Hong Kong and Japan - food, food and a bit of other stuff

[LadyC]

The next day, the gentleman and I travelled out to the suburbs to go to Ghibli Museum, a museum that displays works from Studio Ghibli (a Japanese anime film studio most well known for the work by Hayao Miyazaki).

We caught a JR line train out to Mitaka and then enjoyed a walk to the museum in beautiful spring weather.


The museum itself is more designed for children than adults and unfortunately all the written detail is in Japanese. It is big building shaped to look like a house from one of their movies. Inside there a various rooms with displays from their movies, some old fashioned flip book style animation and some rooms where children can play. And of course a big shop to buy toys, books etc. A bit of fun if you are a fan but otherwise you can probably give it a miss.

We encountered more beautiful cherry blossoms on the way back to the hotel.

 

[docjames]

I'm feeling full reading this TR.

Great read - please keep it going!

 

[LadyC]

Dinner that night was a special event - the six of us were going to L'Chateau at Joel Robuchon in Ebisu.



Dining in the upstairs dining room, it is a very fancy 3 michelin star affair with prices to match. We lashed out and ordered the degustation menu and a few bottles of wine to match. It's funny as the females get menus without prices on them!

As you would expect, the service and presentation was impeccable but the menu didn't gel with me. A few dishes were a little lacklustre in terms of flavour or texture. Don't get me wrong, it was all very impressive but there was just something about it, for me, it wasn't a top five restaurant. Some of the dishes were

Caviar with crab underneath


Scallop with truffle


Foie gras

 

[LadyC]

A beautiful piece of wagyu


Berry dessert


They had a massive tiered trolley of petit fours to go with coffee, including chocolates, nougat and macaroons. The photo is a bit dark - apologies!

 

[Inver]

LadyC what would I expect to pay for the degustation menu at L'Chateau?

Last degustation feast I took my family to was Luke Nguyen's Red Lantern in March.

 

[LadyC]

LadyC what would I expect to pay for the degustation menu at L'Chateau?

Last degustation feast I took my family to was Luke Nguyen's Red Lantern in March.

About $250 per person, I think, not including drinks.

 

[LadyC]

The next day we took the shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto. After getting to Tokyo station, we spent about 15 minutes hunting around trying to find the travel agency we needed to pick the tickets up from. We had organised return tickets through wew.japanican.com. You buy a return ticket voucher online and choose the days you want to use it when you are there. Once found and sourced, we decided we should buy some food to eat on the train for lunch. The department store Daimaru was close by, so we headed down to their food section which was spectacular! All sorts of bento boxes, sushi and sashimi boxes, salads, sandwiches, fried chicken and a myriad of other lunch boxes available for purchase. I picked up a salmon sushi box and when I purchased it they included a little ice pack to ensure it stayed cold!

After we had all purchased some supplies, we went up to the train station and managed to get on the next Nozomi train, which has the least number of stops, so gets you there faster. After a mad rush for seats, as our tickets were unreserved, the train soon went and after 2 hours 10 mins or thereabouts, we had arrived in Kyoto.

We were staying just south of the station at New Miyako Hotel. Our room was fairly small and had a prefabricated bathroom. It served us fine for our stay but the Hilton in Tokyo was better.

After a quick freshen up, we went out to explore a bit of Kyoto and head out for dinner with a few of the gang.

 

[LadyC]

Dinner was at Hafuu, a wagyu beef restaurant. http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaura...s-or31-Hafu-Kyoto_Kyoto_Prefecture_Kinki.html

There is a sushi style bar as well as some tables but we opted for the bar seating to watch the kitchen action. We ordered their set menu which included some tongue and a lovely piece of wagyu sirloin, served medium with some salts and sauces to dip into. Dessert finishes on varied notes - two little desserts served per person and we each got different combinations. Mine was chocolate ice-cream (hiding under the ceramic face), a creme brulee and some strawberries.

A tasty meal and would recommend heading there if you are in Kyoto.

