Japanese Restaurants – Page 22

Karami Ramen

August 27, 2018 mmm-yoso Chicken Wings, Japanese Restaurants, Ramen

It's a bit strange; I've heard so much about Ramen Ryoma's opening, but not so much about Karami which opened around the same time. Last week the weather had started cooling off and due to the fact that a lot of folks were on vacation, well……many of my meetings were cancelled, so I decided to head on down to the plaza that houses Nijiya, Spicy House, and Pho Mignon.

I arrived at 1130 and there were only two parties in the place during my entire visit. The lay-out of this tiny restaurant is somewhat neat; in a slightly cheesy kind of way….but it does remind me of some of the ramen places I've eaten at in Japan.

My Server was super friendly, with a great sense of humor.

As you can tell by the name; Karami specializes in spicy ramen. I wasn't too sure about having that on my first visit, so I just went with the Miso Tonkotsu and Chicken Karaage.

The Chicken Karaage wasn't too bad; in fact, I think it was better than what I'd had at Ryoma.

It lightly crisp; the dark meat chicken was slightly marinated….too little for my taste; but it was moist and had flavor. Of course, I had to listen to the know-it-all young lady on the next table tell her dining companion that it was all wrong….it should be white meat instead of dark meat. Methinks she got her katsu and karaage all mixed up. It didn't help that she ordered the "tonkatsu ramen"……

Meanwhile; my Miso-Tonkotsu was disappointing.

The noodles were standard issue JFC stuff and overcooked for my taste. The egg was cooked nicely, but ice cold. The chashu had a nice band of fat, but was on the dry side.

The broth was way too salty and very thin for a tonkotsu style broth; totally lacking in the balanced tongue coating richness I enjoy. There was a hint of garlic; but not much else beyond the sodium. It was truly lacking in complexity. You know I'm reaching when I thought to myself; "hey, this menma is pretty good".

You can tell what I thought about the broth……

On the bright side; the server was really nice and that karaage wasn't the worst that I've had recently.

Anyway, Calvin just returned from vacation, and guess where he wanted to eat?

And you know what? I was ready to actually try one of these……

We both ordered some extras. Calvin went with the curry-rice, non-spicy.

It actually had a mild kick, was slightly beefy; but the meat was tough and dry. Not too bad.

I ordered the spicy chicken wings; which was "all show and no go".

It's got to be the blandest; spicy looking chicken wings I've ever had…..hardly spicy at all; it lacked in any nuance of flavor, no sweetness, it seemed to be using something like kimchi base, or something similar mixed into a paste like texture. The batter got gummy quite quickly. At least the wings were moist.

I order the Triple Super Spicy Chashu Shio Ramen…….

Well, this was also underwhelming. Our server, the same friendly young lady as on my previous visit, looked surprised that we ordered this. She warned us several times about how spicy this was……it wasn't. It just wasn't very spicy; and what heat there was lacked nuance. I did think it was better than the thin, salty broth I'd had last time; but I was just surprised that this wasn't very spicy.

The noodles were still cooked more than I prefer; but was better than on my last visit. As you can see; the chashu was on the dry side; and cold to boot, as was the tamago.

The young lady seemed genuinely shocked that we were unfazed by the triple spicy ramen. She said she was worried we'd get sick from the spice. But she really won me over when I told her, "would you like me to call tomorrow to let you know I haven't died?" Her reply was awesome, "ok, but no screaming on the phone…."

Now that witty answer might be worth another visit….maybe…..

Karami Ramen
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours:
Mon – Thurs 1130am – 230pm, 530pm – 10pm
Friday      1130am – 230pm, 530pm – 1030pm
Saturday    12pm – 3pm, 530pm – 1030pm
Sunday      12pm – 3pm, 5pm – 9pm

Midweek Meanderings – Guest Kabob Replacing Hunan Kitchen, Isshido Coming to Mira Mesa, and Menya Ultra’s Second Location

August 15, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Ramen

So, I decided to take a the REALLY long route to this office this past weekend……well, let's call it what is was….procrastination. I ended driving up Convoy to check on Hunan Kitchen a.k.a. Noodle Hut a.k.a. Tǔjiā Xiāng Cài and here's what I found:

Hunan Kitchen being replaced by "Guest Kabob":

At least that's what the sign says.

