Gotham Gal

Kyoto, last day

Who knew this would have been our last day in Kyoto and our last day of vacation.  It was a culmination of things but leaving was the right thing to do.  We have had enough.  Everyone wanted to get back.  I just want to get back to my own bed and unfortunately we are going to spend more than a few more nights at a hotel in NYC but it is what it is.  

In the morning we moved our stuff to the Hyatt.  On the way there we went to Honke Owariya, a soba restaurant that has been around since the 1600's.  The noodles were just awesome.  Some of us had hot and others had cold.  Just stellar.

We then checked in and made the decision to leave.  After a few hours on the phone and some emails I was able to get us a flight out of Tokyo the next day.  We are missing Naoshima but life goes on.  

We returned to the Gion area for dinner.  We were early so jumped into the bar next door.  It was a really cool bar.  This small old building in the front and when you walk in it is like a small modern box.  Bar across one side of the room and seating across the other.  

Dinner was at Sushi Matsumoto.  It was the perfect end...and the sushi was fantastic.  Sushi is a little different in Kyoto than Tokyo.  The rice is a bit sour but it totally works.  We began with a sweet seaweed.

Then a mixture of sashimi octopus.

Marinated white fish with sesame seeds.

Our charming chef.

Mackarel

Tuna

More tuna

Clam.  Much sweeter than the other clams we had.

Tiger shrimp

Fatty hamachi

Eel

Tiny small scallops.  This was pretty awesome.

Different types of fish roe.  You can see the variations in color.  Outrageous!

Uni served over warm rice.

Grilled eel

Back to the hotel to spend the night and leave the next morning.  We got on the bullet train back to Tokyo in the morning and took it to the station before Tokyo then transferred to the Narita Express out to the airport.  We saw Mount Fuji on the way to Tokyo from the train.  Very cool.  We got on a flight back to JFK that was delayed around 545pm their time.  We landed in NYC around 3ish and got to our hotel in NYC around 530. A very long day.  Glad I am back.  

An interesting trip for a variety of reasons.  I am glad we went and I am glad we came back.  Glad we got to explore and see Japan.  The culture, the traditions, the pace, the toilets, the hot towels but no napkins, the bowing, no tipping, the food and everything else is something we can look back on.  As a family it ended up being a really positive experience which is the best part.  Certainly memorable.

Last and certainly not least is Tripbod.  Sally Broom introduced herself to me when I was visting Jessica in South Africa.  I ended up talking to her, eventually meeting her and then Jessica spent a summer in London working for Sally.  We used her service.  It was amazing.  She hooked us up with Martin who is a local tripbod in Tokyo.  He listened to who we were, what we wanted and how we wanted to take in Japan.  He got it.  The trip was seamless and that rarely happens.  I highly recommend using Tripbod for any trip at any level you want to experience a new place. 

Ifuki, Kyoto

Ifuki is located in the Gion section of Kyoto.  In my mind, this is what I thought Kyoto would look like.  Rambling streets and alley ways of old wooden homes.  It is like walking back in time.  We peeked into some of the places and although old outside some of them are modern inside.  It is a very cool area.

Ifuki is a Japanese grill restaurant owned by a husband and wife.  The meal was a mixture of different plates.  Really beautiful.  We started out with this crab dish.

Snails.

Miso soup with a small piece of silky tofu.  Really interesting and quite good.

Sashimi including a rich toro and blow fish.

Crab dumplings in a light broth.

This piece made the meal.  A warm roasted piece of white fish wrapped around warm sushi rice.  This melted in your mouth. This might have been one of the top things I ate in Japan. Amazing.

I also loved this plate.  A variety of roasted vegetables Japanese style.  Each piece was roasted (except for the lotus root chip) with just a little bit of salt.  So good.

A gelatinous soup with poached fish.  The combination of textures did nothing for me but Fred licked his bowl clean.

Kobi beef.

This was more of a mouth cleanse.  Orange and raw fish.

Rice with a leek chicken miso soup.

Dessert was a small piece of cake and a pear gelato over a piece of poached pear.  Nice ending.  Looking back what is most interesting is what is served first and last over the course of the meal.

Kyoto, Day Two

Seeing the view outside our window in the morning was pretty damn amazing.  It is so beautiful.  

