Japan day 12: Osaka

Sadly, it's already our last day in Japan. We'll fly out of Kansai Airport at night, so we have the full day for Osaka.

We went to the Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan located in the Bay Area. Visitors take an escalator to the 8th floor, from where they descend, spiraling down around some fish tanks. Since some tanks cover several floors, one can observe several 'layers' of sea life.

Back to central Osaka for a simple lunch at some random place on Dotonbori street...

... followed by coffee and donuts at Krispy Kreme. We tried their "75th Birthday 3 Minis Box".

We walked along Shinsaibashi upto Honmashi station.

 

Afterwards, one option was to visit the Osaka Castle before going to the Umeda Sky Building observatory. In the end, we left Osaka at 3p.m. for some last-minute shopping at Rinku Premium Outlet. 

The Outlet is just across the sea from Kaisai Airport, which is connected to the mainland by a bridge, as seen from the Outlet:

We had a light dinner of bagels with Japanese flavors at Bagel & Bagel.

Left: Grilled Teriyaki with egg yolk sauce on roast onion bagel
Right: Shrimps and avocado on soymilk & edamame bagel.

Still hungry, we ordered an additional shrimps and avocado, but this time on green tea bagel.

And finally, we took the shuttle bus over the bridge to Kansai Airport.

Bye bye AWESOME Japan!

Kyoto eats

Kyoto-Yodobashi is a mall located about 3 minutes walk from Kyoto JR station. We decided to have dinner on its restaurants floor one evening.

We tried Chanchi Korean Dining, ordering a selection of small dishes.

The Korean food, especially the cold noodle, was rather disappointing. We then went to the tempura place a few meters away and selected the "Karahi zen combo with tempura" set, which cost only ¥980 and was delicious.

Finally, for dessert we descended to the ground floor and had a yummy ice-cream with Japanese flavors.

Roan Kikunoi in Kyoto

Roan Kikunoi is part of the Kikunoi trio of Michelin-starred restaurants. The main restaurant in Gion, Kyoto has three stars, while Roan Kikunoi and the Tokyo branch have both been awarded two stars.

We made reservations for the mini-Kaiseki course which turned out to be a great lunch.

Street view

Entrance corridor

We were seated on one side of the counter. We were the only foreigners lunching that day.

Behind us there were two raised tatami seating areas.

As we sat, chef Hiroki came to welcome us. He gave us his business card, introduced himself in very good English then told us to let him know if we had any questions/requests during our meal. We were also given a personalized menu in English (hence the detailed description below).

Aperitif: Sake

We selected iced tea, and after emptying our glasses, a friendly English-speaking waiter kept bringing extra glasses until dessert.

Hassun (Appetizers)
Small Japanese taro with hana-sansho (Japanese pepper flower)
Salmon and daikon roll
Beans with sesame vinegar sauce
Marinated shimaazi (yellow jack)
Tai-sushi Matsukaze (Tai liver paté with white poppy seeds)

Chef Hiroki slicing some fish for the sashimi course

Sashimi - Tai (red sea bream), Baby tuna, Yellow leek, curled cucumber, wasabi

Soup - Yuba, green beans, yuzu

Salad - Tougan, Tanaka-tougarasi (Japanese sweet pepper)

We were curious to know what tougan was. We asked chef Hiroki who explained then asked his assistant something. Soon afterwards, a tougan sliced in half was placed in front of us, to the amusement of the other customers:

Tempura - Prawn, sweet potato, carrot, onion, green soybeans

Rice - Rice with grilled tai, onion soup, Japanese pickles

Enjoying the fragrant herb sprinkled over the rice, we asked the chef how it's called. A plateful was brought for us to see and smell. Too bad we forgot the name!

Toothpicks in an antique container.

Dessert
Coconut milk ice cream, wafer, sweet red bean, watermelon.
Hot tea

This was our most enjoyable lunch in Kyoto. Chef Hiroki and his assistants really made us feel welcome. It also made us forget the overpriced lunch from the previous day at Hyotei. On our next visit to Japan, we will try to have a kaiseki dinner at their main restaurant or their Tokyo branch.

Roan Kikunoi
Kiyamachi, Kyoto
http://kikunoi.jp/english/store/roan/