Kinana - Kinako Ice Cream

Kinana - Autumn Chestnut Parfait

Kinana ‘Dekitate’ Ice Cream and Kodawari
Kinana makes six flavors of ice cream; kinako (roast soybean flour), azuki (sweet red bean), kurogoma (black sesame), kuromitsu (black sugar syrup), maccha (powdered green tea) and yomogi (mugwort), all real traditional Japanese flavors! To get the real Kinana ice cream experience, I really recommend the just made ‘dekitate’ ice cream as it is heavenly, impossibly soft and creamy. Once ice cream is frozen it loses this fantastic texture. I think that the kinako flavor is the only fresh, ‘dekitate’ ice cream that is served. If you just ask the friendly staff what the ‘dekitate’ flavor is, they should have no trouble understanding. (Many customers eat the dekitate ice cream while standing at the counter on the first floor. Try this if the sit down area on the second floor is full.)

Kodawari is an essential concept in Japanese culture, especially in culinary culture and all kinds of product development. Kodarari means picky or particular. Owner, ice cream chef Omoto-san is very picky about what goes into his ice cream. He uses no additives, fillers or artificial ingredients. His kinako powder is a original blend of roasted ‘kuromame’ black beans from the Tamba region of Hyogo and Kyoto and ‘daizu’ soybeans from Hamanaka-cho in Hokkaido. He traveled to both regions to inspect producers before selecting the best.

Any business in Japan that isn’t into kodawari really isn’t worth patronizing. If you like Kyoto culinary culture, it is probably due to kodawari.

Kinana - Autumn Chestnut Parfait

Kinana Parfait
Kinana has three parfaits that are available throughout the year. There is Kinana Hapon (warabi mochi), Berry Berry Kinana (yogurt and frozen berries) and Kinana Italian (tiramisu). Then there is a seasonal parfait that changes every few months. All use several flavors of Kinana ice cream and Western-style baked confections like cookies and biscotti, all baked in-house at Yakitsukasa Kinana, Kinana’s second location. The fresh-made ice cream is not used in the parfaits because it is too soft for layering other ingredients upon. I tried both the Berry Berry Kinana and Kinana Italian and thought that they were fine but not exceptional. Two foodie and chef friends agreed with me on this. I can see how these parfaits would appeal to Japanese women that visit Kinana fairly often or want to try something non-Japanese.

The autumn seasonal parfait was quite another story. Now, Japanese are really into parfaits and I have had a lot of great Japanese-style parfaits in Kyoto but this one was the most memorable and original. It was over-the-top amazing!

Chestnut Autumn Parfait
The seasonal Kinana Chestnut Parfait features two kinds of ice cream, mochi, anko (azuki paste), soba boro (buckwheat cookie), two chocolate cookies (actually more like little cakes), a chocolate and kuromame biscotti with lots of chestnut mousse all topped with a candied chestnut.

The chestnut mousse topping was amazing, thick and rich, just overloaded with chestnut flavor. The nuance of the biscotti really got me, like all the other baked items it is made at Yakitsukasa Kinana. It is dry and crunchy like traditional biscotti, it has some chunks of rich chocolate but the kuromame black beans, though baked and encased in crunchy biscotti they are still soft and chewy! There is some kodawari at work here. This contrast in texture and attention to detail really impresses me. The chocolate cookies are really moist and dense, about a mouthful each. The soba boro are cracker-thin and very crunchy. I have never had sobo boko like that.

Kinana only makes 20 of the autumn parfaits everyday and usually runs out of the key ingredient, chestnut mousse by 2 pm, earlier on weekends. This parfait will only be available in October and November. I am looking forward to the winter seasonal parfait, and the autumns to come!

Gion Kinana Owner Ice Cream Chef Katsuji Omoto

About Kyo Kinana (京きなな)
For many years owner chef Katsuji Omoto had a French restaurant near Kitano Shrine, which is a somewhat outlying area of Kyoto. In 2002 he decided to move into the center of town and to close his restaurant and open something like a cafe with baked sweets. He rented a space in Gion but after he signed the lease and moved in he was told by the owner that he couldn’t use heat or flame in the space. He was quite shocked and felt deceived. Nevertheless, he took the high road and persevered. He cooly thought about what he could make without cooking and decided that it would have to be ice cream. At his French restaurant he had made his own baked desserts and ice cream, so this wasn’t entirely new territory for him.