They served us breakfast in our room.  Quite civilized.

We hopped on the boat after breakfast, got into a car and drove to Nara for the day.

Nara was the capital of Japan back in 764 AD (roughly).  Then the capital moved to Kyoto and then Tokyo.  Nara is infested with tame deer that come down from them mountains during the day and return at night.  It is definitely freaky considering deer have become such a major problem in many areas in the states.  

This particular deer decided he was going to go shopping.

Nara Park is filled with a few places worth seeing.  The park is really beautiful too.  This is the first building before heading thru to Todai-ji.  

You can see from these pillars how old this place is.

Here is Todai-ji built thousands and thousands of years ago.

Check out this buddha.  He is HUGE.  You can't really appreciate how enormous he is from this photo.

There are a few of these other statues on the otherside of the building.

It was a beautiful day outside and we walked over to the other shrines up the hill.  Kasuga Taisha.  Here are some people praying.  

We finally walked back down into the town for lunch.  Izasa is in a parking lot but has a big window that overlooks the park and shrine so the right place.  We had some sashimi.

Fried chicken with a sauce.  

A mixture of different items to taste; a deconstructed bento box. As usual, some good, some not so good.

We drove back into Kyoto and stopped at Cafe Independants for a coffee.

And an afternoon sweet.

The trip at this point was weighing on everyone.  Two days in Kyoto would have been plenty.  Also, the language barrier is exhausting.  Even the food, atlhough some amazing meals, starts to get old.  We were staying at Hoshinoya that night and going back there to hang was just not happening.  Too far and not that hangable.  We just walked around for awhile.  Could not imagine staying another two days here

Kyoto, Day One

We got up in the morning and took the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto.  It is pretty awesome.  Very civilized and of course quick.  The train station feels like controlled chaos.  When we got to Kyoto someone met us at the train.  Trust me, finding us was not difficult.  We jumped into a van and made our way to lunch. 

We went to Hirokawa.  The restaurant was the perfect place for lunch.  Kyoto is known for grilled eel.  We all had the exact same thing.  Medium dish of grilled eel over rice.  Amazing.

Check out this sink in the bathroom.  The first electronic pump on the right is the soap, the middle one is the water and the last is hot air to dry your hands.  You touch nothing.

After lunch we drove over to Ryoanji, a 15 century dry garden laid out by Soami.  Have to get rid of your
shoes and put on slippers to walk around.

15 rocks placed in this garden thousands of years ago.  Really serene and beautiful.  

Although this shrine is not used anymore the rooms are open for you to take a look at.  

Our next stop was Kinkaku-ji, Kyotos most elaborate Zen temple.  The Golden Temple was built as a retirement home for a 14th Century Shogun.  It is breathtaking.  You can see the fine golden leaf on the building when you get closer.  The small ground in the middle of the lake it sits on represents Japan. There are huge fish in those waters.

We had some time to kill so we stopped by the Nishiki-koji Market.  Glad we did because we never ended up going back.  Unfortunate because I really want to buy knives in this particular store but life goes on.  

They love the covered alleyways with tiny shops.  Here is a guy shucking oysters at the beginning of the market.

All the vegetables have been wrapped in plastic at every marketplace we have seen.

Rice dumplings.

Lots of different grilled eels.

Marinated eggplants.

A serious mound of miso.

Red octopus.

This is the knife store.  It is hundreds of years old.  They will actually engrave your name in the knife for you.  There were also beautiful bowls and trays.  

Fan store.

Vegetables that were each rubbed down with something different.

We walked back to the car and this door opened and we all gasped.  Inside was some serious gambling going on.  It was just wild.  Noisy and smoky.  


Our next stop was to a sake tasting.  Luckily we had someone with us who could translate because the sommelier at Okitsu-an, an exclusive private club built in 1835, spoke zero english.  The gardens were beautiful there too.  We learned a little bit.  Obviously it is all about the rice.

We checked into our hotel, Hoshinoya.  A ryokan.  We all slept in tatami rooms.  It is located on the outskirts of Kyoto.  You take a small boat down to the hotel.  It is really unique and beautiful.  One night is ample and we did two.  After we checked in we had a kaiseki dinner.  We wore the garb they gave us.  Here is Fred in his outfit.

