As anyone who has eaten in a pricey Japanese restaurant can testify, part of the pleasure is in the presentation. Although you can create a delicious Japanese meal at home, it won’t be nearly as enjoyable if you ignore the details of serving it. Fortunately, simplicity is the guiding principle.

To get an idea of what’s possible, flip through Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s book, Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking (Dorling Kindersley, 2007, $50). His creativity pops off the glossy pages: vibrant sashimi is tucked artfully into compartments of a pine box; a tepee of tempura prawns stands to attention; wisps of snowy caramelized sugar frame nuggets of golden sweet potato.

Although much of Morimoto’s technique is elaborate, it’s inspired by a simple Japanese aesthetic. “In comparison to the dishes plated by many Western chefs, who tend to fill every inch with meat, sauce, vegetable, and grain, my presentations are often spare,” he writes. “A slice of fish, a streak of sauce, a tiny bundle of greens all clustered in the centre of the plate. The negative space frames my arrangement, focusing your attention [on the food].”

Vancouver’s Hidekazu Tojo tells the Georgia Straight that small portions arranged on a larger serving dish can enhance presentation. “We display [the dish] on the plate,” he explains, adding that seasonal tableware is important at Tojo’s Restaurant (1133 West Broadway). For example, in winter he might use a warm-coloured ceramic for one dish, while in summer a cool bamboo mat instead.

“Most westerners visiting a Japanese house are
astonished by the huge number of dishes crammed into the kitchen cupboards,” writes Harumi Kurihara, Japan’s answer to Martha Stewart, in Harumi’s Japanese Cooking (Penguin, 2006, $39). “There are small dishes for soy sauce, long plates for grilled fish, bowls with lids on for miso soup…and unlike western
tableware, the pieces don’t have to match.”

Rather than serving the whole meal on one plate, the Japanese arrange the components on different dishes to encourage creativity. “I would become so bored if I could use only round plates,” Kurihara confesses.

Find rectangles, ovals, and other irregularly shaped dishes at Utsuwa-No-Yakata (Aberdeen Centre at 1380–4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond; and Metrotown Centre at 219–4820 Kingsway, Burnaby; or www.utsuwa.com/). The Richmond store has a lovely spring collection of roughly glazed pale aqua ceramics painted with white-cherry blossoms and chocolate-coloured stems. A small octagonal plate costs $4.50; a cereal-sized bowl, $8. Long, metallic slate-grey plates ($18) suit sushi, and a simple black lacquer bowl with a crimson interior ($8) makes miso soup elegant.

Elsewhere, Hana (2039 West 4th Avenue) has a selection of Japanese porcelain as well as roughly textured pottery, such as a clay rice bowl swirled with translucent white glaze and dotted with lavender flowers ($9.95).

With beautiful tableware, the food needn’t be fancy. Shizuo Tsuji notes in the encyclopedic Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art (Kodansha, 2007, $62.95) that a clear soup is one of the high points of a Japanese meal: “in one’s very best lacquer soup bowls a beautiful tiny ‘still life’ of seafood and vegetables is composed”.

Morimoto does just this with his Mashed Potato Soup (see recipe below), a dashi broth that surrounds a mound of mashed potato. With a luxurious wasabi and caviar garnish, “a simple potato is transformed into an elegant soup you could serve at any dinner party”.

You can also use Japanese aesthetics to make the everyday special. Next time you take out sushi, transfer it to your own, carefully chosen dish. Arrange it with Morimoto-like precision, diagonally on a rectangular plate “stimulating the mind and drawing more attention to the pale, shimmering colors of the fish”. You don’t even need to cook to enjoy a beautiful meal.