His initial location was not ideal and it was tough going, however his ice cream was soon noticed by the media and he was featured on a television program and from there Kinana started to get very busy and develop as a new Kyoto brand.

In 2004 Omoto-san moved to his current location which has become a Gion fixture and is a very popular destination in the neighborhood for visitors to Kyoto. It is even popular with the neighborhood maiko and geiko (geisha), you can see their traditional fans displayed on the wall.

Based on Omoto-san’s original intention to do baked sweets in Gion, in 2006 he opened Yakitsukasa Kinana. (I haven’t been here yet but the baked goods served at Kinana are made here. And, they are great!) Yakitsukasa Kinana is located near Kiyomizu Temple in the scenic Higashiyama district.

Kinana is a very popular and seating is only available on the second floor. If you can’t get seated upstairs or you just want ice cream, you can have that at the standing at the ice cream counter on the first floor. Don’t go away without some dekitate kinako ice cream even if you cannot get seated!

Foodie Souvenirs
For take out Kinana offers milk jams, cookies, biscotti, candies and a few other yummies. I haven’t tried any of them but they look very interesting. I think the milk jams would make very novel ‘omiyage’ souvenirs for visitors to Kyoto.

Kinana Souvenir - Kinako Milk Jam

Kinana Souvenir - Kinana Cookie and Kinako Candy

Kinana Interior - Gion Maiko Fans

Kinana Staff Making Parfait

Gion Kobu Neighborhood (祇園甲部)
Kinana is located in one of Kyoto’s most scenic and historic neighborhoods: Gion Kobu.

Kinana Storefront

Kinana Neighborhood in Gion

SHARE! Kyoto Support Topic: Food and Drink in Kyoto
SHARE! Kyoto Support Post: Handmade Ice Cream in Kyoto

Socialize
Tweet! Tweet! Find out what’s going on in Kyoto right now, follow me on Twitter.
Facebook Find me on Facebook.

brand name: Kyo Kinana (京きなな)
Gion main store: Gion Kinana (祇園きなな)
Kiyomizu store: Yakitsukasa Kinana (焼司 喜七)

Gion Kinana in English (Main Store)
English Menu: no
English Website: none (Japanese language site: www.kyo-kinana.com)
Service: friendly
Hours: 11am – 7pm (6:30 pm last order)
Address: Kyoto-shi, Higashiyama-ku, Gion-machi Minami-gawa 570-119 (京都市東山区祇園町南側570-119)
Telephone: 075-525-8300

Map

View OpenKyoto/KyotoFoodie Map in a larger map

Soba Boro Package

I didn’t realize but I buy soba boro (蕎麦ぼうろ) fairly often. I like them. My dog likes them. I think that they have a distinctly Japanese taste yet are not challenging to the non-Japanese palate like tea ceremony namagashi might be. I reviewed Kyoto handmade soba boro ice cream here on KyotoFoodie and that is some wonderful stuff!

While soba boro is not a distinctly Kyoto confection, there are a number of shinise shop in Kyoto that are famous for them. One of my favorites is located near the Kyoto Gosho Imperial Palace and is called Kawaramachiya (丸太町かわらまち屋). In addition to soba boro, Kawaramachiya also is famous for their soba manju confections.

Kawaramachiya Soba Boro

How does Soba Boro Taste?
Soba boro has a very pleasant taste and texture and is not high in calories, for a sweet. It is hard and crispy but far less dense than traditional biscotti. Though it is very crunchy, it melts upon meeting the mouth very quickly. The soba and sugar creates a slightly earthy and caramely taste.

ingredient list:
wheat flour, sugar, egg, soba buckwheat flour

Kawaramachiya 'Honten' Store

SHARE! Kyoto Support Forum: Shopping, Souvenirs and Kyoto Meibutsu

Tweet! Tweet! Find out what’s going on in Kyoto right now, follow me on Twitter.

