Yes, it’s another food tour! But there’s so much to try around here.
In our shopping bag full of vouchers from the travel agency, we had one for the Foodie Tour. Because it’s a third party organisation, they don’t come to the hotel, we have to go to them. And the meeting point was … outside McDonalds! Did they get the wrong idea when we booked this?
Armed with our IC Card and knowledge gained from our orientation, we set off from the hotel with plenty of time to spare. We were taking the subway from the hotel for two stops, changing to a different line for one stop and then walking about 250 yards to the meeting point.
The subway station is underneath the hotel, so we couldn’t fail to find that. We sailed though the barrier and down the stairs and then had a debate about where to stand. In the end, we stayed where we were because the other end of the platform was busy. The train came in, we travelled two stops and then we couldn’t see the exit for the other line. In the end we headed towards the back and were rewarded with a sign that said Hankyu Railway. Yay!
Unlike the tube, where you can change as many times as you like, in Kyoto each line is run by a different company, so we had to tap out, go to the other part of the station and tap in again. We got down to the platform, where there were two trains waiting, but then froze because they both seemed to be going in the same direction! We tried to make out what the map said, but in the end a random guy asked where we wanted to go and told us which platform to use.
Arriving at Kyoto-kawaramachi station, our next decision point was which exit to use. We found a map next to exit 1 and decided we needed exit 8 (of 12). We compromised on exit 5 and headed up to street level, where it was seething! We used the phone to point us in the right direction and found ourselves going past exit 1!
In Japan, nobody crosses the road against a “Don’t Walk” sign, and with this number of people you end up in a large bunch of other people wanting to cross. Then the light changes to green and both sides go charging towards each other like some form of British Bulldog! By now we were five minutes late and queueing to cross another road when we suddenly realised we were facing a big yellow M on the opposite side. And there was someone in front of it holding up a board.
We introduced ourselves to “call me Sue” and then set off on our tour. Which started with another game of British Bulldog. We were right by the Kamo, Kyoto’s main river and Sue led us down onto the bank and then into a series of narrow alleyways to get out of the crowds.
Out first stop was Isomatsu, a traditional Japanese restaurant with a green streak. They grow their own vegetables and use only sustainable produce. We were in a little booth for four, and after we’d ordered they let down a blind to screen us from the rest of the world.
Sue gave us the drinks menu and I immediately spotted plum wine, whereas Diane fancied the sparkling mango wine. Mine came with ice and soda.
We started the meal with a simple pork salad, strips of very thinly sliced pork in a dressing on a mountain of leaves and what looked like corn flakes.
We then faced our fears and agreed to sample carpaccio of bonito, i.e. raw fish.
After that we had deep fried aubergine and shrimp.
It was all excellent, including the raw fish. When we left there, there was a queue of about 15 people waiting to get in. Insider knowledge again!
From there we walked along Pontocho street – more like an alley – and then through Nishiku market, where you find shrines among the shops.
Our destination was Joyo Fair, a new and trendy sake bar. We had reserved at table, but it didn’t come with chairs, that’s how trendy it is! We left the ordering to Sue because we hadn’t a clue about sake. They do tasting sets, so we tried a set of three. One of the labels was prettier than the rest, but other than that I can’t tell you much about the sake. But we had a pleasant time chatting with Sue about her family and places we’ve all been to.
Our final restaurant was Henkotsu, a barbecue restaurant. It didn’t look like much from the outside, but it was nice and cosy on the inside.
The benches we sat on doubled as storage; you lift the seat and put your coats and bags inside for safe keeping. There’s a gas heated barbecue in the middle of the table, and you cook your own meat. Again, once we’d ordered a screen came down to separate us from everyone else. I was starting to get paranoid until I noticed that everyone else was screened off too.
Sue secretly ordered kimchi because we’d said we’d enjoyed it in Korea. It wasn’t as spicy, but nothing in Japan seems to be very spicy. So far! We then received our bowls of rice and soup, frozen mugs of beer and our first plate of meat. Sue had a picture of a cow and pointed out which cut we were cooking, but I was too busy trying to stop it burning to look!
As we finished the meat, the next cut appeared; I’m not sure whether we had three or four cuts, but it was all excellent. The odd thing was that there were five pieces of meat each time for three of us.
And that was the end of our tour. Sue walked us back to our station, we said our goodbyes and we returned to our hotel.
Steve and Diane on Tour 