I saw the construction on the place a few weeks earlier…..I had hoped that Hunan kitchen would stay….but looks like we're going to have the sixth restaurant in this spot in the last 7 years.

4690 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Isshido replacing Submarina in Mira Mesa:

I drove up to Mira Mesa….just, well, because. A bit hungry, I turned into the parking lot near Habit Grill and saw this in the now defunct Submarina spot.

I stopped and took a look. I'm not sure what type of restaurant Isshido is going to be. Doing a Google search yielded nothing. So I'm not quite sure what's going on here.

8250 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

I ended up grabbing a late breakfast/lunch across the street….that'll be in a future post. On the way out of the parking lot, I decided to check out…..

Menya Ultra's Mira Mesa location:

Which is right next to Grocery Outlet. With all that brown paper up; it's hard to tell what's going on here.

8141 Mira Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92126

So there you go….one morning of procrastination was pretty productive, even before I got into the office, don't you think?

Ramen Ryoma (Clairemont Mesa)

August 13, 2018 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Ramen

**** This location of Ramen Ryoma has closed

For some reason, the folks at work got really excited when I told them about Ramen Ryoma opening on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard in the old Bangkok West location. It has been so hot the last couple of weeks that the last thing I really wanted was ramen….especially a place that touts serving Sapporo (= rich/thick) style broth. Still, I got talked into having lunch here on a day when the temps in the area was closing in on triple digits. You know; I'm kinda wishing we were back in Sapporo right now.

We were among the first seated in the spacious and (thankfully) well air conditioned restaurant. The young lady and the really friendly guy who look like the floor leads are really nice, professional, amiable…..though the rest of the crew looked a bit lost at times.

The menu consists of several iterations of ramen, including the now de rigueur spicy ramen, and of course, since this is a Sapporo style shop; a corn and butter version as well.

I just went with the Chicken Karaage and the Deluxe Ryoma Ramen ($12.25), since folks were getting shio broth; I decided to try out the shoyu broth.

Since this is a new shop; bumps in the road were to be expected. Not all ramen places can have their act together like Menya Ultra from opening day. We watched as our ramen sat in the window for a good 15 minutes before it seems like all the floor staff noticed it there and rushed to the bowls. They then took a few minutes to double check the orders.

So when the bowls arrived at our table the broth, which I'm figuring wasn't very hot to start, was barely over lukewarm. A note about the broth; it is a fairly rich, tonkotsu-ish broth, with definite pork tones. At this temp; there was a kind of greasy tongue feel to it; not rich in say the way of the thick Iekei style or Seabura ramen we had in Japan; but just kind of oily and greasy. It was also quite salty.

The tamago was a plain boiled egg, a tad over-cooked.

The noodles had not held up well, had lost its "spring", and were a bit too mushy for my taste. Not good when using this type of thicker and wavy noodles. Also, as you can see the broth had started to really thicken and globs of it stuck to the noodles. The chashu was full of soy sauce – lightly sweet tones, but was dry and tough.

The Chicken Karaage ($6.50) looked a bit light in color, but was slightly crisp, if not perfectly fried.

It was also a bit on the bland side in terms of being karaage; as I think it needed more of that soy-mirin flavor with perhaps ginger or garlic tones; but you know how I am about my chicken karaage….and all the possibilities. I'm glad they used dark meat chicken and I think once they get everything dialed in; this will be pretty good.

I have bad habit of not following up with second visits soon enough; hence no Hachi Ramen or Trust Restaurant posts. I have to go back to square one (or square three in the case of Hachi) on those. So, in spite of the heat, I decided to return for a second visit this past weekend.

Same really nice crew working. I really like the young lady who I think is in charge of the front of house here. She is quite patient and very friendly.