English:
English menu/signage: none
English website: none
Service/Staff: so-so
Price: 300 – 1,500 yen.
Location and Access: Kawaramachiya is located on Marutamachi Street between Teramachi and Kawaramachi Streets, on the south side of Marutamachi. The closest station is Jingu Marutamachi Station on the Keihan Railway, just across the Kamo River. The Marutamachi subway station on the Karasuma Line is about a 10 minute walk to the west. Many bus lines pass through this neighborhood too.
Address: Kyoto-shi Kamigyo-ku, Marutamachi-dori Kawaramachi Nishi-iru, Shintomi-cho 331
(京都市上京区丸太町通河原町西入信富町331番地)
Telephone: 075-231-2146
Near Sightseeing Spot: The Imperial Palace (5 min. walk to the north-west) and Shimogoryo Jinja Shrine and Teramachi Street

Map:

View OpenKyoto/KyotoFoodie Map in a larger map

We were privileged to visit one of our favorite Kyoto restaurants, Honke Owariya that is among the oldest restaurants in the world, and learn how to make their incredibly delicious ‘dashi‘ broth for soba noodles. Having about 540 years of experience to draw upon is a fantastically delicious thing!

When I first sat down with the 15th generation owner and president of Honke Owariya, Denzaemon Inaoka to take about this article, I told him that we wanted to learn about Owariya’s wonderful soba, i.e. the noodles. He said that more than noodles, we needed to learn about dashi. And, the water of Kyoto.

Sound familiar? Kyoto water makes great dashi, sake and tea.

Honke Owariya, like a lot of other folks in Kyoto, is very, very particular about the water that they use. They won’t open a restaurant in Tokyo because the same dashi cannot be made with Tokyo water. When they opened their Shijo Teramachi branch which is in a department store, one of their terms was that they would drill their own well for water. In the new Shijo Kawaramachi branch (on the 7th floor of Takashimaya Department Store) a well could not be dug, so dashi is made every morning at the honten (main store) and laboriously transported over!

Making Dashi

Mr. Yoshida, the chori-cho (head chef), showed us how to make dashi the Honke Owariya way.

ingredients:

• water
• Rishiri Kombu (Rishiri Kombu is a high quality kelp from Hokkaido)
• 3 kinds of shaved fish flakes
• saba-bushi (dried mackerel flakes, さば節)
• urume-bushi (dried round herrings flakes, うるめ節)
• mejika-bushi (dried bullet tuna flakes, めぢか節)
• sugar
• shoyu

preparation:

1. Soak kombu in water overnight (if possible). Should be refrigerated.
2. Simmer kombu for 40-50 minutes at 70°C. (time varies depending on season and air temperature)
3. Remove kombu
4. Simmer shaved fish flakes for about 25 minutes. Do not boil and skim the foam (aku, 灰汁) that gathers on the surface.
5. Remove heat
6. Adequately strain the broth and return to pot.
7. Add sugar and shoyu

Simmer the Kombu – Start

Starting to heat the water.

Simmer the Kombu – Start

Simmer the Kombu – Checking Progress

After 40 minutes or so, Yoshida Chori-cho checks the softness of the kombu with his thumbnail. When it has softened to the right degree, it is done.

Simmer the Kombu – Remove the Kombu

When the kombu has softened and lent it’s wonderful taste to the dashi, it is removed.

Simmer the Shaved Fish – Add Fish Flakes

Adding the three kinds of shaved fish flakes.

Simmer the Shaved Fish – Aku-tori

Aku-tori (灰汁取り), literally take ‘foam/scum’. Immediately a heavy froth of aku appears and is removed.

Simmer the Shaved Fish – Aku-tori

Wooden paddles are uses to collect and scoop out the aku, which is pitched down the drain on the floor.

Simmer the Shaved Fish – Aku-tori

Simmer the Shaved Fish – Aku-tori

Simmer the Shaved Fish – Tasting

Yoshida Chori-cho samples the dashi.

Strain the Dashi

A bamboo strainer basket is placed atop and bucket and cotton cloth is laid over the basket.

Strain the Dashi – Pour

Pour the dashi out and through the strainer.

Strain the Dashi

Scoop all the ‘bushi‘ shaved fish flakes out.

Strain the Dashi – Shaved Fish Flakes Detail

Add the Sugar and Shoyu

Sugar has been added and dashi is poured back in, dissolving it.

Add the Sugar and Shoyu

After all the dashi has been return, the shoyu is poured in.

Add the Sugar and Shoyu

Yoshida Chori-cho checks the amount with a notched bamboo pole.

Add the Sugar and Shoyu – Tasting

A final tasting.

Add the Sugar and Shoyu – Final Aku-tori

The sugar produces a small amount of aku which is also removed.