After that, we headed to a little whisky jazz bar around the corner called Chez Quadimodo to met up with the other couple we were travelling with. We hung out and listened to some jazz, admired the large whisky collection and a few whisky coughtails were had before the evening ended.

http://www.timeout.jp/s/en/kyoto/venue/1101/Chez-Quasimodo

 

[LadyC]

The next day we visited the Nishiki market to sample a variety of delectable morsels. It is five blocks long with over 100 shops and restaurants. It is mainly a food market, selling lots of seafood and fruit and vegetables and lots of Japanese specialities including pickles, dried seafood and even Fugu! We had a great time wandering up and down and enjoyed things like soy milk donuts (surprisingly good). peanut brittle, maccha cake, fish skewers and spinach salad.





After whetting our appetite with all that food, we heading to a soba and udon noodle restaurant for some lunch. I had a delicious chicken and leek udon soup - the broth was magic!

 

[Sprucegoose]

Great TR, thanks!

 

[jetlagger]

Thanks LadyC for sharing your delectable Japan adventure.
The whole varietal cuisine experience is absolutely adorable in Japan.. Always so much attention to quality & detail & the serving technique is most desired.
I also find Japan to be such a culturally fascinating destination, & the ease of travelling, coupled with the quality hotels & reputable transport modes, along with the safety aspect, certainly is always on my annual repeat visitation list.

 

[LadyC]

Thanks jetlagger! A few more entries to go - need to get it finished! Japan was great! Safe, easy to get around and really interesting. Will be back there next year

 

[LadyC]

Thanks to a query I posted here on AFF, I got a great tip on hiring bikes to get around from reductionist. Whilst we didn't go with KTCP, we found a great little shop that hired out electric assisted bikes! You still pedal but it takes a lot of the work out for you

We decided we would cycle out to Arashiyama, west of the city, check out the Monkey park, head up to the Golden Pavilion and then back to the hotel. It was a crisp sunny spring morning, we rode mainly on the footpaths but the road is also safe. It was delightful.



Some monkeys from the monkey forest


We decided to grab a bite of lunch before riding across to the golden pavilion. The gentleman randomly picked a restaurant, that on perusing the menu, was vegetarian and specialised in tofu.

I'm not a fan of tofu but this was quite nice.

 

[LadyC]

After our lunch stop, we cycled off towards the Golden Pavilion. We rode through some very picturesque country side, providing many Japanese images you see in magazines etc. We passed by this lovely lake on the way.


Then off to the Golden Pavilion to admire the buildings and gardens.

 

[LadyC]

Dinner that night was at a chicken yakitori grill called Torito http://kyotofoodie.com/torito-kyoto-style-yakitori-grilled-chicken/

All sorts of delicious skewers, well worth going to if you can. It is only a small place located up near Jingumarutamachi subway station but you can book a table - as there were six of us we needed to.

Chicken with minced onion


Chicken and cheese - it was quite nice!


Chicken balls with egg yolk

 

[LadyC]

As we enjoyed our 'cycling', we decided to do it again the next day, taking in Nijo Castle, the Silver Pavilion and the Fushimi Inari Shrine.

 

[LadyC]

Nijo Castle was our first stop, showcasing some beautiful Japanese gardens, two palaces and fortifications. It was built for use by the Tokugawa Shogunate.

 

[LadyC]

The Silver Pavilion was our next stop. First we decided on a spot of lunch and stopped at a little tempura style restaurant on the way to the Silver Pavilion. Using the mock plates from the window to order, I had a prawn snd vegetable tempura with rice and soup and some tofu. It was a very basic place with formica tables and booth seating. $11 for lunch! The only downside was they still allow smoking in some restaurants in Japan so it was a bit yucky!

The Silver Pavilion has beautiful gardens with bonsai and zen sand art. I actually enjoyed it more than the Golden Pavilion.

 

[LadyC]

Last stop Fushimi Inari Shrine - really beautiful so I understand why it is rated so highly on TripAdvisor! Free entry, you could walk around for hours if you wished.

 

[LadyC]

Our last night in Kyoto had a dinner of epic proportions - Iron Chef style! Dinner was booked at Kichisen, a kaiseki restaurant, a degustation meal with lots of little plates of very local seasonal ingredients. The chef at this restaurant had competed in the TV show Iron Chef and had won!

Dinner was booked for 7pm and finished around 11.30pm. All dining occurs in private rooms from what I could tell. One of the wait staff had been to Australia and his English was very good which was very helpful in explaining dishes. Not all the flavours appealed to me but the presentation was out of this world!

Starter dish including mussel and vegetables


Sour plum with fish on broth