The London Foodie Goes to Japan - Kyoto (Part 1)

On arrival, the ultra-modern JR station (train) complex is very impressive, but Kyoto can hardly be described as an immediately attractive  town. If you care to spend a few days in Kyoto though and discover some of its hidden beauty, you will undoubtedly fall in love with the ancient former capital of Japan.

Compared with Tokyo, Kyoto is relatively smaller and was spared much of the bombing in WWII - today, it has hundreds of thousand year old temples and shrines surrounded by beautiful Japanese gardens, magnificent palaces and original wooden townhouses known as machiya. Many of these sites were built during Kyoto's millennium at the centre of Japanese power, tradition and religion for the country's emperors, shoguns and monks. I recommend planning your trip in great detail before visiting Kyoto as there is just so much to see and experience there.

This post is about my latest visit to Kyoto, and is by no means a comprehensive list of things to do or places to visit. For more information about this magnificent city, visit the WikiTravel page on Kyoto here.

Where to Stay in Kyoto

The sky is the limit when searching for accommodation in Kyoto, which does not come cheap even at the most modest establishments. Budget accommodation will cost you anything between £80 and £100, while mid-range hotels (3-stars) will set you back about £150 to £200 for a double room. The more luxurious ryokans (traditional Japanese Inns) can cost a few hundred pounds a night per person.

Kyoto is a major tourist city, and at peak season (cherry blossom days and weekends) accommodation can be difficult to find, and prices reflect this. Osaka is only a 30 minute train journey from Kyoto, and being less popular as a holiday destination, it can offer a wider range of hotels to suit every budget.

We were recommended to stay at the Hiiragi-Ya. This is a luxurious traditional Kyoto ryokan which is the crème de la crème as far as Kyoto accommodation goes. But with my investment banking job well behind me and rates starting at £250 per person per night, we decided to go elsewhere.

We stayed at the Yuhara Ryokan which was also recommended by another Japanese friend (from Tokyo) who normally stays there. This is a traditional Japanese inn set along the Takase River. It is a delightful place, simply but tastefully decorated and immaculately clean. The owners (mother and son) speak good English and were very friendly, giving us the  low-down on the neighbourhood and on things to do in Kyoto before we set off sightseeing.

Yuhara Ryokan on Takase River Walk

Our bedroom was a Japanese-style room, pretty, spacious and comfortable and with a lovely view over the Takase River. The walk along the river  takes you through the geisha district of Gion (a 20 minute, very pleasant walk), and also to the centre of Kyoto including Pontocho Street. It is also a 15 minute walk from Kyoto's JR Station. At just under 10,000 Yen for a double room (about £85) for two people, this is highly recommended for its price, great location and charming hosts.

Japanese Style Room at Yuhara Ryokan

Where to Eat in Kyoto

As much as I love Tokyo, in my opinion, the best Japanese food is to be found in Kyoto. My Tokyo friends will not be impressed when they read this, after all Tokyo has more 3-michelin stars than Paris itself, I hear some of them saying. But compared with the style of cooking elsewhere in Japan, Kyo-ryori (Kyoto cuisine) is lighter and more delicate, stressing the natural flavour of ingredients over enhancement with heavy sauces and broths.

Pontocho Street

You will struggle to find a bad place to eat in Kyoto but it is always good to have some recommendations and book them in advance if you can. Also bear in mind that some restaurants will have a strict 9-9:30pm last order policy - this is because depending on the menu you choose, it might take a couple of hours to get through all the courses. There are many popular places serving a range of different dishes from the humble donburi to a full-blown kaiseki dinner (Japanese haute-cuisine) so choices are endless.

Giro Giro was highly recommended to us and happened to be a 3-minute walk from our ryokan on the Takase River. The 8-course menu devised by head chef Edakuni Eiichi features some kaiseki classics in his kuzushi-kappo, or “break the rules” casual cuisine. Price is a steal at only 3,600 yen or £30 per person. 

Giro Grio - View from Takase River Walk

There are two other branches, in Paris and Honolulu. I strongly recommend this restaurant and if you do get to book, ask for a seat by the counter where you can watch the chefs in action, highly entertaining.

