Dining and Shopping in Kyoto: Beef and Sushi and Needles

Izuju Sushi - Mackeral Sushi and the "Mosaic" sushi

One of the best things about Japan is that the standard of the restaurants here are generally good.  We didn't really have any major "dining ambitions" here in Kyoto, beyond eating a good variety of the different Japanese meals, but most of the time, we just chose our restaurant based on what took our fancy.  Many a time, our picks surprised us!

As in my last trip, thought it is easier to summarise our foodie experience all together (with a little extra on a special shopping excursion at the end).  This time though, I've taken pains to try and identify/locate the restaurants, especially the better and more memorable meals:

Sushi, sushi

Izuju Sushi

Amazingly, during this short visit with a limited number of meals we went to two top sushi restaurants in Japan, at least according to Tsunagu Japan!  They are two very different sushi restaurants, one very traditional, and one totally modern.

I did not know previously that there is such a thing as Kyoto style sushi and that one of the best exemplars of this type of sushi is Izuju Sushi.  This was one of the few restaurants we went searching for based on its reputation.  Izuju is just across from the Yasuka Shrine, and is a small little restaurant with only a few tables.  Go early, or you'll have to queue!  Choices are limited - the restaurant is known for its mackerel sushi and inari and also this interesting "mosaic" type sushi.  Little ingredients (like pickles) are packed into the rice so the sushi itself is a complete meal.  There was also a seasonal special, on horse mackeral sushi.  The restaurant requests courteously to try their food without soy sauce, to better enjoy the flavour of the rice.  Indeed, I did not need soy sauce, as the flavours of the rice and fish are so fresh that any addition would diminish the overall experience.  There is a far more detailed blog post about Izuju here, so I won't go into more detail on the food, ambience, and the history of this well-known restaurant.

"Ikan Bilis"

The second restaurant, Sushi no Musashi, is in Kyoto station and we actually came by here the last time we were in Kyoto!  We rather enjoyed ourselves and so we came back here again.  This is a totally modern conveyor-belt, Tokyo-style sushi restaurant, with one of the largest selections of sushi toppings I've ever had - lots of different shellfish, sashimi and it's all really fresh and good.  Prices are reasonable, and no surprise, you will have to queue for this one too.  What I like is that they actually name the seafood that you're selecting - having said that I am not sure what the name of this particular fish is.  I just mentally called it "ikan bilis".

Where's the Beef

Blow-torching the beef

A few doors down from Izuju is a beef restaurant, "Kappo Bar Gyugyu Gion Honten".  It sells Kobe Beef but as prices are like 9,000 yen for a steak we had the "normal" Wagyu instead.  We got a seat downstairs, on the bar surrounding the kitchen so we had a good view of our food being cooked on the grill.  One of the more exciting dishes was this version of beef carpaccio.  The beef (sliced super thin) is lightly cooked with a blow torch and served with a lump of sushi rice, radishes, and some soy sauce.  It is literally two mouthfuls of food, but really yummy mouthfuls.  

Kameoka beef

Obviously, we had not eaten enough beef because the very next day, we found ourselves in another beef restaurant called Gyuraku in Kameoka (we were looking for a nice restaurant for lunch after our ride on the Sagano Romantic Train)  Here there is no mention of Kobe beef.  Rather, the restaurant proudly proclaims that it is using only the famous "black cattle" of Kameoka.  The beef itself is also available in the butcher's next door. It appears that Kyoto prefecture  is trying to promote its own beef products internationally and Kameoka is one of the leaders in this!

Anyway, we had a steak served on a hot plate and next to a hot stone.  So we can cook it further to the degree of done-ness we want.  The steak itself was good - moist and flavourful.  It gave us the strength and energy to make our dripping way back through the rain to Arashiyama.