I am here in mine.  Hat for warmth ( that is mine ).  We decided that I'd take no pictures that night and we would just enjoy it together.   A mixture of tiny bits of food.  Some good, some weird but a really nice experience.  

 

Misono

Misono is all about the kobe beef.  Located at the top of a building in the Ginza section of Tokyo.  We were ushered back to a semi-circular table where one half was bar stools and the other half was a hot stainless grill.  

Once we sat down they gave us each a plate of cured ham.  Then the grilling began.

Our chef put the vegetables on the grill.

Then he put the pot over them to grill and roast at the same time.

A salad came out with a very light vinegar based dressing.

Voila our veggies are ready to eat.

Here is our kobe beef raw.  See the garlic slices next to it?  I nixed that.

Our chef seasoning the meat.

Slices of meat ready to eat.

A small dessert to end the night.  Strawberry ice cream, cheese cake and a strawberry.

Nice night.  Very rich meat.  You do not need a lot to hit the wall.  

 

Tokyo, Day 3

How could we not come to Tokyo and see the Sumo wrestlers?  We took the train out to where they are located. The trains are very civilized.  Packed with people but there is an etiquette which is followed. People actually stand in line to go up the escalator vs cramming in with hopes to get up to the top first. The stations are clean too.

There is the top tier of sumo wrestlers that get paid and then there is a second tier that lives and works at the stables but do not get paid.  The lower tier waits on the top tier sumo wrestlers with the hopes of becoming one of them over time.  The whole sport is fascinating. Six events a year. The largest sumo wrestler ever weighed in at around 600 pounds.  The sport takes place inside a small ring.  You can not step outside the ring or fall down or you lose.  They are seriously strong big men.  Once you get over the shock of seeing them you just watch.  First they bow to each other.

Then they ram into each other in order for one of them to take the other one out.  They also do a lot of shuffling around and exercising watching and waiting for their turns.  The floor is dirt.

After a few hours they all stretch together.  It was wild.

We then went over to the oldest shrine in Tokyo called the Senso-Ji located in Asakusa.  In front of the temple is a long stretch of stores filled with food and gifts.  Kind of shlocky.  

In front of the shrine is a large square box filled with incense that people take in before they walk up to the shrine.   Behind the glass is a service going on.  

This is the view from the top of the stairs.  People put money in the box in the front of this photo.  

We then went over to Kappabashi-Dori which is a long street filled with kitchen supply stores.  If I had time I would have strolled for hours.  

This store carried all the signs you might want for your restaurant.  I should have brought this home.

Napkins?

Check out these knives.

Food too.

We then went over to the Ueno area where there is a street market.  I was looking for a particular stall but instead we just bought some of these sushi sandwiches.  Rice stuffed into a wrap of nori with a little fish on top or stuffed inside. 

We got a variety.  They are really good and inexpensive.

Our next stop was the Tokyo train station to have lunch.  We picked up some of these Hi-chews which are Japanese starbursts.  

Rokurinsha is the noodle shop we went to which is located in an area of the Tokyo train station called Ramen Way.  There was a line but it moves quickly.  

Once you get to the front of the line an attendant has you put your cash in this vending machine and choose what dish you want.  Then you get a ticket.  Once they sit you down you give your ticket to another attendant and they bring you your soup.  In essence no cash changes hands with anyone who works there.

Here is the shop.

The noodles were really good and seriously filling.  Thick noodles that you dip into a bowl of broth with pieces of pork and vegetables.  I got an added bonus of a rich deep yellow soft boiled egg.  

Here is a guy making noodles in one of the other shops.

Our next stop was the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art.  The building is fantastic.  No pictures allowed but I did get this one of Fred and Jessica sitting in these super comfy chairs.  There were a few exhibits and then of course the permanent collection.  They are pretty strict about which one you see first.  Very orderly.  The first exhibit was around the merging of music and art.  Each of the exhibits were so well curated.  You had to follow a certain path which made so much sense as the exhibit unfolds.  Really glad we went to this museum.  

Back to the hotel for a few hours of rest and relaxation which I had really yet not had.  Sorely needed.  

