Good Food (2)

One day, while we were in Kyoto, we went looking for a breakfast place recommended to us, Lorima Kyoto.  Like many eating establishments in Japan, this is not a very big place.  We had brunch.  

My set has grilled fish, sashimi, many types of vegetables, sweet potato, soup, rice, and many things I cannot name.  I also tasted rice with grilled corn which is one of their signature.  The food comes in small portions, like a lot of Japanese cuisine.  But there were enough small portions to make a full meal.  The food was really colourful, attractive, and tasty.  An excellent way to start a day.  That was also the day we visited Higashi-Hongan-ji, the Buddhist temple that sent a monk-spy to Tibet towards the end of the Qing Dynasty - the second Japanese to visit Tibet.  Everywhere in Japan, there is history to discover. 

Grilled eel with rice is popular in Hong Kong. In Kyoto, near Kiyomizu-dera, we chanced upon a place that specialised in grilled eel.  In Hong Kong, the grilled eel is often overpowered by a heavy dose of thick, dark, sweet soy source.  Here that source is applied lightly, to enhance the flavour rather than disguise it. The eel is slightly crunchy on the outside but tender inside. really good. 

In fact, one can order grilled eel without source applied to it.  One can taste the original taste of the eel, and then apply a variety of source as you like.  As we walked out, we can watch the chef grilling the eel delicately.  Food in Japan is both a meal and a performance.  

At a omakase place, we got to eat a number of things we have never had before. Among them angler fish and its liver.  Particularly the liver.  It reminded me of goose liver, or foie gras.  But this is raw, and more delicate, in my opinion.  

There was Kawaga beef, olive-fed Wagyu beef.  Among the best beef I have ever had.  Because 2 of the guests did not show up, we got to have seconds.  I now wonder whether those were from Hong Kong. Because I heard something similar have happened with some tourists from Hong Kong - not showing up without cancelling properly.  

The meal finished with tow kinds of rice.  One with Japanese white radish, and another with succulent oysters, lots of them. We were given the leftover rice to take home.  Imagine, rice with oyster for breakfast!  We felt spoiled. I think we have to come back.