Giro Giro - Chefs at Work

These are the fantastic dishes that we had at Giro Giro:

Platter of amuse bouche, including grilled namafu, pickled chestnut, sushi, and tamago

Cod sperm & seaweed tempura in a glutinous daikon & yuzu pink broth

Straw-smoked salmon and oyster sashimi

Yellow-tail grilled in white miso, with daikon & ginger, onion & yuzu and pickled apple

Tofu and shimeji mushroom tempura, topped with crab in a dashi and soy sauce broth

Red snapper with burdock, cooked in soya sauce and sugar

Tonjiro of pork and crab, sweet white miso soup with thinly sliced carrots & burdock, rice and Japanese pickles (clams & daikon)

Pumpkin with bitter tea sauce, chestnut ice cream, black sesame mochi filled with sweet red bean, yasahashi with cinnamon and filled with pickled apple and blue cheese

Dr G and I went back to Manzara-Tei where we had had a brilliant meal on our last visit in 2008. This is a lovely restaurant serving "casual" kaiseki style set meals at 4,500 Yen (£37.50 @ 120 yen/£) "Sekkou" for ten courses or "Gekkou" at 3,500 Yen (£29 @ 120 yen/£) for 8 courses on the busy Pontocho Street. 

The food again did not disappoint- we went for the ten-course dinner which included some local Kyoto specialities like fu (glutinous wheat gluten cakes) and yuba (soy-milk skimmings). If you like watching the busy chefs at work, ask for seats at the counter when booking (I did!).

These are the courses we enjoyed at Manzara-Tei:

Yuba scoop with yuzu ponzu

Asparagus with uncured ham, cherry tomatoes & smoked cheese

Sashimi (tuna, sea bream, yuba), with freshly grated wasabi

Grilled Sawara (Spanish Mackerel)

Wagyu beef with rock salt

Grilled Namafu (glutinous wheat cakes)

Slow-braised daikon in a thick dashi with pork belly - my favourite dish of the evening!

Tempura Assortment

Sushi and Akadashi (red miso soup)

Sweet soft tofu with red currant jam

What to Do in Kyoto

Biking

Thanks to its plain geography and grid-style streets, Kyoto is a great place to cycle and whenever I visit I hire a bicycle for the day. Yuhara Ryokan's owners recommended us a tiny cycling shop a couple of minutes walk from the ryokan where we hired a couple of bikes for 500 yen each for the entire day, that is £4.20!

Nishiki Market

From the bike shop we headed straight to Nishiki Market, Kyoto's main food hub in the centre of town. Nishiki Market is 390 meters long and runs from Teramachi Street to Takakura Street. There are around 130 shops and stalls, selling traditional Japanese food and ingredients. 

As customary in Japan, there are many shops specialising in one particular type of ingredient like tsukemono pickles, Japanese sweets (wagashi), dried food, tamagoyaki (egg omelets), sushi, fresh seafood and vegetables.

Salmon Eggs (Ikura)

Unlike department stores, almost everything at Nishiki is locally produced. Nishiki Market has a long history, the first store opening as early as 1311. It is a great place to spend a few hours learning about Japanese ingredients, sampling and buying. I returned to Nishiki Market everyday during my stay in Kyoto.

Smoked/Petrified Bonito Fish Ready for Shaving for Dashi Stock

Geisha Spotting at Gion

Kyoto is synonymous with geisha and maiko (the apprentice geisha), who live and work in the  neighbourhoods of Gion, Pontocho and Miyagawa-cho. Many girls are attracted to this glamorous world, but few make it through the arduous training required to become fully fledged geiko, as geisha are known in Kyoto dialect. The best time to see them is in the late afternoon as they head for rendezvous at the ochaya (tea-houses).

Dining with geisha is difficult to arrange, and expensive, but it is possible. Kyoto resident Peter MacIntosh of Kyoto Sights and Nights is able to arrange private engagements and VIP dinners.

There are hundreds of magnificent temples to visit in Kyoto and some of these will be featured in my second post.

Travel Essentials

For a printable PDF of Kyoto Walks by the Japan National Tourism Information (JNTO) - click here. 

For excellent accommodation for value and friendliness, Yuhara Ryokan is on Kiyamachi Dori, Shomen-agaru, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto Prefecture 600-8126 , Japan. Email: ryokan.yuhara@cap.ocn.ne.jp (tel: +81 075 371 9583).

For information on where and what to eat in Kyoto, visit the Kyoto Foodie blog here.