I decided to go with the Shio Ramen; noodles extra firm, with a tamago…..and I got a nice laugh as one of the young ladies took my order without batting an eye; then walked over to the other woman and asked what's a "too-maa-go".

A couple of things I quickly noticed when the bowl arrived. Look at that huge piece of chashu! This time around it was nice and tender, but also very salty. Do you notice the tamago; doesn't it look like it's "seasoned" this time around?

The broth was quite rich and much like Santouka, it seems that the shio (salt) version is actually less salty than the shoyu ramen. It is a hearty broth, with some smokey tones, not bad overall.

The noodles were nice and firm; good slightly chewy-doughy texture, and you can see having the broth at the right temperature allows it to attach itself nicely to the noodles.

The egg was perfectly cooked; though it still tasted like a regular boiled egg. It was nice and lukewarm.

I enjoyed the service at Ryoma; though the ramen might be a bit too oily (and that says a lot) for my tastes. It's definitely not bad. It's really too hot for visit number three right now, so I'll wait awhile for cooler weather and give the place time to get their systems in order before I return.

On my first visit as we drove back to the office; Calvin said; "I'm glad Ryoma is here….maybe there'll be no wait at Menya Ultra anymore." We soon drove past Menya Ultra….there were at least a dozen people waiting outside with temps in the high 90's.

I don't know…..that might be wishful thinking.

Ramen Ryoma
9119 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92123
Hours:
Open Daily 1130am – 10pm

Please check out Kirbie's post on Ramen Ryoma here.

Still Eating to Beat the Heat – Izakaya Sakura and La Miche

August 9, 2018 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Lebanese Restaurants

OK, so it's supposed to start getting cooler this weekend. But until then, it's still way hot. I really don't think you want to read about Ramen Ryoma now, right? That'll have to wait until perhaps next week. Here are a couple of revisits.

Izakaya Sakura:

While my last couple of revisits to Sakura haven't been very pleasant, this restaurant which finally put up a sign after two decades, finally got me to come back in. It was hot; I was between meetings; the parking lot wasn't very full, so why not? Strangely, there was only one other couple in the entire place during my meal.

I ordered an old warm weather favorite; the Ebi Kakiage Zaru Udon….some nice chewy noodles and a cold dashi based broth.

Man, did they always pile on the light and crunchy fried morsels like this? Nothing like a cold noodle soup on a day that was so hot and strangely….in San Diego terms muggy. And still only ten bucks.

What had started turning me off in the past was the rather perfunctory and unpleasant service. Service today was quite pleasant and efficient….hey; they even refilled my water. Of course, with only three customers in the place…..

We'll see what happens on my next visit.

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St Ste 121
San Diego, CA 92111

**** Sadly, La Miche has closed

La Miche:

Another hot weather favorite of ours; I'm surprised to say we hadn't been here since last October. My bad. I dropped by on the way home from work and picked up some take-out. The Missus's favorites; Muhamarah, Shaankleesh, Baba Gannoush, and since they were out of Soujouk, some Makanek.

They even made up some fresh bread for us! This is one of the few places where the Missus will order Baba Gannoush; it's slightly smokey, doesn't use too much tahini, and that olive oil drizzled on it adds a nice grassy-earthy flavor. Of course I love the nutty and sweet Muhamarak and the funky cheesy Shaankleesh.

With some nicely chilled local cherry tomatoes and Persian cucumbers…..well, this was perfect.

It was also nice chatting with the owner Nabih; who is such a gentleman.

I need to eat here more often.

La Miche Kabobgee
9350 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92123

Clearing Out the Memory Card – Still Our Favorite Restaurant. Suzunari (Tokyo)

July 11, 2018 mmm-yoso Fine Dining, Japan, Japanese Restaurants, Memorable Meals, Tokyo, Kamakura, and the Kantō Region

While we were a bit sad to leave Kyoto, which is one of Missus's favorite cities. We were excited to be back in Tokyo.