‘Serve’

A large pot from the kitchen is washed out (I don’t think it was really dirty).

‘Serve’

And the finished dashi is poured out. This is then taken to the kitchen and broth is ladled out for Honke Owariya’s signature soba dishes.

Kyoto Water

Why is Kyoto water so great? We hope to examine this subject in detail in the future, just as soon as we can locate the appropriate expert to interview, but a simple explanation is as follows. Kyoto is in a basin, when it rains water is filtered down through the mountains. The aquifer flows under the city from north-east to south-west. Honke Owariya Honten (honten means main/original store/restaurant), and the Imperial Palace is located right in the center of this aquifer.

This aquifer holds a tremendous amount of water. The largest lake in Japan, Lake Biwa, just over the East Mountains, contains only slightly more water than the aquifer flowing under Kyoto.

The natural filtering and mineral content causes the water to be balanced, not too hard, not too soft. This is an essential factor in the culinary culture of Kyoto.

Sentaro‘s kasutera (Castella sponge cake) is a real treat! It’s sophisticated in flavor, caramelly and very mochi-mochi (soft and chewy). Sentaro‘s manju, both soba (buckwheat) and wheat are excellent and unique.

Sentaro is a shinise (an old and long-loved store) in Kyoto that is a purveyor of fine wagashi (Japanese confections). The main store (honten) is located near Shijo-Kawaramachi on Teramachi Street.

About Sentaro
Sentaro, established in 1886 and maintains it’s own farm lands in the agriculturally rich area of Tamba (丹波). The Tamba region, in both current day Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures is well known throughout Japan for it’s black beans (kuro-mame 黒豆), chestnuts (kuri 栗), tamba-gyu (Tamba beef) and the incredibly priced matsutake (pine mushrooms). In the rich soils of Tamba Sentaro grows azuki beans, chestnuts, plums, shiso and so on. Plants that grow naturally on their property, cherry blossoms, yomogi and kinome are collected at various times of the year. The bounty of Tamba is used to make some of Sentaro’s signature wagashi.

Sentaro’s wagashi has a decided natural look to it, nearly everything in the showcase is shades of brown with occasional punctuations of green (yomogi) and pink (salted plum blossoms). Sentaro has a strict policy of not using any preservatives, artificial colors, or even much sugar.

Sentato’s Meibutsu: Manju and Kasutera
Here we review Sentaro’s popular kasutera and two kinds of manju. In Japanese, these are called meibutsu (famous, well-known, noted product or dish). Meibutsu is another important term to know, many of the great restaurants and shops in Kyoto (and Japan) have one or more meibutsu. Discovering the local meibutsu is always a good deal of fun and adventure!

Manju (饅頭)
Manju is an ubiquitous confection in Japan that was originally brought over from China and has been adapted and enjoyed by Japanese for some 700 years now. There are countless renditions, but it is an azuki bean paste filling with a flour (rice, wheat, soba, etc) shell.

Meibutsu: Soba Manju

Whole, roasted soba kernels cover the top of this manju.

Meibutsu: Wheat Manju

This manju is made of wheat flour and has two yaki-in (brand) on the top.

Filling: Soba and Wheat Manju

Notice the difference in filling. The soba manju (left) is filled with red azuki bean paste. The wheat manju (right) has a white azuki bean filling. Often, azuki is extremely sweet — too sweet. Sentaro’s is it not too sweet though, just right. Also, these manju are rather dry and even a little crumbly. Quite nice!

Filling: Soba and Wheat Manju – detail

A beautiful (and tasty) contrast!

Kasutera (カステラ)

Kasutera is another ‘Western’ food in Japan. It is based on the sponge cake that came over with Portuguese merchants and missionaries in the 1500′s. This is another much loved wagashi that has countless renditions and over the centuries has been adapted and refined to Japanese tastes.

Sentaro’s kasutera seems to have a bit of a cult following in Kyoto. Properly, it is known as “kome kara kasutera” (kasutera from rice) as it is made of rice flour.

The sugar quality and content and baking method of Sentaro’s kasutera produces a particularly delicate and caramelly kasutera.

Meibutsu: Rice Flour Kasutera (Castella) – Opening the Packaging
Packaging and wrapping is very important part of Japanese culture and this package is quite wonderful and beautiful! A delight to open and discover. (米からカステラ: kome kara kasutera)

Meibutsu: Rice Flour Kasutera (Castella) – Opening and Unwrapping

The top of the kasutera is gorgeous, moist and soft.