For fantastic food at very reasonable prices head to Giro Giro Hitoshina, 420-7 Nanba-cho, Nishikiyamachi-sagaru, Shimogyo-ku, +81 75 343 7070, open 5.30pm-11pm daily, or visit their website here.

For Pontocho casual dining, Manzara Tei is on 1-198 Higashisawaragi-cho, Pontocho-dori Shijo agaru, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto City 604-0906 (tel: +81-75-212-0028)

For information on places to visit in Kyoto, go to the fantastic site Kyoto Kyoto here.

For information on Nishiki Market and directions, visit the Nishiki Market website here.

For information on how to dine with a geisha (and much more about Kyoto) visit Kyoto Sights and Nights' website here, tel: +81 905 169 1654.

London Restaurant Reviews - Tamarai (Pan-Asian Cooking in Covent Garden)

**THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED DOWN**

Few restaurants have challenged my prejudices as much as Tamarai. From the moment I walked through the door, I was ready to dislike it. The restaurant occupies the basement of a nightclub on Drury Lane, in London's West End. For a moment I wondered whether I had come to the right place, until I perceived some fellow diners through the dim lighting.

As soon as I entered, I also noted that service was impeccable - indeed, before we entered the restaurant, a waiter rushed out to warn us we were parked inadvertently in a residents bay, and gave us a voucher for a free bay in an underground parking lot nearby.

The menu, devised by head-chef Manish, is influenced by Japan, China, South-east Asia and the Indian sub-continent. To blend such an array of influences in a single menu is an ambitious task in which many fail. "Pan-Asian" cuisine can be a term of abuse (Jack of all trades, master of none) but I think otherwise - if sympathetically done, it can bring together the finest authentic dishes from different countries into a coherent whole.

Starters range from £6.50 to £16, while main courses start from £15 going up to £24. The wine list is comprehensive with a few New and Old World options priced around £20 and upwards. Cocktails are all priced at £9. While we perused the menu, Dr G and I ordered a couple of cocktails - "Tamajito" - a deliciously refreshing drink made from Japanese shiso leaf bruised over crushed ice with sugar, lemon juice, gin and a dash of absinthe, and "Punch Essential" with Pernod Anise aperitif, vanilla liqueur, passion fruit and grapefruit.

We decided to go for the Chef's Tasting Menu @ £52 per person with a tasting flight of 5 wines @ £17 per person to accompany the menu, including some great choices such as Knappstein Riesling from Clare Valley, Australia and a sweet Beaumes de Venise.

As the first dishes arrived, my initial doubts about the restaurant, Pan-Asian cooking and the varied menu were assuaged. Even the dodgy decor was forgiven. Dish after dish, Manish proved to be a truly accomplished chef - his food was delicious, well balanced and elegantly constructed. Much thought had obviously gone into each dish and I was astounded by the myriad flavours, textures and combinations of Asian ingredients that he demonstrated.

I cannot fault the food or service at Tamarai that evening, on the contrary, I can only praise it. These are the dishes that we had as part of the Chef's Tasting Menu, plus a couple of other small dishes I asked to try:

Smoked Salmon Thayar Satham (curd rice)

Corn-fed Chicken Spring Roll

Soft- shell Crab, Flame roast Coconut and Masala Mayo - I loved the combination of toasted coconut and soft shell crab in this dish.

Sweet Chilli Lotus Root - this was one of the simplest but also one of the most delicious dishes of the evening.

Beef Satay, Peanut Glaze and Wasabi Yoghurt - I really enjoyed the wasabi yoghurt with the beef satay, a well thought out combination of Asian flavours.

Caramelised Szechuan Pepper King Prawns - this was the most sensational dish of this meal, I would love to return to Tamarai to have this again (or even better - learn how to make it!).

Sweet Pomelo Salad - deliciously fresh and very well made, this was perfect with the Caramelised Szechuan Pepper King Prawns.

Black Tiger Prawns - chunky and delectable.

Thai Green Curry - the green curry tasted as authentic as all the ones I tried in Thailand, beautifully spiced and very warming.

Roasted Sesame and White Chocolate Semi Freddo - impeccable presentation of this dessert, which tasted refreshing yet  creamy.

Seasonal Fruit Satay - another beautifully presented dish that brought a smile to my face. I loved the sweet, perfectly ripened fruit served satay-style, smothered in a lovely passion fruit syrup and topped with small green shoot-leaves.

