It was deceptively dry despite the incoming typhoon, and we thought we should go for a late lunch/early dinner. We found this yakiniku place near the shopping street that opened early, and we found ourselves as the first customers. We found the food to be quite standard of a typical Japanese BBQ. Perhaps the food would be tastier if we drank some beer 🙂
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There was this relatively popular conveyor-belt sushi outlet at JR Kyoto Station, and the food was pretty decent, with a few interesting sushi items. Three of us conquered 19 plates (each ranging from ¥146 to ¥463, plus 10% tax, total bill ¥4090).
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The weather turned out better than expected, and we decided to go ahead with the hike from 貴船 Kibune to 鞍馬 Kurama as planned.
We headed for breakfast at a Happiness Cafe nearby at 7:30am, and caught the 8:30am subway to Kyoto station. It was crowded at Kyoto Station and we had to squeeze into our connecting train. The crowd-at-door syndrome was not unique to Singapore 😅
At 出町柳駅 Demachiyanagi Station, we purchased a ¥1800 discount ticket (Train – Hot Spring All in One Pass 貴船鞍馬散策チケット) each that would allow us a return trip to 貴船/鞍馬 Kibune/Kurama (usual ¥860) , plus the entrance fee to the 鞍馬寺 Kurama Temple (usual ¥300), and entrance fee to くらま温泉 Kurama Outdoor Onsen (usual ¥1000).
First meal of the day in Kyoto was 牛ロースカツ膳 Chuck Tail Flap (¥1480) and 牛リブロースカツ膳 Rib Eye Roll (¥1380), with 10% tax, which came with free-flow rice, miso soup and cabbage. This place was definitely tourist-friendly, with its multi-language guide on how to eat 牛カツ Gyukatsu aka beef cutlet. We were quite impressed by the crispy exterior of the cutlets while the inside was medium rare and juicy.
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This was the much anticipated trip of the year!
We started planning for this trip very long ago, with the purchase of SQ Super Sweet Deals tickets. Planning went on and on and it was a pity that hubby was down with sore throat right on the day we were departing. Packed a number of medicine to bring with us and the next 2 weeks turned out to be medicine-full days…
But we were very lucky to be able to see 富士山 Mt Fuji from the plane!
Hubby noticed it first (before the pilots, haha!) and quickly whip out his iPhone to take a picture. Ms V and I unfortunately went to the toilet and missed the first sighting. When we came back, the pilot was announcing that passengers seated on the left could see the magnificent mountain, and we spared no time to get back to our seats and shoot! 🙂
The rest of the journey went on well, and I think it’s partly due to the sighting of 富士山 Mt Fuji!
So this is our final night in 京都 Kyoto, and we just had to have a feast!
Hubby was looking through a magazine in our hotel and found an advertment that showed a しゃぶしゃぶ 食べ放題 Shabu Shabu Buffet with an affordable price, and so here we are!
This is an 180-years old establishment which has a very elegant Japanese garden at the entrance that instantly gave us a calming and welcoming atmosphere as we walked into the restaurant. We ordered the 上牛と特選豚すきしゃぶ食べ放題 Superior Beef and Special Pork Suki Shabu Buffet (¥3680+8% tax per pax with 10% discount from a coupon in the magazine 🙂 ) where we could enjoy both すきやき Sukiyaki (meat cooked in soy sauce broth) and しゃぶしゃぶ Shabu Shabu (meat cooked in clear broth) in the same pot!
We had chanced upon this pancake cafe because of the huge advertisement on its 3D latte art, and we decided that this would be a good resting point after our walk in the nearby Nishiki market.
We were really too full to try any pancakes, so we had カプチーノ Cappuccino, カフェオレCafé Au Lait, and チョコレートミルク Hot Chocolate Milk. Each of the drinks cost ¥680+ (including 3D latte art).
The drinks were just alright, but the latte art were so pretty that we were really careful in sipping our drinks, haha! The staff were also very friendly and helpful, and I managed to request for a less-sweet version of hot chocolate through our very broken Japanese.
We had the sofa seats on the first floor, and chilled for a good hour or so 🙂
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So I have been wanting to relive the what I call 一蘭 Ichiran experience over again ever since I tried it in 福岡 Fukuoka many years ago. This is a classic とんこつラーメン Tonkotsu ramen shop that started from the 60s and have been dishing out ramen all over Japan over the years 24 hours a day.
The 一蘭 Ichiran experience starts from ordering your noodle and extra ingredients using a vending machine (or coupon machine). Then you wait in line for the server to assign you a cubicle. Yes you need to dine in a cubicle ALONE. Haha…
Once you are seated in a cubicle, you will face a wooden window where a server will appear from behind and collect your order. This is also the time when you can indicate your choice of thickness of noodle, hotness of sauce etc. Then you wait for the noodle to be served, again through the wooden window. This, my dear friends, is the 一蘭 Ichiran experience! 🙂
A 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.
We 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!
Eat.Eat.Walk.Walk . 吃吃走走 