Half a year has passed since my trip to Japan, and I still haven't finished reviewing it. After writing about the journey, the accommodation, and the sightseeing,

Travel story :: http://pantip.com/topic/34408455

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Travel story :: http://pantip.com/topic/34570881

Let's talk about food. Let's divide it into 2 parts: the part where we eat a lot and the part where we eat even more (just kidding).

Part 1: Food stories from Kyoto and Osaka

Part two covers food in the Tokyo area and surrounding prefectures (let's call it that for simplicity's sake).

This review's location is still a problem, I can't remember how to explain it, I just followed them. The menu name is another problem because I ordered by picture. In conclusion, I don't know what to review. The pictures are good, but there is no information.

Story 1: Eating

From the moment I landed, I hopped on a train to Kyoto. I don't remember the exact lines, but I do remember the green and pink tickets. I stopped by this bakery right by the stairs to grab some bread.

After packing our belongings, we set off on our journey. From our first meal of "Khanom Fa Rang" (a Thai sweetmeat), we decided to try some Japanese sweets. We had "Nama Yatsuhashi," a famous Kyoto confection. It looks like the crispy "Kiew Grob" from Tha Phra Chan, but with a filling inside. Traditionally, the filling is red bean paste, but nowadays there are other options such as chestnut, black sesame, chocolate, and more.

In my humble opinion, the chestnut is bland, the chocolate is dry and sticks to the throat, the black sesame is too strong, and I didn't try the strawberry. In conclusion, red bean is the best in the world (based on my experience tasting both shops).

Let's have a serious meal like a big bowl. The first restaurant is near Togetsukyo Bridge near Arashiyama, where there are many bamboo forests. Before entering the forest, we stopped to eat first.

The shop is located at the intersection of the bridge ramp, the name of the shop is in the picture, you can read it if you can. I can't read it myself.

After sitting for a while, the menu arrived. It also had English. At that point, we walked to the front of the restaurant and memorized the appearance of the food. We pointed and poked at it, making it easy. Don't try too hard for the first meal.

Four people, four bowls (oops, I meant plates) of delicious food. Maybe a bit salty, but the first meal was not used to the taste. The fish bowl was not fishy, which is great. I don't know how they did it.

We ended the zone with green tea ice cream, passing by an ice cream shop with a lot of people. We didn't wait because there were too many people. When it comes to food, don't wait. We went to another shop. The green tea was really green, seriously.

Food Story 2

After leaving the bamboo forest, we headed into the city for dinner. Our initial plan was to find a restaurant with a nice atmosphere by the river, which would be lovely, but the prices were sky-high. So we changed our target to any restaurant with good food. We stumbled upon a random restaurant that was located next to a McDonald's (I doubt my friends will ever find it with such a vague description).

As I walked up the stairs, I came across a wall of fire with the name of the restaurant on it.

The menu is here, but it's not our job to order.

If you want to order more, please order with this red button. (Hello, hello... No, they let you press to call the staff)

While waiting for the food we ordered, food that we didn't order also came (huh...). It's like this, they call it something I don't know, but every customer gets it, a small plate each, depending on what the restaurant decides to serve. Let's call it an appetizer. You can eat it or not, but you have to pay for it (huh... number two). So if you don't want to eat it, just say no, right? Well... you can't. The restaurant wants it to be a complimentary gift beyond what you paid for, but it shouldn't be expensive (I think, since I'm not the one paying for it).

Is the appetizer menu the same at each restaurant?

The restaurant we visited is a Japanese izakaya, which means that the food is served in small plates, meant to be shared and enjoyed with drinks. While our group wasn't particularly interested in drinking, we were definitely interested in eating! We ordered a variety of dishes, and while I can't recall the exact names of each one, I can tell you that the food was delicious. The presentation was beautiful, and the flavors were complex and satisfying. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a delicious and authentic Japanese dining experience.

The first dish, salad, I don't know if it was delicious, but it disappeared in the blink of an eye (where did the hunger come from?).

Grilled chicken with tender meat and grilled fish with soft meat

Still at the end of the grill, a different fish from the dish above. See the pink bars? Don't accidentally eat them. The taste is indescribable.

The fish with mushroom sauce had a side of wasabi, which I assume was meant to be eaten together, but I didn't try it.

Cold tofu can be eaten with wasabi or sauce. It's strange but delicious.

The text you provided is already in English. Therefore, no translation is required.

The last menu was fish rice. The way to eat it is to pour the soup into it, turning it into rice soup. I was full and went back to my accommodation.

Story 3

Still in Kyoto, we went to Fushimi Inari Taisha. There were stalls selling snacks and fruits at the entrance, but… I didn't buy anything. I just looked around.

I stopped by a restaurant near Higashiyama that advertised the spiciest chili peppers. I decided to give it a try (free food, who can say no?). In my opinion, it was spicy, but not mind-blowingly so.

Walking along, I stopped to eat a square, flat pastry sprinkled with a hard powder that could chip a false tooth.

I vaguely remember this other dessert, but I'm not sure if I've tried it before. (Or maybe I have, I'm starting to doubt myself.)