Cost: £52 per person for the Chef's Tasting Menu and £17 per person for the matching wines.

Likes: the entire menu was fantastic, particularly the Caramelised Szechuan Pepper King Prawns. Very comprehensive wine and cocktails list.

Dislikes: the nighclub decor is rather challenging for a restaurant experience.

Verdict: Chef Manish cooks the best Pan-Asian food I have ever tried. I enjoyed every course of his tasting menu, and the wine matches were also perfect. Very highly recommended.

The London Foodie Goes to Japan - Tokyo (Part 1)

When I first started working in finance over 10 years ago, it didn't take me long to realise that my heart wasn't really in it. I was crazy about food even then, but only now have I had the confidence and means to leave my job in investment banking to pursue my true passion in life - cooking.

It was a long thought out decision, requiring years of planning and saving to finance a year at the full-time Cordon Bleu Grand Diplome course which I start in January 2012. During this period, writing The London Foodie has kept me more or less sane, by putting me in contact with others who shared the same feelings as I did, and motivating me to keep going.

Happo En Park in Meguro

Having a two month break between leaving the bank and starting Le Cordon Bleu, I decided to come to Japan to research and learn more about the food of my ancestors. For those who read this site, it is no secret that Japanese food is one of my great passions, and having started a series of Japanese supper clubs at my home, I felt it was time to gain a greater depth of understanding of this cuisine.

Shinjuku's Kabukicho District

Where to Stay in Tokyo

I came to Japan at the end of October, and rented a flat in the lovely Tokyo neighbourhood of Meguro. Renting in Tokyo is not easy. In the UK, I searched for flats using two of the main accommodation websites for foreigners in Tokyo - Sakura House and Tokyo Apartments.

Top of Mitshukoshi Building in Ginza

At the lower end of the market, Sakura House offers cheaper accommodation that ranges from guest houses to self-catering apartments. The catch here is that the flats are in distant suburbs, and are very small and unattractive. Tokyo Apartments offers serviced flats mostly for a minimum 90 day stay. Flats here are geared towards the ex-pat community in Tokyo and therefore are much more expensive, but also of far better quality. While searching on the Tokyo Apartments site, I noticed a price discrepancy between similar apartments depending on whether it was let to locals or foreigners. It would help if you had a native speaker who could help you search the Japanese accommodation sites as well as the ones in English.

My flat is spacious, with a large fitted kitchen (very unusual for Tokyo), and perfect for my purposes - cooking.

My Tokyo Flat's Kitchen - where I spend most of my days!

What to Do in Tokyo

Japanese Cookery Classes in Tokyo (in English)

The flat is owned, and is adjacent to the home of Kazuko-san, one of Japan's most renowned food stylists, who is also giving me a series of 1:1 cookery lessons throughout my stay here.

Classes take place in her beautiful American-style home (her husband is from the USA). Before each class, we go shopping for ingredients together at the local market, a valuable experience considering that labelling is all in Japanese. Kazuko-San explains the ingredients as we buy them, and when and how they should be used.

Cookery Class at Kazuko-San's

For my first class, we cooked an entire meal together over 2-3 hours. Of the five dishes we cooked, one of my favourites was the pan-fried tofu and chicken steaks served with two different sauces- oroshi ponzu (grated daikon radish in yuzu ponzu dressing) and teriyaki with strands of white spring onion. This would be easy to replicate in the UK, and looks and tastes fantastic.

Another lovely dish was a simple miso soup with aubergines and sesame dressing. We used a strong brown miso which was a good partner to the meaty aubergines. The aubergines were fried in pure sesame oil, which imparted a lovely nutty flavour to the soup. It was also interesting to learn her gomadare sauce (toasted sesame dressing), as her recipe differed from the one I usually use.

Work Experience at a Japanese Restaurant

I have also been fortunate enough to arrange work experience at an izakaya (Japanese small eats restaurant) in Naka Meguro. The izakaya is owned by 'Big Mama', a lady in her sixties who works single-handed six evenings a week cooking, and serving her customers. The place specialises in Yaki Niku (grilled meats) but the menu changes daily according to what she finds in the market and feels like cooking. There is a tiny printed menu, but her customers (mostly regulars) do not look at, ordering instead 'Omakase' (chef's choice).