 

 

Birdland

Finding Birdland took some negotiations.  I thought it was one place and it wasn't.  Fred thought it was about two blocks away and it was but it wasn't.  Jessica finally figured it out.  It was down in the basement in the train station.  There is a theme going on here.  I just wonder if it only happens to tourists.  Birdland is a yakitori restaurant located next door to Jiro Sushi.  I can't decide what was more exciting finding the restaurant or finding out it was next door to Jiro Sushi.  If you have seen the movie Jiro Dreams of Sushi, you will understand that seeing Jiro was seriously a highlight.  I did not make reservations to eat there because since the movie the meal has gone up to an insanely high price for about a 30 minute meal.  This went under the heading, just because you can doesn't mean you should.  

Birdland has a square bar that wraps around the chefs in the middle who cook our dinner over a hibachi grill.  

Dinner was another omikase.  Three in one day is killing me.  We could only figure that much out by reading the menu and went with it.  The first plate was a little taste of chicken flavors.  Gizzard and a few pieces of some type of veggies.

A sweet chicken liver pate with slices of a baguette.

Simple grilled chicken with dots of wasabe on top.

Grilled chicken pieces with scallions in between the kabobs.

Grilled chicken livers.  

A stange thick tofu with an oil over the top with a roasted cherry tomato.  

Small grilled potatoes

Grilled teriyaki chicken pieces

Small bowl of micro greens

Chicken sausages

Pieces of a grilled chicken thigh

Grilled mushrooms

Grilled chicken pieces with scallions and leeks in between.  

Last course was a rice bowl with egg and chicken.  All and all the whole meal didn't do much for me.  I was seriously still stuffed from breakfast.  I picked.  It was a strange place.  Even the glasses of wine we ordered were so small in a regular sized big glass if was if they were holding us back.  The best part was seeing Jiro and his son bowing at their patrons on the way out the door.

 

Tokyo, Day 2

Prepare yourself, this was a seriously long day with a ridiculous amount of food.  We began the day at the fish market.  A must in Tokyo.  December is the only time you are not allowed into the tuna auction so instead of getting up to get there at 430am you can get there around 630am.  We took two cabs over to the fish market.  One dropped some of us in the right location, the other did not.  This appears to be standard fare in Tokyo.  I am not sure if the taxi drivers do not know exactly where they are supposed to go or they just don't care.  Emily and Fred ended up at the main entrance and the rest of us ended up in the back behind the wholesale fish market.  You are not supposed to go into that area until after 9am but nobody stopped us as we made our way to the other side.  

Controlled chaos is one way to describe the scene.  People are flying around on these yellow vehicles that move fast like golf carts but are like miniature crane lifters.  You could easily be taken out if one of these hit you. The first thing we saw when we walked into the wholesale building were these huge fish just hanging out on the floor.

We continued walking through the wholesale market until we got to the area we needed to be in.  I took a few pics en route. Clams.

Red Octopus.

The boxes that hold all the fish being broken down for the day.  They must come up with a better fabric for those fish.  This stuff sticks around for hundreds of years.

We finally made our way to the other side and found Daiwa Sushi.  Fred and Emily were still missing.  It is not easy to find each other because all the signs are in Japanese.  Eventually we found each other and at this point the line at Daiwa was beyond long. But we did not come all the way to Tokyo not to eat here.  We found the place looking at a Google map photo of the Japanese letters and figured it out.  

It was freezing outside and yes we waited in line for over two hours.  Suckers perhaps but a worthy experience.  We watched people come and go on their bikes getting their fish from the wholesale marketing, packing up their boxes and taking off.  

By the time we got in I am pretty sure you have never seen such happy people getting inside to get warm and just sit down.  Our chefs were charming.  There is a woman who basically runs the place and the line.  She has it down.  You have to tell her before you go inside which omikase you want, 8 pieces or 10.

First dish was a warm block of ginger scallion egg.  It was the perfect beginning for our breakfast.

Green tea to warm us up.

The chef started us off with a piece of ridiculously buttery toro.  Melted in our mouths.

Flounder.

Miso soup with a piece of fish that had been cooking for quite awhile to create the intensity of the broth. Honestly might have been the best miso soup I have ever had, hands down.

Red snapper.  Amazing.

Uni that just melted in your mouth.

Mackarel with a scallion mixture on top.

Gooey clam that is still alive.  The chef gave each clam a whack before putting it on the rice.  Strange but delicious.

