Japan Day 2 - Kyoto

It was pouring with rain so we've decided to start off walking around the shops near where we live.

We were spoilt with choices for breakfast :p 

Breakfast part 1 - grilled mochi with a savoury sauce - made of soya salt, mirin and sugar 

loveeee it 

this is one of our favourite snacks around kyoto.  we stop by for a skewer whenever we saw one :p

breakfast part 2: steamed beef bun 

very fluffy bun with beef and onion filling - cooked with a sauce made of soya sauce, mirin and sugar again :p

will go back and try out the curry flavour tomorrow :p

Totoro shop

- it's not really food but have to feature some photos here since they are so cuteeee

Breakfast part 3 - freshly grilled rice cracker coated with yuzu salt 

150 yen

things are always nicer when warm! 

I love yuzu so anything with yuzu flavour has to be nice! 

there are tons of other flavours e.g. sakura, miso...etc

Breakfast part 4: Inoda Coffee 

- it's a popular coffee chain in Kyoto with a longgg history

Keith trying out the Arabian Pearl Coffee

very creamy (as it's served with cream rather than milk) with full round flavour

500yen

Deep fried breaded Wagyu beef cutlet sandwich with a slice of bacon on top

It is served with okonomiyaki sauce with mustard

It was interesting :) The quality of the beef wasnt brilliant

but the sandwich was only 1750? yen so what do you expect

Breakfast part 5 

- more grilled mochi  :p 

it's wrapped around with seaweed this time.  

and yes... this is the end of our breakfast :p 

unfortunately, the sakura is a bit late in blooming this year :( 

the forecast for first bloom at Kyoto has been delayed from 28/3 to 2/4 :( 

luckily there's still one/two lying around that blooms slightly earlier than the rest

Yasaka shrine 八坂神社 

where you throw in a spare coin, shake the rope attaching to the little bell, clap your hand twice and make a wish :)

Chion In Temple

very grand!

I can so imagine ninja walking along one of these in the old days :p 

Lunch - Kyoto style Sushi :) 

Kyoto is not close to the sea so in the old days, they used to marinate the fish with vinegar so that the fish could be kept for longer! 

Izuju  at Gion apparently has 100 years of history and serves one of the best Kyoto style Sushi

It is a very small restaurant but very nicely decorated

It was packed during lunch time. so we have decided to walk around and come back at 2ish 3 ... 

We ordered a 2 person set menu - under 2000 from what I remember

There were 12 slices of box sushi (some were already eaten before I got the chance to take a photo, 3 saba and 3 inarizushi

Inarizushi - Tofu skin packed with rice mixed with crunchy pickled veg - so goooood! 

The assorted box sushi (hakozushi) too, I love how he add a bit of herbs with the rice

it was a nice surprise. We could never get anything like this in london

we didnt really like the saba much - the pickled mackeral wrapped around by kelp?

keith thought it tastes a bit fishy but I thought it's ok

we thought there are too much rice in general.

we were so fulllll at the end

Here's a blog that I was referring to when I was planning my kyoto trip: 

http://kyotofoodie.com/izuju-best-kyoto-style-sushi/

This is where I found out about the restaurant :) 

Dinner - Udon

- very light stock with a slice of yuzu skin which was a very special touch

the noodles itself was a bit too thin/soft to our preference

but apparently different provence's udon is slightly different in texture.  maybe that's the kyoto style udon.  

Keith had curry sauce with beef and green onion

I thought it was very heavy but keith liked the sauce. 

went to Kyoto Martial Art centre and watched some guys pracitising Kendo

we have been highly recommended to go to kiyomizudera temple at night.. so we did 

It is opened till 9.30 for a few weeks during the sakura season:) 

stopped by for a green tea puff

not as nice as beard papa i think - it doesnt have the crusty top! 

lighter cream too

you can see the southern part of Kyoto here.  

the view was breathtaking

It was freezing so we thought we need something to warm us up

had these soya milk donut - very light and fluffy.. 

isn't coated with sugar so we dont have to feel as guilty :p

Japan Day 1 - Kyoto - RAMEN

After 22 hours of travelling (an hour to airport + waiting + delays + stopping by istanbul + more delay + queuing up at customs to have our photos taken & fingerprints scanned + airport extress), we FINALLY arrived at our B&B at Kyoto - near the kiyomizu temple.
It was 10pm and we were hungryyyy but it's not a problem here at Kyoto.
Luckily we saw in our guide book that there's a kyoto style ramen shop that opens till 2am 10min walk away.

just 2040 yen :) for 2 bowls of ramen + gyoza + beer

the ramen apparently is made fresh on the day. 

the stock is soya sauce based.  flavoursome (though slightly too oily) 

garnished with lotsss of finely chopped spring onions, bean sprout and slices of pork.  

so niceeeeeeeeeeee 

The gyoza in comparison was soso.  