Tiny Counter at Big Mama's Izakaya in Naka Meguro

The quality of the barbecued meats is outstanding, my favourites being thin slivers of fatty beef diaphragm which she seasons simply with a mixture of rock salt and kombu crystals (from seaweed) and marbled wagyu beef which she briefly dunks into a mixture of soy sauce, mirin and sugar before grilling.

Big Mama at Action!

In addition to the barbecued meats, there is always a daily special. As the evenings grow colder, recently we have had shabu shabu. This is a hotpot cooked at the table on a slow flame burner, using a base of light dashi stock, with vegetables and thinly sliced beef or pork. It is lighter in style compared with the sweeter sukiyaki, or more robust nabe or oden which include chunky root vegetables, tofu, eggs and koniyaku (yam jelly) among other ingredients.

After the shabu shabu ingredients are nearly all eaten, to use up the tasty broth, noodles or white rice are added together with a raw egg or two and heated through. It's a fantastic hearty dish, perfect for autumn and winter, and I will be serving it at my Japanese supperclubs.

Big Mama Cooking Shabu Shabu

Where to Eat in Tokyo

Tonkatsu (breaded, deep-fried pork cutlets) has never been high up on my list of Japanese culinary experiences, but an invitation from an old friend Atsushi (whom I met in London 20 years ago) proved me completely wrong. Atsushi promised me that Maisen Restaurant served the best Tonkatsu in the whole of Tokyo, so I didn't need much persuasion to give it a go.

Maisen is situated in the district of Harajuko, a young, hip shopping area equivalent to Camden Town in London. Tonkatsu dishes are normally served with thinly shredded cabbage and white rice and Tonkatsu sauce- a sweet brown condiment the colour and texture of HP, but sweeter and less vinegary. 

But what makes this restaurant a real standout is that it occupies a former pre-World War II public bathhouse. The main dining hall was once the changing room and sports a high ceiling and original architectural details. There's an English-language menu, but lunch specials (available until 4pm) are listed in Japanese only, though there are photos.

Tonkatsu dishes are sold at around ¥800 (around £6.50 at ¥120/ £) in most restaurants. At Maisen, they retail at around ¥2,500 (around £21 - price depending on the cut of pork chosen). As I savoured my first bite of meat, I understood why they could charge three times the going rate and still be so popular. The meat was delicious - soft and tender, with a crisp, ultra-light and virtually oil-free coating of panko breadcrumbs. Even the humble cabbage was crisp, green and flavoursome. I always thought this a very uninspiring accompaniment but could appreciate then why it goes so perfectly with the rich pork.

Since the introduction of deep frying to Japan by the Portuguese in the 16th century, the Japanese have taken a great fondness for the method, elevating it to a high art, as illustrated by the dish of tempura. Like sushi chefs, tempura cooks serve an apprenticeship of around 15 years until they have fully mastered the technique.

As is common in Japanese restaurants, Maisen specialises in just one savoury dish - in this case tonkatsu. For many years Maisen has been using the same local black pigs as the source of their pork, and the resulting tonkatsu is indeed the best I have ever eaten.

If you go, I suggest either an early or late visit, because as Atsushi and I left at midday, there was a massive queue of customers waiting to be seated. Highly recommended.

Travel Essentials

For accommodation in Tokyo, the two websites I recommend are Sakura House (budget, ranging from hotels, guesthouses to self-catering flats) and Tokyo Apartments (dearer, serviced apartments, higher quality).

For Japanese cookery classes, Kazuko-san speaks English and may able to offer cookery classes with or without accommodation to foreigners in Tokyo. By recommendation only. Contact me for more details.

For izakaya dining, if you would like to visit Big Mama's, the izakaya is at Naka Meguro. As you leave the tube station, turn left on Yamanate Dori, walk 50 metres along this road. Turn left again past Book Off (bookshop), the izakaya is a few metres along this narrow street on the right-hand side.

For the best Tonkatsu in Tokyo, visit Maisen Restaurant on 4-8-5 Jingumae, Harajuku, Tokyo. Phone: 03/3470-0071. Directions: from Omotesando Station (4 min.) - take the A2 exit and turn right on the side street between Ito Hospital and McDonald's (the one with HARAJUKU above it); take the 1st left and then an immediate right. It will be in the next block on the left.