Meibutsu: Rice Flour Kasutera (Castella) – Cutting into Slices
This kasutera is not pre-sliced. As this kasutera is extremely soft and mochi-mochi, the blade of the knife has to be wet well before cutting. It is a little tricky, so it does come with illustrated slicing instructions!

Meibutsu: Rice Flour Kasutera (Castella) – Served

Notice the caramelly top and bottom. The bottom is syrupy and gooey, but this layer is only about 2 millimeters thick. Sublime!

Sentaro Honten (Sentaro Main Store)
Located just down from Shijo-dori (street) in the bustling Shijo-Kawaramachi area in one of the two downtowns of Kyoto, Sentaro Honten is very accessible. (This is not a picturesque area of Kyoto.)

Sentaro Storefront

Sentaro Honten occupies a modern building on Teramachi Street south of Shijo where there are many stores that sell Japanese electronics, some have duty free sections.

Sentaro Storefront – Seasonal Wagashi Postings

Sentaro Store – Wagashi Showcase

Various meibutsu manju

Sentaro Store – Wagashi Showcase

Kasutera in at the back. Other meibutsu center-left.

Sentaro Store – Wagashi Showcase

Fresh, seasonal mochi.

＊Tell’em all about it!: When you visit a restaurant or shop that you heard about from KyotoFoodie, please tell them about us. Thank you!

＊Link Love: Are you a foodie blogger? Would you like a link from our Link Love page? Details right this way.

English:
English menu: none
English website: none | Japanese language website (nice photos)
Service/Staff: So-so
Price: 500 – 1,000 yen. (no sit down area, take-out only)
Location and Access: Sentaro Honten (main store) is located on Teramachi Street about a 2 minute walk south from Shijo Street.
Address: 604-8032 Kyoto-shi Shimogyo-ku Teramachi-dori Bukkou-ji agaru Nakanomachi 576
(京都市下京区寺町通り仏光寺上る中之町576)
Telephone: 075-344-0700
Near Sightseeing Spot: Sentaro Honten is located in the center of Kyoto near Shijo Kawaramachi. This area has several department stores. It is the main shopping area of Kyoto. Shijo Karasuma is about a 10 minute walk.
Map:

View Larger Map

Paku and I were invited to Uichiro, an elegant handmade soba and udon restaurant yesterday by one of Paku’s foodie friends. Uichiro is in a beautiful old machiya (traditional Kyoto house), has excellent food, great atmosphere and very friendly service.

I had kamo nanban (鴨南蛮そば), which is a popular Kyoto dish combining thick sliced roast duck breast, roast scallions and soba. The roast duck lends a distinct, pungent barbecued taste to the dashi soup.

Dessert was a true novelty; soba kanten jelly! Unheard of!

Article Update: Unfortunately, this commendable restaurant has closed. (20.10.2009)

Duck (kamo) is very popular in Kyoto, and is a ‘winter food’ as it is rich and nutritious. Kamo is enjoyed in soup, ham-like thick sliced roast and the luxurious kamo-nabe.

Uichiro’s rendition of kamo nanban is exquisite because the kamo and scallions have been well grilled before added to the dashi soup. Dashi is already rich and pungent thanks to the katsuobushi (shaved skipjack tuna) that is the base of the soup stock, but this combination takes it over the top. The three of us has never had a Japanese soup that tasted anything like this, it was sublime! And perfect for a snowy, winter day.

Steaming Kamo Nanban Soba

note: The dipping sauce on the left is not for kamo nanban soba, but for the croquettes (see below).

Kisetsu-no-gozen (Seasonal Dish Set) – first course

note: The bowl on the left is delightfully and playfully in the form of a radish! Nuta (left) and mushi-zushi (right).

Kisetsu-no-gozen (Seasonal Dish Set) – main course, tempura soba

Kisetsu-no-gozen (Seasonal Dish Set) – final course, soba kanten jelly

Kisetsu-no-gozen
Gozen is the polite was to say ‘meal’ in Japanese. Traditionally it was reserved in use for members of the nobility. Now, ‘nice’ lunch sets are often called Gozen… and usually incorporate a rice dish.

Kisetsu in Japanese means, ‘season’.

This one consisted of four dishes in three courses.

