EATING OUT, KYOTO STYLE

Last evening the Tour Manager, H. L. Todd, and I led a hardy group of eleven others "out on the town" for dinner. We had considered a number of possibilities, everything from sushi to "street food" to comfort food from home -- a Hagen-Daz ice cream cone, perhaps, or a cup of Starbucks Coffee.



In the end we trooped off to the Gion area for some Kyoto-style cuisine. When we arrived at our destination and popped our heads into the tiny restaurant space (five tables, a small counter space and a VERY small kitchen) to announce that there were thirteen of us, the owner summarily declared there was no way we could be accommodated, especially in light of the six or seven diners already contentedly eating. Todd turned on his charm, however, and soon we were in place, four perched at a high table; the rest, seated on a raised platform around three low tables.

Todd next perused the seasonal menu and made some apt selections, having first conferred with the owner and members of her staff as to what our per person spending limit was, whether beer and sake were to be included and what we might want to avoid in the way of ingredients. Then the fun began!



Dishes of every imaginable shape and size began to appear, some rustic and hand thrown, others glazed and finely decorated, filled with burdock root and finely diced tofu and pickled eggplant and smoked mini-sardines and slightly cooked daikon (a kind of large white radish) and on and on, ending with a wonderful soup and some rice gruel into which several other ingredients had been mixed. Every dish was superb, an exquisite example of the Kyoto style approach to fine dining: the finest natural ingredients of the season lightly prepared to enhanced the subtle flavors inherent in the food itself.

We kept at it for a couple of hours, then fully satiated, totaled up the damage and ended up shelling out around twenty-five dollars apiece for one of the best meals I have ever eaten!

Life is good!