foodie friday in kyoto

Friday the water in our building was going to be turned off for several hours, so I went to Kyoto.

While there I ran an errand for Satoshi then I went to Obaku.

There is a bakery that I have been wanting to check out but was never in the area...Tamakitei.

I picked up a pastrami egg sandwich for lunch and other items for our breakfast the next day...top right was a croquant (puff pastry, walnuts), bottom left : miyazaki chicken, yuzu kosho & bubu arare (so good!) bottom right: yamaguri choco (chestnuts, chocolate & walnuts in puff pastry)

The sandwich was so soggy that I was disappointed with it but the other items we really enjoyed, I will definitely be back the next time we are in the area.

After buying some items at Tamakitei I went one station over to Mimurodo and walked to Mimurotoji.

We've visited here a couple of times...which I wrote about here, and here.

I had thought this temple was known for their ajisai (hydrangea), but they have way more tsutsuji (azaleas).

10,000 hydrangea plants & 20,000 azaleas!

Click to see a short video I shot from the top of the azalea "mountain".

I thought it was neat that a white azalea had inter-mingled with a pink one and became half-half!

After Mimurotoji, I went one more station over to Uji.

The area has changed since the last time we visited, more shops and eateries...a little more touristy.

I stood in line for Nakamura Tokichi, a well known tea shop in the area...I'm glad it wasn't a really long wait, maybe only half an hour?!

I had their namacha (literally raw tea) gelatin sprinkled with shincha (new/spring tea)...not photogenic, but super refreshing and perfect for the gross humidity on this day.

Then I went back to Kyoto city...and had an iced cafe latte at %Arabica Kyoto before catching the train back to Osaka.

It was nice to be out and about, though the humidity was quite bad...rainy season is coming...sigh!

Tamakitei
57-14 Gokasho Hirano
Uji, Kyoto
Phone: 0774.38.1801
Closed Mondays & Tuesdays
Hours: 7:00-18:45 (earlier if they sell out)

Nakamura Tokichi
1-10 Uji
Uji, Kyoto
Phone: 0774.22.7800
Cafe: 11:00-18:00
Shop: 10:00-18:00

%Arabica Kyoto
inside Fujii Daimaru Kyoto 1F
Phone: 075.746.5995
Hours: 10:30-20:00
Open when Fujii Daimaru is

arashiyama & uji

Satoshi had the day off today, so we went to check out the hasunohana (lotus flowers) in Arashiyama and Uji. The last time I went to Arashiyama was during cherry blossom season and the last time we went to Uji was last month to see the ajisai (hydrangea).

I got up at my regular time and made us a bento (boxed meal) for breakfast--tamagoyaki (omlette) with shiofukikonbu (seasoned dried kelp), asparagus with bacon, pickled veggies, ume (pickled plum), rakkyo (pickled shallots) and rice with tororokonbu (shaved kelp).

Our first stop was Arashiyama. I have often seen the empty pit at Tenryuji during Autumn and Spring, but never when the lotus flowers are in bloom.

Luckily, we were able to see them today. The lotus flowers are fenced in, so we had to use our zoom lens to get up close. There were lots of blooms and not many people so it was nice.

From Arashiyama, we caught the train to Uji and went to Mimurotoji. The lotus flowers were in pots in the courtyard of the temple so you could get pretty close to them.

Since it is a weekday, not too many people were out and about, so it was really nice and peaceful.

I was surprised at how tall they were!

After admiring the lotus flowers we headed back to Osaka for lunch and stopped at a cafe called Gokan. Gokan means 5-senses in Japanese. This cafe is located in an old bank building. I wrote about it (here).

Lunch was cold cuts, salad, brioche and croissant. There was also a nice matcha (green tea) dessert that came along with it.

It was a nice day (very humid), but nice in other ways.

uji

The other day, I had seen a live broadcast of an area filled with ajisai (hydrangea) and found out that it was located in Uji. In Japan, ajisai is usually in full bloom during the rainy season.

While the rain is coming down, it is kind of nice to see these pom-poms of pastel colors brightening up a gloomy day. So, despite the rain, thunder and lightning and that the rainy season hasn't officially started here, we went to Uji--located in the South-Eastern part of Kyoto. If you remember, I went there a couple of months ago during the Spring with my Aunty and her friend.

The temple that these ajisai were at was called Mimurotoji. It was a 15 minute walk from the Mimuroto station. The temple is actually located at the top of these steep stairs. (We are looking forward to going back in July to see their hasu no hana (lotus flowers)).

At the bottom of the steep stairs, there is a beautiful garden with about 10,000 ajisai plants.

Despite the weather, the flowers were beautiful. And I was amazed at how many different varieties there were.

I was also surprised at how red the leaves of this maple tree was, it reminded me of something you might see during the Fall.

Since Uji is known for their green tea, we had lunch at a place called Magozaemon and had their zaru udon (cold wheat noodles) with green tea in them. The noodles were really chewy and delicious.

After lunch, we walked along the shopping street and you could smell tea roasting. Ho-ji cha is a very smoky flavored tea and is actually roasted green tea. This is what a roaster looks like.

You could even see tea plants along the roadside.

We also got some cha-dango (rice cakes made with green tea) and warabi mochi (bracken rice cakes). Bracken is a fern and the young shoots are turned into a powder to make this mochi. In Osaka, we usually eat this with kinako (ground roasted soy beans), but in Uji, they eat their warabi mochi with what else, green tea powder. Both were nice treats and as we were going home, the sun came out.