Going Local: The Foodie Post

I have been fairly restrained thus far, as I have not been plastering pictures of Japanese food all over this blog
(except for one photo of our kaiseki dinner).  So now is the time to cast all restraint to the wind, and cover some of my foodie highlights from our Kyoto trip.  I have to admit, however, that I forgot to note down a number of restaurants' names (and there was one which didn't seem to have an English name) so I will have to just go by location.

The single most convenient foodie place in Kyoto: gotta be Kyoto station.  So many restaurants, so many kiosks, so many little bakeries, supermarkets and the like.   Except for one day, we ate there everyday (some times twice a day).  Many famous restaurants have a branch there - and we went to a few of them.  So for anyone considering a visit to Kyoto, I strongly recommend staying at or near Kyoto station - convenient for day trips, convenient for food, convenient transport node, convenient all round.



Tonkatsu at Katsukura, Kyoto Station

 We went to the well known tonkatsu restaurant Katsukura here.  The pork fillet is covered with crisp panko, but still soft and juicy on the inside.  We get a choice of dipping sauces on the side, and get to grind our own sesame seeds to sprinkle on our sauce.  There's also free flow chopped cabbage (I actually did ask for more) and soft barley rice.  Go there later in the evening, because by then the queues have shrunk and the food comes quickly.  

At Ten-ichi, Kyoto Station

Another notable restaurant here in Kyoto Station is Ten-ichi, a branch of a famous tempura restaurant (US President Bill Clinton was taken here by his hosts on an official visit to Japan).  Not the cheapest place but it was truly excellent.  The tempura is served in courses, so that you get just a few pieces at a time and can eat them when it is still crispy, hot and fresh.  The tempura set includes prawns, with their heads cooked separately (so crispy and crunchy); delicate, moist fish; vegetables, etc. The batter is light and coats rather than smothers the food within.  I can see why this dish was selected to tempt the Presidential taste buds.  The lucky ones get to sit at the counter - there you can watch the chefs at work. We were at a nearby table - good enough, we felt lucky to have a view of the chefs in the first place..   

Tofu steak and skewers, salad and miso soup

Beyond Kyoto station, one of my other favourite meals was at the tofu restaurant on Hanami-Koji street, which we came across when we visited Gion (tofu is a specialty of the region).  It  was at the beginning of the street, on the right hand side near the junction with Shijo Dori.  It serves a wide range of tofu products - I ate a wide range of tofu products, starting with the little tofu skewers and also the yummy grilled tofu.  Unfortunately, this is one place without an English name so I'm unable to give any more details.

We made it a point to try and eat our way across the range of Japanese food. So we had ramen (meal number one in Kyoto, in the Kyoto Station Ramen Alley); shabu-shabu in a restaurant overlooking the Kamo River; okonomiyaki, and of course our conveyor belt sushi lunch.

But Japanese food is not only found in the restaurants - there's lots of convenient bento lunches available at the departmental store food courts and little minimarts.  We had a simple bento lunch on a hill in Arashiyama; and a simple cup of instant noodles one morning for breakfast.  Convenience food indeed.

I'll end off this post, as I would a meal: with dessert.  The Japanese also do great desserts.  We had a rather boring matcha ice cream in the Imperial Garden park but we had great sakura ice cream half way down Mt Yoshino and soy ice cream at the Nishiki market.  My favourite -still the sakura ice cream, with the little bits of what could be petals inside.....  Sakura-themed mochi is also very much de rigeur for hanami parties.  Which is what we did, sitting on Mt Yoshino under the cherry trees, watching the petals fall from the trees, twirling in the wind.  A sweet treat indeed.

Mochi, to eat sitting beneath a cherry tree

Sakura Ice Cream

More food photos will be put up on the Flickr set, over time.  Good food sites include Bento.com.