitresses serving dishes like fried eggplant in dashi, miso butterfish and grilled thinly sliced sirloin — they're good, but not much different from what one would find at Mr. Ojisan or Imanas-Tei. The simmered pork belly, buta no kakuni, is lusciously fatty and crazy soft, but I'd say the version at Momomo is better. One standout is the foie gras chawanmushi — the comforting custardy egg dressed up with the rich liver is a winning combination.

Where Nadaman makes its mark is with the signature kaiseki — the formal multicourse meal that's an offshoot of the tea ceremony. Kaiseki follows an arc, going from vegetables to seafood and meat and ending with rice. That's what Nadamans are known for in Japan, and that's where Wasabi & Nadaman excels.

Executive chef Michihiso "Michael" Kato, who has been with the Nadaman group since 1978 and has appeared on food shows on the Japanese network NHK, prepares seasonal kaiseki menus. Fall is matsutake mushroom season in Japan, and that's the focus of the kaiseki menu for five more days.

The dinner starts with a square of tofu made in-house from milk from Mineoka Farm in Hokkaido. It's almost like panna cotta, the subtle sweetness tempered by a dollop of salty caviar and a tart wolfberry. Next comes a basket of five little dishes containing edible baubles — two slices of matsutake that look like half a spade on a playing card set atop a small mound of steamed greens, and tender pieces (that was a first) of geoduck in a swirl of Okinawan mozuku seaweed topped with pearls of salmon roe.

Dishes are set on a black lacquer tray rimmed in gold.

The soup course takes the form of an interactive dobin mushi — with matsutake, of course. You pick up the earthenware teapot known as a dobin and pour transparent broth in a tiny bowl and squeeze in a bit of lime for a taste of autumn. A sip of the smoky soup transports you to a golden forest, with a hint of burning leaves in the air. Then you open the pot and inside is a mini aquarium of mushroom, ginkgo, shrimp and fish that you scoop with a spoon.

Next up is sashimi, two big slices each of pink snapper and chutoro, exquisitely fresh.

The seafood dish — pieces of simmered lobster, moist and sweet, mixed with a disk of firm tofu and a forest floor of mushrooms in a pale, smoky scallop sauce, is followed by small slices of Wagyu beef that you place on a hot rock whose heat you can feel on your cheeks. The meat is achingly buttery. You can choose to combine the meat with the last course, kamadaki gohan — rice cooked with bits of matsutake mushrooms in a hot clay pot. And a bowl of dark miso soup completes the comforting ending.

The pacing and size of the courses are just right, and the servers make sure your glass of sake or shochu is filled.

The space has been completely redone, with a covered terrace flanked by a burbling mini waterfall. On a recent evening, the soothing trickle mixed with the excited shouts from kids playing basketball across the street.

Or you can sit inside in the minimalist interior: Choose from a long, thin room lined with a banquette or a larger, airier room.

While Wasabi & Nadaman may not be the first on the list for a casual a la carte dinner, it is worth a visit at least four times a year. I can't wait to see what winter brings to the kaiseki menu.

RESTAURANT NEWS

Openings: Dixie Grill (404 Ward Ave., 732-7733) has reopened as Tio's Garage & Taco Station. The New Mexican spot has a chile roaster where the sandbox used to be. Look for tortilla soup and chipotle chicken wings.

Moving: After years of contemplating moving, Betty Pang is taking her Green Door Cafe from Chinatown to Kahala, near Olive Tree.

Menu addition: Hank's Haute Dogs (324 Coral St., 532-4265) is now serving a Lobster Dog. For three months kitchen head Ashley Brooks worked on the quarter-pound seafood sausage, which is made with lobster, shrimp, scallop, fish, scallion, garlic, carrot and spices. It's topped with garlic aioli, takuan (pickled daikon) and Chicago-style relish. The Lobster Dog goes for $10.50 and is available Fridays only.

Special dinner: Hiroshi Fukui is preparing for his next contemporary kaiseki dinner on Nov. 14 at Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas. Expect Big Island baby abalone on the menu. Price: $75 not including wine, tax or tip. Call 533-4476 to book a seat.

Reach Lesa Griffith at lgriffith@honoluluadvertiser.com.