Kyoto Day 2: We see more things. And we eat awesomeness!

Saturday - January 25, 2020

We wake up early again to prepare for our second and last full day in Kyoto, as we check out the next morning to head to Tokyo Disney 🏰🌋.  We head down to the restaurant serving the Western style breakfast, and unlike the hushed atmosphere at the Japanese restaurant the day before, it was packed with families - a lot of them Chinese - and it was loud and lively.  The variety of food was good, and they had 2 coffee machines and assorted juices.  The breads were also really good I we all enjoyed this breakfast a lot more than the traditional breakfast the day before.  We are a lot of food.  A LOT of food.  Then we all went to grab our packs for the day and met up with Beto again in the lobby to start our day.

The first place he took us to was Nijo Castle, which was a place I really wanted to visit.  This is where the shogun lived, and even though it was sparse and simple, the construction was gorgeous and the nightingale floors were amazing.  The floors are aptly named - they don't creak or squeak, they chirp, so it sounds like birds as you're walking across the floors.  It was basically a rustic but very effective alarm system if someone came into the Shogun's domain.  The original paintings were still up decorating the silk screens, and how they used the paintings to convey a particular feel or message was cool.  Visitors in the outer room sat in a room that had tigers painted in it.  Except the Japanese had never seen tigers before, so they were painted off the descriptions of others and thus looked a bit wonky (once again, no photos allowed 😢).  The family quarters, where his wives/concubines/children slept were painted with garden scenes, much less intimidating than crazy looking tigers.  The shogun himself actually slept alone - not even his closest advisers, usually a family member - was allowed in his inner sanctum.  It was a fascinating look at the seat of power for about thousand years of Japan's history.  

entering the grounds

at the front gate

this building is the one the shogun lived in

The gardens were large and extensive, and there were a ton of other buildings (that we couldn't go into) which served as servant's quarters, stables, storage, and the kitchen.  Why I didn't take photos, I have no idea, but we wandered through the garden, even though it was kind of barren in January.  But I bet it would be amazing during sakura season, even though it gets incredibly crowded.  

From Nijo Castle we went to the Golden Pavilion (Kinkaku-ji), which dates back to 1397 and was a vacation home for a shogun.  It was converted to a temple after his death by his son and stood through earthquakes and fires until some dumbass monk burned it down in 1950 as part of his suicide attempt.  He didn't die, but he managed to burn down a 600 year old building 😑.  The pagoda was rebuilt to look like the original, and even though it's a replica, it's one of the most famous sites in Kyoto - it was packed with people!  What people don't understand is that there's a path around the lake the pagoda sits upon, and you can take pictures of it and with it ALL around the path!   There was a glut of people packed around the entrance - literally the moment you could see it as you enter the grounds, but Beto guided us around them and took photos of the pavilion and of us with it . 

After Kinkaku-ji, we took the JR and walked to the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove.  On the way there there were temples and you could build little pagodas out of rocks.  Beto said you just have to stack 5 stones to make one - and many, many, many visitors made them.  

I think before this became a big tourist site (apparently it exploded with the popularity of the gram) it must have been really serene and peaceful.  But right now, it's anything but unless you get here first thing in the morning.  Despite all the crowds, it was still beautiful and I'm glad we got to see it.  

After the Bamboo Grove, my parents pooped out.  After the long day we had yesterday, they determine that 15,000 steps was their max, and we were pushing up against it at this point.  So we took them to the the train station that had a direct train to Kyoto Station where they could go ride the shuttle back to the hotel.  They went and ate udon at restaurant across the way from our hotel and went back to the room to nap and watch TV.

Meanwhile Beto took Raymond and I to Nishiki Market - it was colorful with assorted foods and drinks.  We ate steak sushi, various potato croquettes with different fillings and sat down in a little mom and pop shop for noodles.

After lunch we took the JR train out to visit Fushimi Inari.  This was crowded, but the further we walked, the less people there were - everyone only congregated by the first section.  I wanted to walk the whole path, which would take 60-90 minutes, but Raymond ended up pooping out, he said he didn't get enough sleep the night before and couldn't hack it.  So not too far after we saw the tiny gates, we turned around to go back down.

The view down is different from the view going up.  One side of the torii gates is glossy smooth - the other side, the names of the gate's sponsors are engraved.  So walking up you only see the red glossy paint, on the way down, you see all the names and dates engraved.  Going through my photos, it appears that I did NOT take photos on the way up, only on the way down.  Probably because we were climbing on the way up and trying to get past the crowds, so I didn't stop to take any.  

Beto took us back to Kyoto station and dropped us off there before he headed home for the night.  Raymond and I opted to walk back, and stopped off at the Family Mart along the way to buy more snacks.  What I really wanted to do?  Eat a convenience store dinner (they have FULL entrees yo!  And ice cream and snacks and all sorts of awesomeness!) and watch replays on NBA Leaguepass.  That's...not what happened.  While we were out touring, my dad called the concierge and asked to book dinner at the teppanyaki restaurant.  The night before was Lunar New Year's Eve.  We usually spend it with family at a big dinner, but being on vacation meant it was just the four of us.  Beto was trying to find us a fancy place for our NYE dinner, but we were so tired (especially my dad) that none of us were up for a long fancy dinner.  Beto did mention that the teppanyaki restaurant (Teppan-yaki AOI) was really good and had an excellent reputation.  