Beyond the rather overwhelming, sensory overload of the city; we loved the various neighborhoods, the order, the streets packed with wonderful surprises at every turn. We'd gotten used to the rhythm of this city of over 13 million people.

The Missus had gotten really fond of the Yotsuya neighborhood, which is where we decided to stay on our return to Tokyo. There's something less touristy and more "real" about this neighborhood; at least to us. And while we have yet to find Hattori Hanzo's (the real one) grave or have yet to see obake in the neighborhood, we love walking the back streets and exploring.

Plus, the view from our hotel wasn't too shabby at all.

Another reason for staying in the neighborhood; is that our favorite restaurant, perhaps in the world, resides down one of the narrow streets of Arakicho. Yes, even after visiting Osteria Francescana on our recent trip to Italy; or Azurmendi, Disfrutar, David Toutain, Alliance (post coming up), or any number of other places, even from my pre-blogging days (The French Laundry/Gary Danko, etc). Suzunari remains our favorite.

Honest, seasonal, perfectly prepared Kaiseki for non-tourists……it just resonates with us. Business must be good, Chef Murata now has two assistants. And like our previous meal; our good friend Reiko joined us. Once we told her we'd be returning to Tokyo and Suzunari, she was quite excited, and rightfully so.

I'll spare you the 10,000 words here; since I've posted on this place several times before.

From the stuffed sakura leaves to the Hassun….everything tasted as good as….and even better than, it looked.

The Missus still calls the simple, broiled rockfish (kinki) we had on this evening, the most perfect fish in terms of texture She has ever had.

I loved the abalone on bamboo shoots….and the abalone liver even more!

Reiko is allergic to shellfish and some forms of seafood; so instead of the usual kamameshi; they made us a version with takenoko (bamboo shoots), and provided lovely, savory dried shrimp for the Missus and I.

There's something about this place that just resonates with us.

We gotta get back to Japan (and Suzunari) again soon.

Suzunari
7-9 Arakicho, Shinjuku-ku
Tokyo

Returning to the room; I opened a "cold one".

And looked off into the night……

Thinking about how blessed we are to able to travel as much as we do…..and to be able to say; "yes, our favorite restaurant is in Tokyo."

Thanks for stopping by!

Revisits – Bistro Kaz and Talavera Azul

June 27, 2018 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Breakfast/Brunch, Italian Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Mexican Restaurants

The restaurant landscape of San Diego sure has changed from when we moved here back in 2001. And while I still complain about the quality and the preference of style over substance…..I'm still not happy "just to have" something; it's sure nice to have some variety available. Here are two examples; one of lunch on Friday, then breakfast on Saturday, in two drastically different areas of San Diego.

Bistro Kaz:

My coworker "SJP" wanted to take me to lunch……how very sweet of her. At first I thought perhaps Korean would great. But the petite SJP is not a very big eater. She was also born in Japan. Even though my last visit to Bistro Kaz wasn't that great; I thought she'd appreciate the food.

The menu here has grown nicely since they first opened. It was a pretty warm day, so I chose the Cold Natto and Mekabu Pasta. The lunch combo came with a nice, refreshing, simple salad, and a passable pseudo egg drop soup.

But it was the pasta I was looking forward to. And it did not disappoint.

The pasta was cooked…well, just about as well as this type of pasta can be. It had a nice pull and was nicely chilled. The natto fragrance wasn't over-powering and combined with the slimy mekabu (the bottom area of the same seaweed that gives you wakame – it gets slimy when heated) gave the whole dish that wonderful "neba neba" sensation that I find satisfying. For some reason, this seemed quite refreshing and the yuzu kosho added a touch of spice and saltiness to the whole, beautiful mess.

SJP had a taste and thought it was delicious….so did I. But you know how much I enjoy natto and the memories it elicits. I think I'll have this again soon.

Bistro Kaz
3904 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Talavera Azul:

Yes, another post so soon. The next morning the Missus wanted Her Menudo Rojo fix. So we headed to Downtown Chula Vista and back to Talavera Azul.

