Sightseeing and the best tempura in Kyoto!

Time to explore Kyoto! I rented a bike at the hotel and took of as soon as I woke up. Much to see and I only have until 4 pm when I am taking the train back to Tokyo.

My first stop was Kinkakuji Temple - the Golden Pavilion - an incredibly nice pavilion in a lovely park.

I continued to Ryoanij Temple and stone garden.

It was a very comfortable stillness all over this place, so I sat down and gathered energy before I rode on to Nino's castle.

I started getting hungry and was craving to eat more of what tasted best at the dinner yesterday - tempura. I Googled "best tempura in Kyoto", got up the place Tenyu on tripadvisor that had very good reviews, checked the location Google Maps and it was only 1 km away, on the way to my next stop. Perfect!

So very nice place and way to eat. All the guests sits around the chef, who stands cooking in the middle. You get served one dish at a time straight from the deep fryer. Shrimp, Japanese mushrooms, corn, eggplant, pumpkin, etc.. Awesome!

With new strength, I went south in the town of Fushimi Inari Shrine - the temple which is ranked no 1 in Kyoto. Very pompous.

I walked and walked in the corridors as above, but they just went up and up. My train did go at 4 pm  and after going for half an hour and the time was 2 pm, I asked some guys who were heading down how far it was to the top. An hour they answered. No way I would have time for that, so I turned down again a little reluctantly.

I biked back to the hotel and had video chat on Skype with Gustaf and Filippa. Really miss them now! Then the bus down to the train station. Once at the platform, I had only five minutes to spare, a little too tight, maybe, but I managed.

 

Now back to Tokyo and last night in Japan!

Karaoke in Kyoto!

I was on my way home when I was spontaneously invited to a private karaoke club! I walked past a place where I heard loud music and I gently opened the door to have a look. A Japanese woman quickly came up and said "sorry - private club". A Japanese guy then arrived and said - "No, come in.". So I stepped into a small karaoke night where I excelled with singing ABBA songs and hummed with the best I could in the Japanese songs. The Japanese offered beer and drinks and it all felt quite surreal. But very fun!

Bar hopping in Kyoto

I went down to the bar area of Kyoto - gion - which is just five minutes from my hotel. Very different selection of bars etc here. In ordinary houses are bar after bar on each floor, quite dead outside but very lively bars if you open the door. Lots of gentlemens clubs where it costs 5 to 10,000 yen to enter, others where it costs even more...

 

I was not looking for that kind of bar, and went to a small bar in this shady alley.

At the far end was a bar where I went inside. There sat two Japanese guys who were a bit surprised when I said hello.

I ordered a sake - I have not tested that previously here. I got an instruction on how I should drink it in an overflowing glass.

The Japanese left and was replaced by a family with nice Americans who after three days in Kyoto already appointed this bar to their favorite. Awesome nice owner of the bar who also spoke good English.

But, I don't have patience or time enough to stay in one bar all night no matter how nice it is, so I continued my lonely wandering in gion. Apparently, most clubs are only for the Japanese, so there are no poeople trying to talk me into the bars I pass by which is nice.

Anyway, after a while I found a French whiskey bar - "H du pont" with a really wide selection of whiskey and a nice bartender.

Here was my absolute favorite whiskey Springbank - in a Duncan Taylor dimensional, 18-year-old.

And also another favorite - Glenfarclas - here a private reserve from 2003.

Dinner in Kyoto at Manjiro

I quickly got used to traveling alone and that includes most of the times to eat unaccompanied. Today, maybe it went to extremes when I have an entire floor at the restaurant for myself, but it was not intentional!

Low chairs and table, my kids Filippa and Gustaf would have liked this place. However, they might protest a bit over the food:

Tofu made from eggplant, topped with onions and shrimp, served in soy sauce.

Minimum jar: tofu with wasabi

Middle: cucumber with small pieces of white fish and rum

Green bowl: some form of chicken liver pate, jelly with chicken, some kind of fish with egg yolk.

Tofu topped with mushrooms and apple peel.

Sashimi of tuna, squid and white fish,

Grilled fish with baked eggplant, roasted peppers and small potato rolls.

Fishing reel with onion and seaweed, fish pudding, green beans, a pudding of some sort and lime peel.

Tempura of green beans, corn, mushrooms, potatoes and japanese shrimp.
 

Rice in broth topped with mini shrimp. Pickles on the side.

Japanese peach, green-tea ice cream, pudding.

This was perhaps the most mysterious dinner I've ever eaten. Well-prepared, only locally produced ingredients as far as possible, beautifully laid out. But the flavors in general a little too different for me to appreciate everything that was served, to put me very diplomatically ... I think I managed to keep a straight face, however, because when I went came both the waitress and the cook with out and waved me off!

Kyoto - what a wonderful town!

After the trip to Suntory, I went back to Kyoto train station, picked up my bag from the locker and headed for the hotel, where I had booked a room in Japanese style.

(I wished that I had done better research regarding the place to stay at here in Kyoto, this hotel was not particularly charming - despite very high rating on TripAdvisor) but however, nothing to do about it now as the room was pre-paid ...)

I asked the hotel to recommend a good restaurant nearby and so they booked a table there for me. Went for a walk before dinner to work up the appetite.

There are plenty of temples here, spread all around the town. Tomorrow I'll rent a bike and check out the best ones!

Cozy small lighted walkways and gardens everywhere.

Now I'm at the restaurant Manjiro and have ordered some kind of tasting meny from this menu, unclear what since the meny is in Japanese...

Apparently several dishes, but unclear how many and what kind of food. Will be interesting!

Tour and whisky tasting at Suntory Yamazaki Destillery in Kyoto

Finally here! One of the places on the trip that I was really looking forward to - Suntory Yamazaki Distillery. I arrived 30 minutes before the tour, and took a visit at the Suntorys whiskey museum.

Suntory ad from1929 -
"No more imports needed" reads the headline.

Then it was time for the tour. 30 Japanese guys and me. Thanks to a small appliance, I received a translation of the tour in perfect English and actually understood more than I usually do during our visits to the Scottish destelleries.

After the tour, we were offered a tasting of Suntorys standard whiskey and water from the same water source.

I've gotten spoiled with really good whiskeys from all the tastings with our whiskey club back home  and these standard whiskys is perhaps not worth the trip here. But - after the tour you can continue to the bar and there you can find everything!

I ordered an Yamazaki 18 years, an Yamazaki 25 years and a Yamazaki single cask from 1986. The latter was absolutely fantastic and the 25-year-old who last year was named the world's best single malt whiskey was also lovely.

Very successful visit that was actually better than expected!

Bonus content for whiskey geeks:

The road from the train to Suntory

The person who will welcome you and will assign you the interpreter set.

Pot stills.

The list of specials that are only available on the destillery.

I shared some of my finer whiskys to a Japanese guy who also stood and tested. I then ordered another whiskey that seemed interesting:

Yamazaki single cask from 1995