The more you walk, the more people you meet.

Let's find a place to sit and eat. I forgot to take a picture of the front of the shop, so I only got the menu and the chopsticks. The shop is very charming.

But secretly stole the image from Google.

Still ordering food the same way, pointing at the picture. Like or like which picture, point it. The food comes as a set: 1 rice, 1 noodle. Honestly, one bowl without rice or noodles is enough to fill you up.

The first set, fried fish rice with udon, looks good and tastes good.

The second set, fish rice with soba, looks good and tastes good too. The noodles look bland, but they taste surprisingly good together (this is a compliment).

The third set, Rad Na + Udon, the first bowl was like our Rad Na, but instead of being rice noodles with a thick sauce, it was rice with a thick sauce instead. It was quite strange.

The fourth set, Duck Noodle + Cold Tofu, is amazing. It's delicious. I thought it was soba noodles with duck meat, but I just found out it's not land duck, but water duck (what's the difference?).

The small bowl next to it is cold tofu with salty soy sauce, which goes well together.

Additional Information

The tofu skin menu, called "Yuba-Sashi," translates to "Tofu Skin Sashimi."

Story of Eating 4

After a delicious meal, we took a leisurely stroll and stumbled upon Yasaka Shrine, where we were greeted by this breathtaking view.

Let's cross the street to the other side and look for something sweet to eat. We passed through the Gion district, but we haven't found a shop we like yet. We walked on and found a shop that sells oil blotting paper that people say is very good, but the price is very high.

We ended up at this restaurant. The restaurant we had in mind had a super long line, from the 2nd floor down the stairs to the 1st floor. Yeah, we didn't wait.

Meager menu

The original system, which is to order by picture, gave me 4 menus. I liked the one in the bowl the most. The flavors were very diverse.

Food Story 5

We moved to OSAKA. They say that you have to eat takoyaki here. Let's go for it, don't waste it. I don't care which shop is famous, I just care that if I'm hungry, I'll eat it.

Just a short walk from the takoyaki shop, it's time for some serious eating. This restaurant doesn't seem to have an English name, though.

Faced with a table like this, it's certain that today we have to show off our (admittedly limited) culinary skills. (Let's be dramatic about it)

The first menu item was beef, which I didn't try, but judging from the expressions of the people who ate it, it must have been delicious. The fish was absolutely delicious.

Deep-fried squid, thick squid, thin batter

This is a skewer of various meats and vegetables dipped in batter and deep-fried, drizzled with a slightly salty soy sauce. When you pick one up, it's a gamble whether you'll get a meat or vegetable skewer.

Yakisoba, it's time to stir-fry. I didn't really do anything. They mixed it all up for me, so I just scooped it up and ate it. The taste is outstanding.

Finally, the Japanese pizza, this is delicious.

**Chapter 6: Eating**

Let's continue our journey. This time we're moving to NARA to see real deer roaming freely around the city. It seems like we'll be using a lot of energy walking this time, so let's grab some food first. This restaurant is open 24 hours a day. The pictures of the food on the menu downstairs look interesting. Follow me!

The shop is on the 2nd floor.

A quick look at the menu, the food ordering system uses a button to call, just like that other restaurant.

When I arrived, it was after morning but before noon (confusing, right? Let's call it late morning for easier understanding). There weren't many customers yet. I managed to sneak some photos of the interior of the restaurant. They also have a barbecue menu. I saw grills on the tables, but we didn't order it (I didn't want to smell like barbecue). There's also a karaoke room inside.

Let's take a look at the food we ordered, focusing on rice dishes with fish (for health reasons).

The seafood, pork, chicken, and beef here are really fresh.

Seafood on rice

Raw fish on rice

Rice with fish (I don't know what it's called)

Salmon rice

The last menu is the best with whale meat. When I ordered it, I thought it would be grilled and roasted until it was cooked outside and raw inside. What is it called? Medium rare... right? The real thing is that it's... raw... raw... raw. The taste and smell are fishy. I quickly looked for something to cover it up, some vegetables, some wasabi.

After finishing our meal at Nั่งกิน, we stopped by Nakatanidou, a seemingly ordinary mochi shop, on our way to Khao Kwang. However, the shop had a unique feature: a live mochi-kneading show. The speed and skill of the kneading were impressive, and I must confess that I got so caught up in the show that I didn't get to try the mochi in its usual form.

Topped with a touch of ice cream, the texture is incredibly smooth and creamy.

**Chapter 7: Eating**

The last meal was intended to be a meal on the train. The plan was to take the Shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyo. I was going to buy a boxed lunch and eat it on the train, eating while enjoying the view. But I arrived at the station a little early and had a lot of time to spare. So the boxed lunch on the train turned into a boxed lunch at the station instead. The boxed lunches all looked good, but I bought too many and couldn't finish them all, so I had to choose the ones I thought I would finish.

Received 4 boxes.

Show the food in each box.

This concludes the first part of the "Eating in Japan" series, focusing on Kyoto and Osaka.

The next episode, Part Two, delves into the culinary scene of Tokyo and its surrounding areas.

To be continued