And the Missus got Her menudo. This time around I finally found "my dish" here. The Sonoran Machaca with Easy Over Eggs.

The shredded beef is griddled with onions, peppers, and tomato; adding some nice crunchy bits of very flavorful beef. Who doesn't love drippy eggs (just kidding Jessica). Some beef wrapped in a tortilla with a smear of beans, potatoes, onions and cilantro, and finished with salsa….man, this was good. In fact, the Missus ate more than I did! And it was one of the rare occasions where we finished all the tortillas. The Missus took half the bowl of menudo home with Her!

We returned the following week with the same result. I'm guessing we'll be returning soon.

Talavera Azul
365 3rd Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91910

Nozaru Ramen Bar

June 25, 2018 mmm-yoso Japanese Restaurants, Ramen

A few months ago; none other than Taka-san from Taisho asked me what I thought about Nozaru. Nozaru? Apparently one of his regulars and even the local Japanese newspaper had mentioned the place. Because of the crazy influx of the "ramen is the new cronut" thing, I just put it on the back burner until we got back from Italy. But after returning from that trip, I finally managed to make it to Nozaru…..which is squeezed between the Ould Sod and the Rabbit Hole on Adams Avenue.

The location is very "San Diego hipster"…..which is not a bad thing….wide open, casual….you know, right?

The ordering is the same….you can do take-out from the counter, or just occupy a seat and the really nice young man will (eventually) arrive with a menu and you can order something. There are basically four different ramen available; chicken based, miso based, spicy, and tonkotsu.

I decided to start with the Chicken Karaage.

This arrived nice and hot. Though it was on the greasy side and the batter was not crisp or light. It lacked a nice soy sauce flavor and was all white meat……to me, it was basically chicken fingers, bland and definitely not karaage. What bothered me the most; is that at first blush it seemed dumbed down.

My "Tonkotsu Heights" ramen arrived soon after.

First the good. Even though the boiled egg was cold, it was nicely cooked and decently flavored. The Chasu was tender, porky, and had a decent light sweet-soy flavor. The noodles were standard issue JFC and was a bit over-cooked for my taste. The bok choy…..in ramen….was cumbersome. The broth, while being decently hot, rather than having a nice smooth, collagen tongue feel, was on the greasy side. In terms of taste it was too salty with bitter tones. It was not the typical tonkosu that I enjoy.

It would be very easy for me to leave Nozaru with the many "one and done" visits I have…….though I usually don't do those posts….places like Trust, Juniper and Ivy, and Pardon My French….whose photos just sit in a folder, waiting for the day I might revisit. And yet, I decided to return for a second visit.

Though once seated, I had a real problem wondering what to order.

In the end, I went with the version of Abura Soba; basically ramen without broth ("oil noodles"), the "Adams Belly".

As a whole, this was much better than what I'd had before. The noodles weren't over-cooked, the poached egg really helped to coat the noodles. However, in terms of temperature, the pork and egg were ice cold, which lessened my enjoyment. The bacon bits were a nice addition, but were minced too fine….try picking all of that up with chopsticks.

For some reason, the flavor of the menma seemed to resonate through the entire dish. Perhaps it was me.

Still, I enjoyed this much more than the ramen.

I liked the nice young man working here. It is hipsterish ramen. Not much else to say about it.

Nozaru Ramen Bar
3375 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116
Hours:
Mon – Thurs 5pm – 930pm
Friday      5pm – midnight
Satuday     12pm – midnight
Sunday      12pm – 930pm

Back to the Routine. Revisits to Taisho, Tiger Tiger, and Zarlitos.

June 20, 2018 mmm-yoso Filipino Restaurants, Gastropub, Japanese Restaurants, Poke

As I've mentioned in other posts, the past year, now year and a half has gone by in a flash. Our schedules have made it difficult at times to get back into our routines. Finally, after several trips, a heck of a lot of work, things are settling down. And we're getting back to those places that need no introduction for those who've been reading our little blog over the years.

Taisho:

It's been a while since we checked out Taisho; a least 4-5 months! For a place we used to visit every week.

