Tuesday, March 09, 2010

foodie sort-of saturday

The last weekend of February, the cold came back.

That Saturday evening, Satoshi went to Kyoto to meet up with some of his high school baseball teammates for a reunion of sorts.

Since he would be staying over at his mom's after the gathering, we went to pick up some Japanese treats for her from Kamuro.

Then a couple of streets down from Kamuro, we went to Minoh Beer.

I've been wanting to check out their brewery and to pick up some of their W-IPA (double India Pale Ale) to try. This beer uses 2.5 times the hops and malt to make a strong ale.

The brewery is a small warehouse and is run by 3 sisters who brew, bottle and even paste the labels onto the bottles by hand.

I didn't realize how close this place was to Yamaya. Next time, I go to Yamaya, I'll definitely try to stop by here too.

And a couple of doors down from the brewery is Mimiu, a fancy udon shop. This shop has the patent to the word "udonsuki" which is a dish where udon (wheat noodles) is simmered in a hot pot with seafood broth and vegetables. Apparently the parent company originated in Osaka over 200 years old and has shops around Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya.

Satoshi had their kayaku gohan set 1600 yen (about US$16) and I had their agemochi udon 1150 yen (about US$11.50). Kayaku gohan is also known as Gomoku gohan, rice cooked in a shoyu flavored sauce with vegetables and aburage (fried tofu). Agemochi is a fried rice cake.

It was my first time eating at Mimiu, I enjoyed their udon, not a place I would to go everyday for udon, but still delicious.

It was great to explore more of Minoo's foodie offerings.

Kamuro
3-9-13 Makiochi
Minoo, Osaka
Phone: 072.725.9622
Closed on Wednesdays

Minoh Beer (UPDATE: 2015 they moved a couple of doors down to a larger location called Minoh Beer Warehouse, this address is only their brewery now)
3-19-11 Makiochi
Minoo, Osaka
Phone: 072.725.7234
Hours: 10:00-18:00, Closed Thursdays

Mimiu
1-1-19 Ina
Minoo, Osaka
Phone: 072.720.5688
Closed 2nd Tuesday

p.s. UPDATE: Not knowing what foods would be good with the W-IPA, I googled around and found that most match with spicy foods. I had envisioned something Mexican, but since I realized we had some kim chee in the refridge that needed eating, we tried the W-IPA the other night with kim chee gyoza and leftover Indian curry. It went nicely with both of these foods. The beer had kick (9% alchohol), hoppy with hints of fruit. I liked it.

14 comments:

chimerastone said...

Hi Kat and Satoshi.
I just returned from 10 day break on Hong Kong and managed to go to a Japanese Grill restaurant- Teppan 200. Normally my family have a dim sum lunch but since there 100 people in Chinese restaurant. They must of got sick of my constant nagging.
I had Beef teriyaki, other members of family had Chicken curry, Ramen with ribs. Some dishes came with miso soup and fish roe sushi. The food was nice but service was pour infact my sister found a bug in her sushi and they would give us refund only replacement dish.
The other Japanese restaurant opposite was more busy and had a longer queue. I think I will go there next time.

KirkK said...

Hey Kat - It's been kinda on the cold side here today...... so some udon would do the trick!

Dennis K. said...

Love the beer label! and the udon looks great..

Unknown said...

My nephew is going to visit Osaka/Kyoto for his 1st time next week with his Kaimuki Middle School group! Unfortunately, he tells me all their meals will be at or from convenience stores!!! I'm sure this beer place is out of the question too. Hahahaha. Maybe you can hand him one of those bear cakes if you run into him... :)

Hannah said...

I'm such a beer novice, so I do enjoy reading your experiences with beer and food matching!

K and S said...

bugs in sushi? yipes Chimerastone, that would definitely make me go to the shop across!

Udon is a great way to warm up, Kirk :) unless you can get a good bowl of pho.

It was really good Dennis, just really pricey.

Okay Rick, if I see your nephew amongst the 8 million other people in Osaka, I'll give him some cake for you :)

I am by no means an expert on beer Hannah, still learning a lot myself :)

Take care everyone!
Kat

Parisbreakfasts said...

WOW There is so much food in Japan to try out!
Endless choices it seems to me :)

K and S said...

Definitely endless PB :) liking your photo by the way!

Take care.
Kat

Rowena said...

The cold came back last week and is sticking around! Lots of false alarm snowcasts, but oh the coooool!

That Minoh sounds like my kind of beer ^-^ -- I should stop messing around with the silly stuff like Duff!

K and S said...

ah Rowena, that Duff beer, who would've thunk it would be bad...there is a beer in my stash that when I googled someone said it was like "pee"...ugh, not looking forward to trying it...hopefully they were wrong.

Anyway, the cold is back here too, in fact it has been raining non-stop today :(

Take care.
Kat

Deb in Hawaii said...

It does look like a good foodie kind of day. Both the beer and the udon look delicious. ;-)

K and S said...

Thanks Debinhawaii, that udon would have been perfect today...brrr!

Take care.
Kat

Linda said...

very beautiful photos!!
soon!

K and S said...

Thanks Linda :)

Take care!
Kat