Kyoto Dining

Food has always been a major component of every culture and Japan is no exception. As the center of traditional Japanese culture, the Kansai region resonates with a variety of culinary opportunities, from modern to ancient. While you could eat at a western style restaurant for every meal - every day, you would be missing an integral part of the travel experience. You don't have to love fish to find a meal you will enjoy. It doesn't hurt though since you could have fish for every meal (and I sometimes did). You can find a Japanese take on almost any food type however, fish, chicken, beef and vegetables are all well represented. There is one group that is underrepresented. Vegans may have some difficulty as there are few places that don't use chicken stock or fish sauce for at least a portion of what they serve.


	Udon is a very popular dish in Japan and consists of wheat noodles in broth. What the burger is to American fast food, udon is to Japanese fast food. Soba is a buckwheat version of this. Left: Udon and tempura at a fast food place in central Kyoto. An order of tempura often seems to arrive at your table floating in a bowl of noodles. Above: They have been making udon at Misoka - An -Kawamichiya for 300 years. Literally established in 1710, they specialize in udon and soba noodles. A small shop with a lot of character, their website is in Japanese but they have an English version here.

	Tea is also a very important part of eating in Japan. Similar to soda in the US, it was available at all restaurants, most food stands and at all the hotels. They had an outdoor tea shop at Kinkaku Ji, one of the temples we visited (left). Here, they served a whipped green tea called matcha. Very earthy and definitely an acquired taste. Coffee is also very popular in Japan, with coffee shops, such as the one below, called "precious Coffee Moments" everywhere. Starbucks and other American coffee chains are very common as well Get used to sitting on mats instead of chairs. Many establishments are set up that way. Kara took the vending machine pic below. I just like the colorful soda machines. The primary difference between these and the ones back home is that the selection consists of coke and about a dozen varieties of tea.


	Left & above left: Tohkasaikan Restaurant is a Chinese restaurant located in an art deco building, dating from the 20's. You get to the 5th floor dining area via a creaking old elevator that actually still has a human operator. Not the worlds best Chinese but certainly worth the visit for atmosphere. The building was designed in 1926 by William Merrell Vories, an western architect and missionary. Below Left: raw fish, cooked fish, fish for breakfast and even fish on a stick. Kyoto is a place after my own heart. You can eat just fine if you don't like fish but if you love fish then you've arrived at a culinary paradise. Learn to use chopsticks. There really is no getting around it. You don't need to be an expert but some places simply do not have silverware.