Day 5 - a lots of eating and drinking!

When we left Arima, we headed straight for our sake tour in a tiny area of the Kyoto prefecture called Fushimi. We arrived early to Fushimi, which was a little "hood-like" to begin, and wandered in search of coffee. This would be generally silly to post, but the little kitchen restaurant we stumbled into smelled JUST like my Grandma LaHaye's house, and it felt a little like her kitchen, too. We ordered coffee and a ham sandwich, so the restaurant owner literally went to the toaster oven behind the bar and made our sandwich right there. Silly, I tell you!

The sake tour was led by Jason of JD Kai tours, and we lucked out by having a personal tour, as the three other people scheduled never showed up for the tour! I’m so glad we did the tour at the recommendation of my college friend, Megan, as it was extremely well done, and we learned quite a bit about Sake. Jason has lived in Japan for most of his adult life, and Fushimi is his neighborhood, so the tour highlights areas and shops he knows well. Fushimi is home to about 20 sake breweries, so the tour highlighted several types of good sake from the area, which we tasted mostly at little liquor stores, as well as a tour around a sake museum run by Gekkeikan, which could be called the Budweiser of Sake. At the museum Jason ran us through the process of brewing sake, beginning with milling the rice and ending with the beverage. It’s pretty impressive learning about how the brewing is done, and on tours like this, I just wish the guide could tell me how they came up with the idea in the first place! I mean, really, who thinks to turn rice into booze and actually figures out how to do it!? The only unfortunate part of the tour was that we learned that we probably wouldn’t be able to get some of the best sakes in the US due to the fact that our favorite ones were Unfiltered, Unpasteurized, and Undiluted (no water added), but liquids really need to be pasteurized for sale in the US. I guess we’ll just have to come back to Japan to get our fix!

I'm also silly and didn't take any pictures on the tour, besides this one at our very first stop. the brown ball hanging from the storefront is made from cedar, and it's hung to show that sake is for sale in this shop. Fortunately, Yasu shot a few more pictures than I did, so he'll post those later.

With a little buzz, we made our way from Fushimi to Kyoto proper where after a little rest in our hotel room, we met Yasu’s friend Hase for an amazing dinner. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch the name of the restaurant, but, as with many restaurants in Japan, we sat at a counter and ate, watching the chefs prepare our food right in front of us. Though the counter arrangement is a “design choice made due to lack of space” (according to Yasu), it makes for a really unique and interesting dining experience, allowing you to watch the chefs at work while interacting with them at the same time. It’s pretty exciting. Also exciting was the chef’s menu—holy amazing! This meal was several courses decided by the chef, each of which was amazing. From sashimi to tofu in a green vegetable broth to tempura fried vegetables to the two strawberries served for dessert, every bite was incredible.

I will never turn down a course of sashimi!

Tempura fried vegetables

These chopsticks were FINE. like....I probably could've knit a sweater with them.

A pickled mackerel sandwich. This was ordered for us by a rather sleezy older man who sat a few seats down for us, and said that the white girl HAD to try it because she couldn't get it anywhere else. I tried it quite willingly, not realizing that the pickled mackerel was the only thing I really hated from our japanese style new year's dinner that Yasu and I prepared at home. This was actually delicious, and probably several times fresher. 

This mythical creature is called a "finger lime." It's a very sour citrus fruit that, when squeezed, produces a caviar like fruit. It was probably one of the weirdest things I've seen, and the chef served it with the suggestion that we squeeze the contents onto our steak. Surprisingly (or not), it was delicious. 

Dessert!

Our chef

Yasu and Hase, reunited for a fabulous dinner.