Food

錦市場 Nishiki Market @Kyoto

2015-12-09 12.10.17A first-time trip to 京都 Kyoto would probably be incomplete without paying a visit to 錦市場 Nishiki Market. Despite being a Wednesday, where some shops were closed, there were actually still plenty to see, and it was less crowded too.

We had fun strolling around, just looking at the merchandise, and also snacking along the way. The popular soy doughnut shop was opened, and we got ourselves some Soy Doughnut (¥300). A pity it was not piping hot, but still not bad. It certainly tasted different from the soy doughnut that we had at 嵐山 Arashiyama.

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Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Japan, Kyoto, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Day trip to 伏見 Fushimi

2015-12-09 08.29.29 2015-12-09 08.12.35We went to check out the many Torii gates at 伏見稲荷大社 Fushimi Inari in the morning, and we discovered that there were now many more Torii gates compared to our previous visit in 2011, making it an even prettier sight. As we were entering the shrine close to 9am, we saw a few visitors leaving 😮 There were easily at least another 20 visitors making their way up at the same time as us, but most of them were quite quiet and orderly in their movements, so it was a rather pleasant walk. Despite the cold, we soon got warm as we slowly made our way up to the view point. Our journey to and fro the view point was about an hour. We were glad we came early; by the time we made our descent, it became really crowded!

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Categories: Breakfast, Japan, Kyoto, Travel | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

かつくら・三条本店 Katsukura @Kyoto

2015-12-08 19.21.07Mr J recommended this place to us, and warned us about the long queues at the Kyoto Station outlet, so we were pretty excited when we found the main shop near our hotel! There was a little entrance next to Lipton cafe, and opposite Jeugia, a guitar shop, and we had to walk through a small alley before reaching the restaurant.

We were comparing the English and Japanese menus, and discovered that for the English version, the main pork dishes all come in sets (additional ¥300 for unlimited servings of barley rice), but since we wanted to minimise our carbohydrates intake, we ordered via the Japanese menu instead:

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Categories: Dinner, Kyoto | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Day trip to 嵐山 Arashiyama

We travelled to 嵐山 Arashiyama in the morning, to experience the lovely stroll in the bamboo groves. It was an easy walk from the 嵯峨嵐山駅 JR Saga Arashiyama Station, as we basically just followed the crowd.  This meant that there was quite a fair number of people attempting to take photos at the more popular spots within the bamboo groves, including 2 Japanese dressed in kimonos, with an entourage of photographer and assistants, and they attracted plenty of attention from all the tourists! Aside from this, it was a rather serene stroll 🙂 As we walked along, there was also a lone vendor selling pretty postcards.
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Categories: Coffee/Tea Break, Japan, Kyoto, Lunch, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment

寅や Toraya @Takamatsu

2015-12-06 20.18.21We were quite famished for dinner and decided that we should have a great meal for this last night in 四国 Shikoku!

So we found some seats (and drinks) in Seattle Best Coffee in 高松 Takamatsu which had free wifi, and off we went in search of good food in cyberland. 😛

We had listed a few and started walking around to find them only to realise that most of them were closed, mainly because it was a Sunday today. So sad…

Then we laid our eyes on this 焼鳥 yakitori shop and the bright lights attracted us. Plus it advertised もつ鍋 Motsu Nabe! We were definitely in need of hot pot to counter this very cold day!

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Categories: Dinner, Shikoku | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

一鶴・高松店 Ikkaku @Takamatsu

2015-12-05 19.15.31-2We had seen so many restaurants and stalls advertising the signature dish of 香川県 Kagawa Prefecture, 骨付鳥 Honetsukidori, or roast chicken on bone, everywhere we went in 高松 Takamatsu, that we decided that we had to try it!

Ms V discovered the must-go place to have this chicken is 一鶴 Ikkaku, so off we went for our early dinner, only to find a snaking queue out in the cold 😮

There was a take-away option, but we wanted to have our food on the spot while piping hot, and since we were not too hungry, we decided to join the queue with at least 17 people in front of us… Cold burns more fat and calories = more space to eat more, right? 😀

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Categories: Dinner, Shikoku | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

しるの店 おふくろ Shiru-no-mise Ofukuro @Takamatsu

2015-12-04 22.57.43Hubby had read about this place near our hotel that was popular for miso soup and homecooked style food, so off we went for dinner. We were quite lucky as we managed to get the last table 🙂

Everyone were having miso soup, and while there were many types available, we chose the more popular ぶた汁 pork miso soup.