It's still as good as ever. Now open seven days a week.

I'm hoping we can make it back more often.

Yakitori Taisho
5185 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92117

Tiger! Tiger!:

**** Tiger! Tiger! has closed

Now that it's warming up; the Missus is in the mood to return to Tiger! Tiger! After a bit of a slump, it seems the food here has returned to form.

The "Ramen Sausage" was the oddest sounding item we came across. It turned out to be delicious. The sausage kind of had the flavor of a chicken-ramen broth. It was a nice surprise as we were ready to not like it.

Tiger! Tiger!
3025 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92104

Zarlitos:

**** Zarlitos has stopped serving poke

When it gets too warm for our usual weekend breakfasts at Aqui es Texcoco; it's time to head back to Zarlitos. These days, the Missus actually orders the Poke-silog.

Zarlitos Family Restaurant
505 East 8th St.
National City, CA 91950

To all of you who still read the blog after all these years; I think this is post #3851 or something like that. We thank you!

As does Frankie.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Kyoto – Shirakawa-Minami Dori and Lunch at Ichiran Ramen

June 19, 2018 mmm-yoso Japan, Japanese Restaurants, Kyoto, Ramen

Do an online search on "most beautiful street in Kyoto" and Shirakawa-Minami Dori will appear. And while we've been down this street several times before, the Missus was excited to see it during Cherry Blossom season. I gotta say; even on an overcast day, it was indeed quite striking.

In fact, the drizzle may have kept folks away and even added some "atmosphere" to our visit.

Those willow trees sure add character to the photos as well.

It is, without a doubt, one of the more beautiful streets that I've had a pleasure to see, that's for sure.

Our Shinkansen was leaving for Tokyo at around 1 pm, so we'd have to head out before noon. So I thought we'd go and grab some morning ramen before freshening up and heading to Kyoto Station. The place I had in mind, Ichiran, is highly regarded with over 60 locations through-out Japan, a location in New York with crazy wait times….shades of Ippudo….at least that was my hope. The location in Kyoto is a 24 hour operation, which suited us just fine.

The drill here was initially typical….the good old ticket machine.

For us, it was tonkotsu of course. The tables are more like cubicles, with your own personal water dispenser, a divider, if you choose to need it, and a sheet of paper where you can further define your preference…be it richness (medium), flavor (medium), garlic (a little), green onions (of course), chasu (are you kiddin' me?), red sauce (1/2 portion), and noodle texture (extra firm).

The Missus and I basically got the same thing; except She got the macha dessert. And of course we "needed" to have an egg added.

Soon enough our ramen arrived and I quickly noticed that something was amiss. The bowls felt almost cold to the touch.

And that was a bad start to perhaps the worst ramen we've had in Japan.

First off, the hottest thing in the bowl were the noodles; which were slightly over-cooked, in other words, not "extra-firm". The broth was just past lukewarm and started to separate as it hit the table. It was very bitter, salty, and rather than being rich, because of the temp, quite greasy.

Neither the chili paste, nor the garlic could help this.

The boiled egg was beautifully cooked, but ice cold, as was the chasu, which was too lean and on the tough side……which would have been okay, but cold pork in a lukewarm broth? That's not good eats.

And while the Missus loved Her dessert, it didn't make up for the lousy ramen.

There was a Japanese couple sitting next to me….they kept saying things to each other during the meal. I think they were rather unhappy as well. Look what they left behind. The broth and noodles…..

I'd read so much about how great the ramen is at Ichiran. And maybe it is fantastic. But when you have poor quality control……….

Ichiran Kyoto
598 Uraderacho Higashiiru Takoyakushidori Nakagyo-ku
Kyoto, Japan

Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

We got back to the apartment, packed, and made our way to Kyoto Station. We shared a bento on our way back to Tokyo.

Not too much mind you….we had reservations at one of our favorite restaurants for dinner!