Traditional Kyoto Cuisine - Kyo-ryori, and Yudofu 

Kyo-Ryori Manshige

Another unexpected or rather unplanned meal was our first in Kyoto, at Kyoto station.  We were really looking for the conveyor belt sushi but got lost in the massive station and found Manshige instead.  We were attracted by the promise of traditional Kyoto food (termed Kyo-ryori) and indeed, it was a charming meal full of dainty little dishes - including the tiniest, sweetest little new potatoes I've ever seen, and three of the tofu "lollies" which I remember from my last trip here.  In addition, there was a delicately flavoured soup made from seafood and which comes with a squeeze of lime (Thai influence?).  It was such a lovely meal, that it is no wonder that I subsequently found it on someone else's "best restaurant in Kyoto station" list.  And apparently it is a branch of a more famous restaurant somewhere else in Kyoto!

Yudofu Set Meal

We also took the opportunity to eat Yudofu, another Kyoto delicacy especially in the Nanzenji temple area - apparently all the vegetarian monks swear by it.  And the purity of the water here in the area makes for the most pure Yudofu ever.  Now Yudofu is really not the most exciting food in the world.  It is a few pieces of tofu in a stock flavoured with one piece of kelp. It is served in a claypot.  You put the cooked tofu in a dipping sauce, add radish, seafood and bonito flakes and that's it.  Fortunately, the dish comes with some side dishes as well - vegetable tempura, and other small side dishes such as pickled seaweed and some tuba tofu (Yuba is made by skimming off the the film off the top of soya bean when it is being cooked).

We didn't go to a famous restaurant for this one either. We tried to but it involved a 1 hour wait so we went to the less famous (and much cheaper) establishment called Goemon Chaya down the road.

Ramen

Black Ramen

Regular Ramen

Another "must have" when in Japan is the ramen.  We were walking home from Hanamikoji when we passed by Musoshin ramen restaurant and decided that a hot bowl of noodles was just the thing for dinner.  Musoshin prides itself on its tasty stock made from vegetables and chicken and indeed the rich, thick broth was very tasty.  It is so thick, it coats the noodles completely so each mouthful is full of flavour.  They also have a special "Gion Black Ramen" dish which features a black ramen stock, sprinkled over with black sesame seeds and served with some black seaweed on the side.... you get the picture.

Little did we realise that it is rated so highly - ranked 29th out of all the restaurants in Kyoto! Maybe it is the result of the very active calls to review it positively on Tripadvisor

Nishiki market 

Beef Pao

No visit to Kyoto is complete without a visit to Nishiki Market.  I had visited the market on my last visit to Kyoto but it's still worth a repeated trip.  We made our way there but it would appear that the sashimi stalls are not open on a Monday morning :-( Anyway, we had breakfast here, if conger eel tempura, a beef pao (courtesy of Kyoto foodie tip), takoyaki and matcha flavoured soy milk ice cream can be considered breakfast.  The conger eel tempura was not wonderful - it had been sitting a while and so was not that fresh any more.  At least they reheated it for me.  But the beef pao - hot, steamy, full of succulent meat - was something different and definitely worth a repeat visit during future repeat visits to Nishiki (yes I think another visit to Kyoto is a definite possibility).

At Misuyabari

After visiting Nishiki market we went looking for Misuyabari needle shop.  My friend had tipped us off to this shop - because she wanted us to buy her some decorative pins and the famously sharp needles the shop is famous for.  It was not easy to find - it is actually in an offshoot of the Teramaki Shopping Arcade - but behind the row of shops.  We had to go through a little alleyway, which opened into a courtyard garden and the shop was on the far side.  If interested, the directions are here.

The shop itself is tiny, and sells primarily needles, the decorative pins (ordinary pins but with little pinheads of dogs, cats, and many other little items).  It has a 360+ year history and apparently used to sell needles to the Imperial Palace!  The shopkeeper doesn't speak much English but somehow we managed to get by.