Tuna that is simply divine.  

Pieces of tiny shrimp.

Tuna roll and cucumber crab roll.

Snapper.

Broiled eel.

Hamachi.  This piece of yellow tail was so damn good that I honestly did not want to swallow but just let the richness of the fish and taste linger in my mouth.  The experience is well worth it.  The pieces of fish are amazing, the chefs are characters and the whole place is unique.  

We walked around the market afterward before moving on to our next adventure.  Coffee was seriously in order.  Fred found this coffee shop in Shibuya.  The neighborhood is filled with narrow rambling streets with coffee shops and other stores.  

Omotesando Koffee is located inside a small wooden home and inside is a barista and a big machine. Really good coffee.

Besides coffee they also sold these custard squares.  Think French canelles Japanese style.  

Our next stop was the Watari Museum.  The museum is composed of four floors devoted to an exhibition. This is one of the pieces in the show.  

Before our next meal we strolled around the area.  This food truck was parked down an alleyway.

We dropped in this pen store.  What is interesting is in a country that is so futurist is also about tradition.  They still sell plenty of CD's as Tower Records is huge here and there is still an audience for a pen store.  It is interesting.

Our next stop was Tofuya Ukai Take located next to the Tokyo Tower (picture above).

This restaurant is seriously old school.  The waitstaff is women dressed as geishas.  An old rambling restaurant that is set among greenery.  Truly beautiful.  Each table is set in a tatami room.  Truth is there was something about our sushi breakfast that just made me so full that I had a hard time eating anything the rest of the day but regardless I was not a fan of the food here at all.  Just strange.  

I figure I will share the photos and menu for fun.  Boiled quail meat-balls with a pumpkin paste formed into a ball on the side.

Deep fried tofu with sweet miso sauce.

A few pieces of tuna

Simmered crab inside a fried tofu ball.

Salmon roe and pickled turnip, shrimp covered with crushed rice crackers and mushrooms with green vegetables.  

Tofu in a seasoned soy milk.

Steamed rice with pieces of sweet potato.

Sweet abzuki-beans soup.  

After lunch we drove over to Opening Ceremony which is in the neighborhood.  The store is eight stories and each floor is meant to represent a different style of American architecture.  This picture gives you an idea what the streets look like.  The lights work so that you can walk through the middle of an intersection including corner to corner.  Kind of clever.

Here is a picture from inside the store.  When we were done we went back to the hotel but Jessica and I soldiered on.  Her camera was on the fritz so we decided to go to a store in Ginza and see about buying another one.  Finding the store, like the restaurants, was not easy.  We finally located it with a little help (asking) as we were there but did not realize it was on the 8th floor of a building.  The store was filled with new and used cameras.  She got an incredible bargain on a camera but the transaction with the people there who spoke zero English was truly an out of body experience.  

 

 

 

 

 

Sushiya

We were all beyond exhausted but kept it together for dinner pushing us to get on Tokyo time.  Finding the restaurant was not easy.  Nothing is easy to find here.  Most places are located down random alleys on different floors.  You know you are there from Google maps but you are not there.  It can be very frustrating.

Sushiya is a small restaurant with only 8 seats.  We took over the entire restaurant.  There was nobody else there except for us which makes for a very unique experience.  The chef, Takao Ishiyama and his side kick served us.  

We began with a small bowl of roe.  Sweet, tasty large eggs that literally explode in your mouth.  

Marinated tuna seared on the edge that we dipped into the soy dipping sauce.

Chopped baby shrimp

Monk fish liver.  Not for the faint of heart.  Really creamy and rich.

Grilled scallops between two pieces of seaweed.  A scallop sandwich.

Seaweed that is sitting in a gingery cold broth.

Grilled swordfish which was incredibly sweet.

Toro sushi.  Rich and melts in your mouth.

Marinated tuna in soy.

Abalone.  A little tough but interesting.

Tiger shrimp lightly cooked.  The chef obviously has hot hands.  He ripped the shrimp out of its shell while it was steaming hot to make this piece of sushi.

Mackarel split open with a scallion tasting pesto on top.

Hamachi, yellow tail.

Gooey clam.