We randomly picked some of the dishes that we fancied from what we saw. Most of the food were delicious, and made us feel like we were at home 🙂 However, the egg plant really left its imprints in our minds because it was so, so unexpectedly salty. So salty that it became our benchmark for saltiness throughout the remaining trip… Nothing else could beat it, not even pickles!

Contact:

  • Location: 1-11-12 Kawaramachi, Takamatsu-shi, Kagawa-ken, Japan 香川県高松市瓦町1-11-12
  • Nearest Station: Kawaramachi Station 琴電琴平線瓦町駅
  • Direction: Walk 300m north-west of station.
  • Websiteyousakana.jp/ofukuroTabelog
  • Hrs: 5pm – 11:30pm (Mon-Sat)
Categories: Dinner, Japan, Shikoku, Travel | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

上原屋本店 Ueharaya Honten @Takamatsu

2015-12-04 13.10.48On our way to 栗林公園 Ritsurin-koen, we made a special visit to the local speciality famous 讃岐うどん Sanuki Udon shop 上原屋本店 Ueharaya honten nearby. It is said that while udon is widely available throughout Japan, nobody makes it better and cheaper than in 香川 Kagawa Prefecture.

This is a popular lunch venue with locals working nearby, as it provided a very delicious meal at very affordable prices. It was a short wait outside the shop, as turnover was very fast. Almost everything is self-service. Once you decide on the type and size of udon, you just need to select your side dishes, pay up, and cook the udon yourself, or add the desired toppings yourself. Then you hunt for a table, finish your meal, and return your tray.

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Categories: Japan, Lunch, Shikoku, Travel | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

たまりば 琥太郎 Tamariba Kotaro @Okayama

2015-12-04 06.39.07We slept through the entire journey and finally made it back to 岡山 Okayama from 神戸 Kobe.

As we were walking from the train station back to the hotel, we were also looking out for dinner places. 😛

I saw a bright lantern saying おでん Oden and pointed it out to the girls. We went closer to the shop but were not too confident about venturing inside and ordering because we saw that it was a standing bar of sorts. Just as we were still contemplating, an office worker had parked his bicycle outside the shop and pointed to us “おいしい” when we asked him how was the shop! Not only that, he even helped us talked to the chef and got us table seats on the 2nd floor of the shop!

We ordered a everything that was on the おでん Oden menu (except egg) and was happily drinking our Oolong Tea and eating the nut snack when we realized that the wall is full of decorations of 阪神タイガース Hanshin Tigers (a hugely popular baseball team playing in Japan’s Central League). No wonder the shop is named 琥太郎 Kotaro, haha…

The おでん oden was warm and soothing to the stomach, and we enjoyed every bits of it. So much so that we ordered three other side dishes to further warm our stomach!

Contact:

  • Location: 2-11 Honmachi, Kita-ku, Okayama-shi, Okayama-ken, Japan 岡山県岡山市北区本町 2-11
  • Nearest Station: JR Okayama Station 岡山駅
  • Direction: 5 minutes walk from JR Okayama Station.
  • Hrs: 6pm – 12:30am
Categories: Dinner, Japan, Okayama, Travel | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

我逢人 かっぱ Gahoujin Kappa @Gion

We were done with sight-seeing for the day and were searching for cheaper alternatives near 祇園 Gion area for dinner, before heading home. Ms V found a highly recommended 居酒屋 izakaya, and we decided to go try our luck!

When we peeped in, we saw that the bar counters were fully occupied, but still decided to try enquiring for seats. To our pleasant surprise, there were tables available in another room, away from the smokey bar counters.. Happiness!

It was a traditional tatami room, which meant that we had to take off our shoes, and kneel/sit on the floor. The trio of stiff-legged 外人 gaijins ended up sitting with legs in various positions to avoid leg cramps 😛 The food and atmosphere were good enough that we sat through leg cramps and enjoyed our dinner for 2 hours!

Most of the items were ¥390, excluding tax, and of a small portion, which was good, because we wanted to have a variety. For a total of ¥5610 (~S$65) for 3 persons, we left the place really bloated and happy.

Contact:

  • Location: 77 Sueyoshi-cho, Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto-shi, Kyoto-fu 605-0085, Japan 〒605-0085 京都府京都市東山区末吉町77
  • Nearest Station: Gion-Shijo Station 祇園四条駅
  • Direction: Take Exit 7 and walk along 四条通 Shijo Dori. Make a left turn at 大和大路通 Yamato Oji Dori. Turn right at the second junction.
  • Websitewww.kirinya-foods.jp/kappa
  • Hrs: 6pm – 3am (Tue-Sat), 5pm – 12:30am (Sun)
Categories: Dinner, Japan, Kyoto, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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