Tea for Two

Apple Tea

Somewhere along the way, we started having tea.  It started with a rainy visit to Arashiyama and a warm cosy English tea served in a traditional looking Japanese house.  Who would have expected to see scones and Earl Grey?  Although it turned out that the house specialty is actually an apple tea, complete with chunks of freshly cut apple.  It's a seasonal specialty so not always available.  Anna Maria is on the main street, on the way from the railway station to Tenryu-Ji temple.  It's a welcoming place and I certainly would recommend it to anyone who wants a little break from all the walking around (rainy day or not).We also decided to treat ourselves to a nice tea 

after tracking down the Misuyabari needle shop and making our purchases.  Our reward for effort, so to speak.  Lipton Tea House was started up apparently in 1930 as the British wanted to interest the Japanese in drinking Lipton rather than green tea. And to have a nice piece of cake with it.  I had a nice cheesecake.  But honestly it was just a nice break after all the walking (and BTW we had not had lunch, just all the snacking at Nishiki market).

We were amused to see two of the other patrons of the needle shop having tea here, too.

Well, I've come to the end of a long long post all about my Kyoto food experiences.  Or at least the more significant ones.  Glad that we had some new food experiences and also the chance to revisit a few old favourites.  Looking forward to my next visit to Kyoto (whenever it is)!

Scenic Route: Kibune and Arashiyama

There is so much to see in Kyoto, but a lot of it seems to be temples.... so, in an attempt to insert some variety in our autumn leaves viewing experience, we decided to take in the maple leaves by train, especially after we read about a "maple tree tunnel" on the way to the little village of Kibune which was illuminated at night.  

So we decided to take the train there by day, visit the famous Kibune shrine, and take the train back by night.  Maple tunnel by day AND by night, sounds good right?  Unfortunately, things didn't quite turn out that way.  The train journey was easy enough (check here for the e-guide by the rail company)

But very sadly, our day time journey revealed that many of the autumn leaves had fallen already, so there was not much to see.  And the train zipped by so fast, we could not take many photos.  The night journey back? Well, suffice to say that there was a moment of suspense and excitement when the lights on the train went out, for us to better view the illuminations.  But there was also a collective sigh of disappointment when the leafless (but illuminated) trees appeared.  So much for that!

Up to the shrine

Fortunately, we did have a good visit to Kibune.  Confusingly, the village is called "Kibune" and the shrine sometimes called "Kibune" or "Kifune".  The shrine itself marks the ending point of a journey; a goddess in a yellow boat travelled up the river and stopped here.

River flowing over rocks and leaves

It is quite popular during this period, with many people lining up to pay their respects to the deity, and to pen down their prayers, wet them in the shrine's spring waters (it is dedicated to the water god), and tie them to the nearby stand.  At night, the lanterns lining the stairs leading to the shrine are lit, adding to its mystique.

The rest of the village is tiny - apparently there are expensive restaurants and ryokans here, serving busy city dwellers who want to come away for a lazy and quiet weekend.  In summer, the restaurants serve meals on platforms over the river flowing past the village as it goes down the hill.  At this time of year, there are no more platforms but the river continues to be lit up by charming little lanterns.  We hoped to see autumn leaves but we were just slightly past the peak so most of the leaves had fallen - but they still looked pretty floating in the river, trapped by the rocks!

We had a more successful train ride the next day, on the Sagano Romantic Train from Arashiyama to Kameoka.  The train itself is an old fashioned steam train, with old wooden carriages etc.  The ride took us on the banks of the Hozugawa river gorge, and the autumn colours were beautifully displayed along this scenic route.  Whilst it was perhaps slightly past the peak season, it was still quite a sight to see - when the train first emerged out of the hill side to a view of the river gorge there was another of those collective sighs - but of wonder and excitement this time, not disappointment, as the train hurtled through a gorgeous patchwork hillside, and by a rushing river in the gorge below.  Check out my video:

In theory, we were supposed to take a boat ride back to Arashiyama.  It would be a two-hour ride, back along the same river gorge, in an open boat.  Exposed to the elements.  On a sunny day that would have been fine.  But it was raining, a miserable, incessant and cold drizzle.  We decided that two hours in the rain was not for us.  So we went for lunch at Kameoka (more of this in a subsequent post) and took the normal JR train back to Arashiyama.

The last time I was here in Arashiyama was in spring time, looking at the cherry blossoms, and it was indeed quite a different experience seeing the autumn colours.  And the low lying clouds created a totally different atmosphere, compared to the crisp clear skies of spring.  Autumn is "a season of mists", after all.

