Said to be the creation of Buddhist field workers with an illicit taste for meat, sukiyaki is one of the original hotpot meals: vegetables, meat slices and sometimes tofu and noodles are cooked in a communal pot of simmering broth, then dipped at the last minute in raw beaten egg. Though the dish allowed those early closet carnivores to cook and eat beef or poultry out of doors, where they wouldn’t sully their vegetarian kitchens (or reputations), what a difference a first-rate preparation can make. Chef Daisuke Izutsu elevates the common meal to extraordinary heights with his beautifully considered deconstruction, piling a plate with slices of tender braised duck, an elaborately carved mushroom and tofu, and siding them all with a coddled quail’s egg that’s meant to be broken into the dish. The egg releases a tiny cloud of steam, banishing with just a few perfect bites any lingering memory of winter.

Kaiseki Sakura, 556 Church St., 416-923-1010.