No, the only teppanyaki I have experience with is Benihana and restaurants like Benihana.  Where teppanyaki means a loud chef who makes choo choo trains and and volcanoes with an onion tower and has lighting effects and music and throws shrimp shells into their tall white hats.  That's...NOT what Teppan-yaki AOI was.  Teppan-yaki AOI is fine dining.  It is nothing like American teppanyaki.  Unfortunately, it was also priced like fine dining 😂.  My parents didn't want to walk anywhere for dinner, and I had suggested eating at Kaza, which is the buffet restaurant we have breakfast at.  They have a dinner buffet for under $50, which in a nice hotel, I thought was pretty reasonable.  Especially if I only had to take an elevator downstairs to get to it.  My parents thought that was too expensive considering they had udon and tempura for under $10 a person for lunch.  But my dad was fixated on the teppanyaki because 1) he knew what it was and 2) Beto recommended it and he figured it couldn't be bad.

Here's the thing, teppanyaki at home isn't that expensive.  Even if you go full steak and lobster it's probably what?  $50 or $60 a person?  Yeah...the steak dinners at Teppan-yaki AOI started at $150 per person.  For the cheapest meal.  But all the meals came with wagyu beef.  So...yeah.  My mom doesn't like steak, so she opted to go a la carte with fish...I think it was some kind of cod.  She said the fish was good though she thought it was cooked in too much butter, but she ate it anyway.  We ended up spending a TON of money on this dinner.  My dad, who is super frugal, couldn't complain about it because he was the one who insisted on the restaurant - but I actually think it was worth the money.  We declared that this was our New Year's family dinner since we only had unagi bentos the night before when we were supposed to be feasing for NYE.  Also...YOLO.  

The restaurant was very hushed and refined.  It wasn't large, but it was packed - every table was full except for ours.  We only got in because there was a last minute cancellation.  They literally told us we could be accommodated as Raymond and I came back.  The chef is a chef, not a cook performing.  He was very quiet, very serious, and he made the most amazing steak seasoned in nothing but salt and pepper.  There were 2 steaks you could order in our set: Kobe or Ōmi.  I've never heard of Ōmi, but I opted to try it - it's just wagyu from Shiga whereas my dad and brother got the wagyu from Kobe.  The first thing the chef did was slice the garlic super thin and fry them up on the teppan grill into garlic chips.  The aroma was amazeballs.

the amazeball garlic chips

the cow.  The delicious, delicious beautiful cow.  The one on the left is my Ōmi .  The other two are Kobe steaks.

The first course was this little platter of appetizers.  Each was very delicate, exquisitely prepared, and very balanced on the palate both in flavor and texture.

a savory jelly with mushroom

mini slice of quiche

crisp fresh vegetables.  Apparently fresh veggies and fruit are super expensive in Japan.

garlic toast stick wrapped in prosciutto

cold berry soup

the best steak.  For real.  The BEST.

I'm not a steak connoisseur, but I am a steak lover.  I've eaten a lot of steaks.  The steak at The French Laundry (also wagyu) was incredible in a red wine reduction, and the Bistecca alla Fiorentina we had in Florence still makes me drool when I think about it.  My favorite steak (other than throwing ginormous amounts of money at The French Laundry or traveling to Europe) is the cajun ribeye at Morton's, while the Delmonico and Cowboy Ribeye at The Ranch are favorites as well.  Mastro's has good steak, but I like their sides and their butter cake better.  All this is to say: I like cow.  I eat lots of cow.  I probably shouldn't because I'm an old lady whose blood pressure should be lower, but cow is delicious.

THIS WAS THE BEST FREAKING STEAK I'VE EVER HAD.  It was simply but very intentionally cooked.  The chef was very quiet and very focused, and he spoke very little English.  But he looked at me, smiled, and said "salt.  Little bit.  Garlic".  So I did what he said and it was a flavor explosion in my mouth.  Then he said, "shoyu.  Wasabi.  Good."  And it was.  Oh it was 😋😋😋.

I tried the Kobe, and honestly, I liked my Ōmi  more.  The chef looked at me, smiled, pointed at my plate and very quietly said, "better".  Yes chef.  It was better.  Not that the Kobe was bad, it was also delicious, but my steak was even more delicious.

The vegetables were underwhelming.  Because they're super expensive?  We got little slivers of onions, peppers, and sauteed konjac.  The flavor was fine, but there was so little!

This salad was super refreshing - and I don't even like salad, but their light gingery dressing was tasty.  Also, it probably cost like, $50 bucks.

This rice 😍😍😍.  If you look at the raw steak photo, you see some lumps of fat in the photo.  He saved the fat from the steaks and used those to fry the rice in.  So there were little bits of wagyu in the rice cooked in glorious tasty fat.  This came with a little plate of pickled vegetables and miso soup.

soft berry mouse cake with sorbet on fruit.  Small, delicate and very refreshing.

We ended with a cup of coffee after our desserts.  Full, we toddled out of there.  What was funny?  Because of all the garlic, instead of dinner mints, the hostess stand had a bunch of single use mouthwash cups.  Like in little creamer capsules, but instead of Coffee-Mate, you get a bunch of mouthwash.  Awesomeness!

It was sweet to literally hop onto an elevator and be back in our room.  We showered, watched TV, and packed.  The next day we were leaving for Tokyo to head to the Tokyo Disney Resort, and while I was sad to leave Kyoto since I really loved it, I was SUUUUPER excited to be going to Disney.