Giro Giro

The space at Giro Giro looks cool. The food here is a modern take on kaiseki (same structure less fuss), and much like its space – an old building that kept most of its old structure but now has a buzzing kitchen in the centre of it – it has a bit of old, a bit of new and together it has funk. All in all, it is delicious keiseki food that is chic and accessible to most people without breaking the bank.

Dinner Menu from 23 Nov 2011

Platter of amuse bouche, tofu, abalone with miso, potato with squid guts, egg custard with burdock, prawns with goma, pumpkin with brown tea, seaweed with miso and ume


cod roe and seaweed tempura in a red radish soup


smoked salmon and oyster sashimi

smoked a la minute at the table, there is just enough smoke for flavor but not over power the raw ingredients.

grilled hamachi in white miso, with daikon and ginger, onion and yuzu and pickled apple


crab tofu, crab soup and mushroom


Tonjiro of pork and clam soup


Kimedai with tea


Pumpkin with bitter tea sauce, chestnut ice cream, black sesame mochi filled with sweet red bean, yasahashi with cinnamon and filled with pickled apple and blue cheese


Giro Giro
420-7 Nanba-cho, Nishi Kiya-machi-dori
Higashigawa, Matsubarashita, Shimogyo-ku
Kyoto, Japan
Tel: +81-(75)343-7070

Mamezen

Thanks to Kyoto Foodie who had published a post on Mamezen, I don’t think a lot of us foreign travellers to Kyoto would have ever heard of this place. (Thank you!!) We had a slight issue finding the place – even with google maps and the GPS on our phones, we walked past the restaurant several times before noticing the signage that indicated that we were at the right place. Mamezen is a private kitchen - it is located in a cozy house, and judging by the way it was set up, where I believe Chef Yonegawa resides.

It is a ramen like none other. I am used to the salt lick from the shoyu based ramen or the full on tastes of a tonkatsu broth but this was something really different and something really special. The best way I can describe broth is that it has savoury roundness - umami from the dashi base but a balanced richness from soy milk that gives it that smoothness without the heaviness of a cream or a thickener.

There was a good serene quality to the entire meal. We got there on the late side of lunch so the restaurant was quiet. We sat at the counter and enjoyed being at the “chef’s table”: watching Chef Yonegawa prepare out meal and then us slurping down the noodles. It was a really nice lunch retreat.

MamezenKyoto-shi, Sakyo-ku
Shimogamo, Higashi Takagi-cho 13-4

K is for …

K is for kool.
Well not exactly …but K is for Kinako ice cream– my food discovery of 2011.
K is for Kyoto, where I discovered Kinako ice cream.
And lastly, K is for Kinana, the kool ice-cream shop in Gion which churns out
freshly made ice cream that has a voluptuous texture.



The parfaits are popular but I prefer to stick with the basic flavours to enjoy it as it is. Go for the freshly made flavour of the day - the plain 'original' flavour is to me the best.

Gion Kinana
Kyoto-shi, Higashiyama-ku,
Gion-machi Minami-gawa 570-119
(京都市東山区祇園町南側570-119)