The river at Arashiyama

Having been to the sights in Arashiyama the last time (bamboo forest, garden, two Temples) it was quite liberating to decide that we had enough rain for the day and find a nice place for tea.  

And so that's the way our train journeys went.  Neither really turned out as the "perfect" day out from Kyoto, but they each had their own pleasant and memorable moments, and that's all you can really ask from a holiday.

See more photos on Flickr!

Back to Kyoto: Autumn Foliage

Kiyomizu-dera Temple at Night

After two years, I am back in Kyoto!  During my first visit, it was for "Hanami" or to view spring flowers, particularly the delicate, transient cherry blossoms.   This visit, it was "Momiji" time! "Momiji" specifically refers to the red maple tree leaves but in reality there are others too, and the colour is not just red but also the golden yellow of the ginkgo tree and others.  

Here in Kyoto, we arrived as the maple trees were supposed to be at their peak.  But this is a fast season, and we realised that maybe we had arrived a day or two beyond the peak.  We also realised that just because the maples were at their best, it didn't mean that every tree was ablaze with red.  Some trees (eg the cherry) may have already lost their leaves, and others may be still as green as ever, resulting in a "patchwork" of colours.         

Kiyomizudera

Our first stop in Kyoto was the Kiyomizu-dera temple - one of the most well-known temples here in Kyoto, and the one nearest our little apartment!  We did not arrive early enough to visit the temple grounds properly (in daylight) but we managed to take a few photos in the fading light and then joined the throngs on the deck facing the main temple to get a chance to photograph the famous illuminations of the main hall.  
Indeed, the throngs waiting to take that one iconic shot were immense!  We stood five-deep along the deck facing the main temple.  People were pushing and shoving to get through and in the meantime, people were hogging the front of the deck taking their photos.  Well, we finally managed to get our shots and went on to meander around the gardens to admire the illuminated pagoda rising above the illuminated trees.

Next day, we went to two more temples, Nanzenji and Eikando-Zenrinji.  First, Nanzenji.  Nanzenji is famed for its aqueduct (quite easy to find) and also its sub-Temples.  We went to one, Nanzenin, famous for its little pond garden, and for the mausoleum to the Emperor Kameyama, who founded the Nanzenji temple in the first place.

The pond garden was a true delight!  First, being a sub temple, it was less popular with visitors (it had its own separate entrance fee, which could be one reason for the smaller crowds).  So we were able to admire the autumn foliage in the garden in relative peace and quiet.  The beautiful red leaves also formed a layer on top of the pond.... So the reflection of the red leaves was accentuated by the leaves already in the water.

The pond garden at Nanzenin

Rock Garden at the Hojo, Nanzenji

Nanzenji itself has a beautiful tranquil zen rock garden in its "Hojo", the dwellings of the chief priest.  Apparently, the rocks look like a tiger with her cubs.... I'm afraid that that one went right past me.  We sat there and contemplated the rocks and the patterns in the pebbly sand nonetheless.  Subsequently, walking through the Hojo, we did see rooms with wall paintings of various animals including tigers (and leopards, I think).  That, I can get.  

Our next stop was the Eikan-do Zenrin-ji temple.  Like Nanzenji, this temple is famed for its autumn foliage.  Indeed, we were not disappointed (and got to see the leaves in the blaze of sunset!).

Momiji lit by the setting sun

We walked all the way to the Pagoda, with its view of Kyoto, and then walked around the temple buildings, looking at the internal gardens before making our way down to Hojo pond.  Well, I can only say that a picture tells a thousand words so please do take a look at my Flickr site for more glorious photos of Eikando temple and the other two.  (Please note that the photos are being put up progressively).

Pagoda at Eikando 

Technically, this was the day we were supposed to walk up the Philosopher's Path and end our day at Ginkaku-Ji (yes, yet another temple).  But the thing about short days and our relatively slow progress is that we don't cover all that much each day.  Of course we could have gone there for the illuminations but somehow after the first night's experience, it didn't appeal.  

Maybe another time, another visit to Kyoto!