After enjoying Kiyomizu-dera, I suggest walking down Matsubara Dori. Brace yourself for the hordes of people.
It’s worth it to try out the snacks and tea the shops offer to lure the tourists. One shop sold flatten mochi, which was chewy and delicious. In another, I picked up a snack sized bread filled with custard for only 60 yen. After consuming it, I wished I had bought more.
The machine in the back makes these bite sized snacks.
After wandering around Kyoto all day, we were starving and on the hunt for good food. After much research, we settled on Ganko Sanjo Honten. Like all good food in Japan, it is a chain so you don’t have to travel all the way to Kyoto to try it. I noticed them in every city we visited. They also have branches that serve only ramen or gyoza. It’s easy to spot as the tough Japanese chef is their logo and their entrances are known for its overwhelming displays of plastic food.
We sat at the counter and had an fun experience communicating with the chef as he only spoke Japanese and we knew little to none.
Toro, boiled crab, and salmon. Despite its appearance, the salmon was smooth and fresh; I ordered it twice.
Negi toro roll was nothing special.
I noticed everyone ordered eel, so I too had to try and it was deliciously sweet and toasted! The unagi had gone through the toaster twice. The uni in the back was mediocre. Sadly the chef served us from the bottom tray of uni, which didn’t look as nice as the top display tray.
Overall, the sushi was mediocre. Some were amazing, like the salmon and unagi, but nothing to fawn about.
Kyoto is known for it’s love of desserts. Where ever you go in Kyoto, you will find plenty of shops selling matcha green tee ice cream. I didn’t catch the name of this place but it was on the way to Kiyomizu-dera.
The little old man that runs the place was adorable as he was the front man of the shop and also the behind the scenes man. He had to keep taking his shoes off to run to the back of his shop to fill up a cone. It was selling like hotcakes that the owner had to turn customers away because his ice cream machine broke down.
Kobe beef refers to the Tajima strain of wagyu beef, therefore, only wagyu from Kobe, Japan can be called kobe.
Tsurugyu is known for its grade A Kobe beef. This place is amazing melt in your mouth goodness. Be ready to drool over the following epic food.
Placing the hot, fiery coals to grill the luscious meat.
The most delicious cow tongue, which is then dipped in lemon, salt and pepper dipping sauce.
Two cuts of rib eye steak full of natural umami.
Close up natural beauty shot.
Melt in your mouth kalbi (short rib).
Marinated belly goodness.
Cold handmade noodle soup.
To end the meal, they provided an ume (plum) tea and matcha green tea.
Overall, this was the best meal I had in Japan.
We were lucky and got to sit at the counter and watch the chef prepare the meat. He also kept an eye on us to ensure we didn’t overcook any of the precious meat, which was fine with me since I believe the chef knows all. All of the beef was rich and melted in your mouth. Each cut of meat had a special dipping sauce, so it was swapped out with every cut of meat. All of this cost about 60 USD per person, which is cheap for kobe wagyu. A must try when in Osaka.
(3 Chome-5-14 KawarayamachiChuo Ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture 542-0066Japan)
Be prepared to wait for Sushi Dai, one of the two acclaimed sushi restaurants at the Tsukiji fish market. By wait, I don’t mean 1-2 hours. I mean over FOUR hours. You have to be committed, or just wake up super early to be first in line. I got to Sushi Dai around 5 am and was immediately told it will be a four hour wait. So I waited….and waited….and waited 4.5 hours for:
Fresh and smooth toro
While researching for a brunch place, the name bills Sydney, a famous Australian brunch place that has made its way to Tokyo, kept popping up. We decided to give it a try. Our first attempt was unsuccessful. We arrived at 10 am and they told us to come back at 1 pm. The wait was THAT long.
The next day, we tried to go again and only had to wait 20 minutes for a table. Not knowing what the to expect, we were in for a surprise. The food was AMAZING!
Sweet corn fritters, roast tomato, spinach, bacon and avocado salsa– The corn was naturally sweet and perfectly seasoned. I had to stop myself from gobbling it all up at once.
Ricotta hotcakes, banana and honeycomb butter– The fluffiest pancakes ever! Heavenly and not overly sweet. I can’t wait to try to recreate these. Or travel to have these again.
Tip: You can make reservations in advance. It’s located on the top floor of Tokyu Plaza.
(Tokyu Plaza, Omotesando Harajuku 7F, 4-30-3 Jingu-mae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0001)
If you can’t go to Japan to try these amazing hotcakes but happen to be in Hawaii, check out their Oahu location. (280 Beach Walk, Honolulu, HI 96815)
Served at Ippudo is the Akamaru Modern (pictured above). It has a tonkotsu pork broth with handmade thin noodles with a splash black garlic oil. It’s topped with three slices of pork, scallions, fungi, and bean sprouts.
The broth was intensely rich in flavor. The noodles were firm and the chasu was delicious!!!
They serve a strong barley tea to compliment the ramen. On the table are pickled bean sprouts, veggies, and ginger to snack on while waiting. They also have garlic and a garlic mincer at the table if you want your soup to be more garlicky.
Ippudo is a chain restaurant and can be found all over Japan. However, the stores are discreetly hidden and hard to recognize. Be on the lookout! You don’t want to miss out on their decadent broth.
Below is a map of Ippudos in Japan and New York.
YUMTRAVELS 