YES!, I am finally getting to the rest of the amazing dining experiences in Japan last month. On the morning of our first full day in Kyoto we bumped into Paal and Helene our next door neighbors from the cruise and planned to meet for dinner at Kappo Yamashita around the corner from the Ritz-Carlton. We had originally planned to have counter-service, but as they were full, they graciously gave us a private dining upstairs. we ordered beers (the favorite seemed to be Yebisu named for the fisherman god of fortune) and for me always Sake:
Joukigen (Junmai Dingo) and Nichizakari (Daigingo).
As the menu was huge with many choices and pages, we decided to each order a couple of dishes and attempt to share everything, which was indeed a great idea. First came the Tsukidashi, a plate of Japanese amuses, if you will (no photos, ooops!--but the rest is on FB) of fish with broad beans in sesame mustard sauce and flowers; fried fish; firefly quid in vinegar mustard (boy, did we love this unique fish!), snails, miso with cheese(ball) and soup!!
Renkonn Sebei was the first ordered dish and was a simple yet super tasty bowl of deep fried lotus which we could not get enough of. Toria Wase Sunmono was a traditional vinegared dish with many types of veggies and seafood including fish, firefly squid (yay), jellyfish, prawn and clam. Ika Uniyaki was more grilled quid with fabulous tasty sea irchin paste which was followed by Koh No Mono a plate of traditional Japanese pickles that was so beautiful we did not wish to mess it up: carrots, daikon, seaweed (yes, pickled seaweed) and more.
Guji Yaki was a simply grilled tilefish and this was followed by the first dessert of Shahbetto (an interesting word in itself) which was a sake soret which we think was made with seaweed. Furuhtsu was next, another wrd sounding very English as it was various fruits served with tea.
We drank more, chatted tons and were so thrilled to be able to extend our cruise (kind of) one night and see a couple we just had a great time with.