Kyoto – Gion Yuki

June 17, 2018 mmm-yoso Japan, Japanese Restaurants, Kyoto, Memorable Meals, Travel

While it seems that the Missus used this trip to chase Sakura, I had noticed something quite interesting. She had developed a fondness for Izakayas. As such, She really wanted to check out an Izakaya on our last evening in Kyoto. Looking through various sources; She decided that we should go to Yuki for dinner. Staying in Higashiyama meant a nice little walk to the Gion, We were shocked to that there was a line twenty minutes before opening. I sent the Missus away to explore while I stood in line and checked my email and such.

The Missus returned right before opening and we were slowly ushered in. The place is rather tiny, rustic, and the folks quite friendly. The crowd was all Japanese and we kind of had them fooled until they started talking to us!

We were immediately handed an English menu; though the Missus could read much of the items in Kanji.

Gion Yuki is owned by Okamura Honke Brewery, located in neighboring Shiga Prefecture. So what to drink? Well, sake of course! We started with a nice, dry Junmai Daiginjyo, moving to sweeter lighter Junmai, even trying the Shin Syu.

Food was an interesting matter. Looking at the English menu; I knew it was incomplete. Looking at the Pinterest/Instagram photos on the Missus's phone, I quickly picked out something the Missus and I love. Shirako!

We ordered both versions of Shirako.

The Shirako Ponzu might have been our favorite dish of the trip. Creamy, with a slight oceany- sweetness, the milt (a nice way of saying cod sperm sack), was fantastic. It went so well with the tangy, sour, and slightly salty ponzu sauce. The green onions were surprisingly pungent; but it was the intense flowery-anise tones of the shiso blossoms that really got our attention. Wonderful textures – fantastic taste.

The grilled version, just couldn't keep up in terms of flavor as it was slightly fishy and fairly bland. It really needed that salt and lime.

The Kamo – duck breast was nicely done. The skin was slightly crisp; the rubbery subcutaneous fat had been rendered off, leaving a nice layer of fat, and the meat had a nice, slightly chewy texture.

The flavor of the duck was fairly intense in terms of gaminess, which is how we enjoy it anyway.

We had noticed that most of the folks eating here were having fried stuffs. So we ordered the Onion Kakiage.

Crisp, light, the frying had brought out the sweetness of the onions. I can see why folks love the fried food here.

The eggplant dengaku; we tried two versions. The darker, richer version was our favorite.

The flavors were quite complex and the scallions gave the dish an overall "zip".

We finished (well almost as we ordered more shirako) was razor clams in broth.

The dashi based broth was light but tasty; the razor clams were surprisingly tender and sweet.

And here's where the fun begins. A group of 4 men and 1 woman gets seated. Seems like several of the group and the woman are German, as we overheard the woman telling one of the gentlemen that she would come here when visiting Kyoto while working for the German Consulate in Osaka.

It was fun watching the salarymen, now quite friendly and helpful after a couple of rounds of sake, try and help these folks order and make suggestions.

Even more funny as none of the salarymen spoke any English! An array of pantomimes, hand gestures….you name it.

Meanwhile, one of the men, the super tall one was walking around the bar checking out what folks were eating. He had heard the Missus and I speak English. We were eating our second bowl of Shirako Ponzu. He smiled and asked, "sir….what are you eating" while pointing to the quivering white masses in our bowl. Passing him the bowl with two hands I told him; "I will tell you, after you try it." He had a taste and his face lit up. "It is good". I said "this is cod sperm sacks". He stood up his full six feet plus, raised his hand, and asked one of the guys behind the counter, "sir….sir…may we have TWO BOWLS of SPERM please?" No one else except his party and the two of us understood what he was saying…..but man, we were rolling.

I now have a new wrinkle for my "a guy walks into a bar….." joke.

Gion Yuki
111-1 Tominagacho, Higashi-ku, Okamura Bldg.1F
Kyoto 605-0078, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

There was still a line of folks waiting outside as we left.

We took the long way back to the apartment, just taking in the city.

Kyoto is beautiful anytime of the day. No wonder it's one of the Missus's favorite cities to visit.