Kyoto: Shopping and Eating
Mäneka
Today was spent trying to find appropriate gifts for friends and family back home. This took us to the Shijo/Nishiki Market area of Kyoto. It is always fun to poke around the shops there. Even a commercial shopping avenue like this is still atmospheric.
As we wandered down Nishiki Market, Linda began drifting off to the right, as if drawn by some magnetic force. That force to turned out to be a gyoza restaurant. “Let’s have this for lunch.” The restaurant turned out to be 餃子ごずこん (Gyoza Gozukon). As the name implies, the main thing on offer is gyoza. Mom got an elaborate teishoku while I had a just gyoza set, though it also came with rice and crudités with moromi miso. A side of pork kushiyaki rounded out our order. The gyoza were excellent with a delicate skin and juicy filling. Not at all farty, as some dumplings can be. I regretted only having ordered 7, while Linda put away 10 pieces with no problem.
For a post-lunch pick-me-up we hit Tsujiri in Gion for the ultra rich matcha soft serve. Such a strong tea flavor, and with a texture that is unmatched among other soft serves that boast similar tea levels.
Even though it was getting dark we visited Yasaka Jinja, a favorite spot of Linda’s. On my first trip to Japan we had also come at night, when it’s less crowded and the lanterns look especially alluring. There is also a cool night view of the city.
We also “discovered” a new temple, Chion-In, which was lit up.
For dinner that night we had a reservation at Giro Giro Hitoshina. We scored seats downstairs at the bar, where you can see all of the food being prepared. For the price the food can’t be beat. Giro Giro serves a lot of foreigners. In fact there were some dumb ones right next to us. One of them loudly proclaimed to “eat anything,” but then immediately refused to eat the ankimo (monkfish liver) course. 😑 They also did not know what a Mont Blanc was, despite having been to Japan before. 🤷♀️
I loved the mini oyster katsu sando (pictured in header) and most of all the aforementioned Mont Blanc dessert, served on a renkon shaped plate. The chestnut part sat atop a thin layer of super-almondy, pudding-like cake, which was studded with dried cherries. A great take on this favorite Japanese dessert.