ラーメン藤‎  (near kiyomizu gojo station)

１５−１ Gojohashihigashi 2 Chome

KyotoHigashiyama Ward, Kyoto Prefecture 605-0846, Japan

075-561-5956

ramen-fuji.jp‎

(Japanese restaurant review website: http://r.tabelog.com/kyoto/A2602/A260201/26004912/)

You will find that there's vending machine everywhere we go.  

They serve both hot!!! and cold drinks. for roughly 100-150 yen

I really think UK should learn and have hot drink vending machine! 

We also made a trip to a 24h convenient store near our B&B

got a few snacks e.g. mochi icecream, tuna sashimi lol (coz it was half priced), prawn cracker, mochi

there's a wide selection of cup noodles! though didnt get any.

who would want cup noodles when there are so much nice food to choose from here at Kyoto

very nicely designed beer can

Tsuru Ramen

Saw from other food blogs that proper Ramen is finally arriving at London :)

Tsuru, the sushi chain in London (which I'm yet to try out) has launched a few Ramen days - trying out different Ramen - Seafood/ Shoyu (which is what we tried), Hokkaido
It was £10 per ticket - include a drink and a bowl ramen
Apparently the owner went visiting Japan exploring and learning how to make the REAL Ramen

The shop at Bishipgate is quite hidden. took us some time to find it.
you have to go to the back of the front entrance of the office building block.
Luckily we didnt miss out the small sign.

I have to say I am quite impressed!
I'm not really a ramen expert but I have had some pretty good ones in HK/Japan.
I would say it was a lot better than expected.  It is still not perfect though.

It looks quite small at first glance but we were quite full.

You can't really see the ramen from the photo. but they were fresh ones (apparently)
Noodles are always nicer fresh :p with a much better texture.

The marinated soft centred egg was a surprise to me.  It was divineeee
The cha siu (bbq pork) was very soft.... with a good ratio of fat/meat

The broth is not too fatty/salty (which is sometime the problem with Ramen I've tried)
and I don't think there's MSG in it :p
It was flavoursome :)

so each component was great in its own way.
However, when I have the noodles and soup together, it feels it lack of something :p
maybe they didnt put enough salt in the noodles... or the broth isn't strong enough
they don't seem to complement each other

anyhow, when they finally launch their ramen shop, I will definitely pay another visit :)

Monmouth Coffee

Keith has just got a new coffee machine... so we went to get some coffee beans from Monmouth - on monmouth street near covent garden

love the smell of coffee as soon as you step into the coffee shop

there are so many to choose from.  

luckily the people at the counters were very helpful at recommending which ones to go for

explaining the differences

browniesssssssss and croissantsssssssss 

Quo Vadis

We have visited Quo Vadis a lot 2 years ago? when Toptable had the 50% off food deal on Sundays.
It was very good value and we LOVEDDD its crab bisque.
We haven't been since the deal ended :p (yes.. we are very realistic :p)
Bought a £20 for £40 worth of food from toptable expiring end of March :p

Heard that it just has a new chef so we are expecting a very different menu
and it was! - a lot shorter and the crab bisque is gone :(

(nicer photo coz I've just got a new camera :p - Fujifilm X10! brought it to test it out )

There are only 2 bread options - brown/white. 

I prefer the white one :p it is OK.. nothing very exciting

Starter

I had the crab soup - which is a lot thinner/less dense comparing to the good old crab bisque. 

Served with a bowl of creamy cheese garlicy sauce? and crispy bread

It was nice... packed with flavour of the sea :p but it is definitely not as nice as before. 

Keith had Sardine with fried egg on top, served with crispy bread with stir fried leek. 

The leek was very important as a flavour-lifter.  

Picking main course was hard.
There really isnt much options.
They were mainly fish options and we wanted something meaty after the seafood starters

Rabbit and duck pie

- The rabbit and duck were moist and packed with flavours.  

It comes with a thin sauce with lots of chopped vegetables, topped with a puff pastry - which wasn't very crunchy

That's the challenge with pie

It is probably the most expensive pie I have had :p £16 before discount/service charge!

It was nice.. but definitely doesn't worth £16!

"Hot pot" - braised lamb with herbs, beans

The lamb was very soft and can easily just flake off.  

We were just tooooo full to have dessert.  There was some nice options 

e.g. walnut meringue, chocolate tart etc

but not attractive enough for us to order one...