He took a bowl of rice and put 5 large pieces of uni over the top and a little bit of soy sauce.  He then mashed this up to create an uni rice.  Then put a little bit in each bowl and topped it with some more fish roe.  Pretty spectacular.

Grilled eel.

Chopped toro handroll.  You can't beat this.

A large piece of sweet egg for dessert.

We rolled home and hit the bed hard!

 

Tokyo, Day 1

I woke up just as the sun began to rise over Tokyo.  Pretty sweet view from our hotel room.

We had breakfast at the hotel.  I went with the Japanese version of breakfast.  Poached egg in a soy broth that I slid into a bowl of miso soup.  I also had a few pieces of dim sum on the side.  I could get used to this.

Our first stop was at the Meiji Jungu shrine.  It is the Daddy of all Tokyo shrines.  Before going in you are supposed to take this water (left hand first) over each of your hands and then take a sip of the water.  

Then you come into the area where the shrine is.  

You are supposed to get one of these wooden signs and write your wish on it and leave in the area obviously hoping your wise will come true.

These sake barrels are enshrined by the sake brewers around Japan to show their deep respect for Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken.

We walked over to the Harajuku area.  It was actually great to be there in the morning right before everything opened up.  Come 4pm the place is packed.  There are literally vending machines on every block.

This particular area is the teen culture mecca.  Reminds me a little bit what 8th street used to be years ago in NYC.  We also walked up and down Cat Street where there are more funky boutiques

Inside the Gyre building are a few high end stores but what we really came for is to check out the 3rd floor where there is a 3D camera store.  Unfortunately we did not make reservations for a photo shoot because I had just found out about it but the concept is awesome.  I'd love to get a family photograph.

This is one side of Cat Street.  

For lunch we went to Harajuku Gyoza.  No reservations and the line can be insane.  We got there early.  The menu is short and sweet.  Fried dumplings, steamed dumplings, cabbage, bean sprouts with meat sauce and cucumbers.  The other items are drinks.  

Steamed dumplings.  

Fried dumplings.  They are just perfect.  Not greasy like you tend to get just crisp.

Pickled cabbage.  This was awesome.  I could have eaten bowls of this stuff.  Sliced cucumbers in a sesame paste.

Boiled bean sprouts with a meat sauce.  Think Italian meat sauce over bean sprouts.  

I am making sure I find a big jar of this chili sauce to take home.

Up the street is the Louis Vuitton Building and on the 7th floor there is a rotating art installation. The room is beautiful and overlooks the city.  This particular installation is from Ernesto Neto.  You talk off your shoes and walk through this hanging structure.  

Down the street is a food installation called 246 Common.  It is only open until March.  Reminds me a little bit of Brooklyn Smorgrasbourg.  This is a cool stall for the Octopus Balls.

Roasted sweet potatoes cooked on hot rocks.

A green vegetable garden in the middle of the stalls.

We continued on to Franc Franc which is a furniture store.  We thought there was a Monocle Shop inside but it wasn't there.  The light fixture in the middle of the store is very cool.

I loved the architecture of the Prada Building.  It looks like a big building of quilted glass.  It was built by Herzog and de Meuron, a Swiss design team.  

We had a private showing at Art Front Gallery.  This particular artist was actually there when we went.  Gold embellished on to old style Japanese paintings.

Upstairs (their back room) was this glass scultpure.

This is a Brazilian Japanese artist.  

These were cool.  Pieces of rock from all over the world split in half with plexiglas inserted in the middle.  You could then see the reflection of the innards of the rocks.  

Around the corner is Tsutaya Books.  This area we are in is called Daikanyama.  The store is called the T store because the exterior is made with woven T's.  There are 3 buildings.  There is a cafe, a book store, a camera store, a bike store and more.  

One store had these round cakes to buy and inside these cakes is freeze dried soup.  You drop these in warm water and soup is on.

There was even a dog salon.

Onward down to Bombay Bazaar.

This is what the back streets look like behind the main shopping streets.

Had quite a field day in this sock shop.

This store is called Loveless which was right across the way from Eataly.

We were in need of some serious caffeine and stopped in to the Corner Shop for an amazing cup of coffee.  

Our last stop was Map Camera.   We drove over to that area.  Jessica had to get her camera looked at. There are stores and stores of cameras.

Back to the hotel to relax a bit before dinner.