Nuta: a fish salad dressed with a miso-vinegar based dressing.
Mushi-zushi: This is a steamed (mushi) variation of the ever popular chirashi-zushi. None of us had ever had this dish before as sushi is not a warm or hot dish. Again, seasonal — it’s winter. The sushi rice seemed to have dashi in it, making it more hearty. The yellow topping is slivered egg. The green leaf garnish is sansho.
Tempura Soba: Shrimp and Sato-imo tempura served on soba.
Soba Kanten Jelly: Simple yet astounding! Again, none of us had ever heard of this dessert. Kanten is a naturally derived jelly that is made from sea vegetables used for many popular desserts in Japanese cuisine. Traditionally it was produced in cold mountainous regions in the winter as freeze drying was essential to creating kanten.

This dessert is unique because the kanten is heavily flavored with soba, probably soba-cha (soba ‘tea’). The reddish-brown garnish sprinkled on top of the jelly is cracked, roasted soba kernels.

The black beans are the well-loved sweetened kuro-mame, literally ‘black bean’, from the Tamba region of Kyoto.

This is one heck of a dessert!

Sato-imo (Japanese taro) Croquettes

Yummy!

Japanese Lacquerware – Urushi

Everything in this photo is lacquered, even the tray. Japanese lacquerware, or urushi, often incorporates fabric. Notice the square at the bottom of the bowl, that is fabric that has been lacquered over. The lip of the bowl is also covered with fabric, as is the grip of the spoon. Urushi is another subject that an entire blog could easily be devoted to. Be sure to stock-up on urushi when you visit Kyoto!

Uichiro Exterior

The Genkan, or Entry Vestibule
A fountain, a cast iron lantern and the ubiquitous ikebana flower arrangement greet the guest upon sliding open the door.

The Front Dining Room

Several obi (帯), or kimono sash decorate the dining room. Perhaps this machiya was once an obi store.

The Front Dining Room

The Front Dining Room – Mochi-bana

This is a winter decoration called mochi-bana, literally ‘mochi flower’. Pieces of red and white mochi (rice cake) are put on willow branches to simulate blossoms. This decoration is a part of the New Year’s (shogatsu) celebration.

SHARE! ‘Kyoto Support’ Food and Drink Forum

Tweet! Tweet! Find out what’s going on in Kyoto right now, follow me on Twitter.

English:
English menu: none
English website: none
Service/Staff: Very friendly
Price: 700 – 1,800 yen.
Location and Access: Uichiro is located a few blocks to the west of Teramachi and Kawaramachi Steets, about 15-20 minutes north of the Shijo/Sanjo Kawaramachi and Shijo/Sanjo Karasuma areas. Probably best accessed on foot.
Address: 604-0944 Kyoto-shi Nakagyo-ku Oshikoji Fuyacho-higashi-iru Tachibana-cho 616
(京都市中京区押小路通麩屋町東入ル橘町616番地)
Telephone: 075-211-8138
Near Sightseeing Spot: The Imperial Palace (10 min. walk to the north), Teramachi Street, Kamo River, Kyoto International Manga Museum.

Map:

View OpenKyoto/KyotoFoodie Map in a larger map

The island of Shikoku is Udon country. And 27 years ago, a man from Shikoku quit his job as a salary man and started Tsunamichi with the intent of making the best damn handmade noodles in Kyoto.

Now a lot of noodle shops have a sign out front reading, ‘teuchi soba‘ (handmade soba), ‘teuchi udon‘ (handmade udon), but actually, very few are really handmade. Tsunamichi is the real deal!

When the master is not cooking noodles in front of customers, he is upstairs making noodles! Making real handmade noodles is hard labor, and Tsunamichi is very popular. What’s more, Tsunamichi is open not just for lunch, but also dinner. Most Mom and Pop type noodle shops are only open for lunch, as it is just such hard work.

While waiting for my noodles, watching the master cook, the steady stream of customers… and then I noticed the sign with the business hours (open for lunch AND dinner), I was like, wow, this guy is superman!

Discovering Tsunamichi:
Paku and I were out looking for some lunch the other day, while I was taking her to a surprise destination; the grave of Lady Murasaki Shikibu, considered to have written the world’s first novel, The Tale of Genji.

It was lunchtime and we were starving and cold and I saw a sign for a noodle shop pointing down a little street and decided to investigate. Once inside, we soon realized that we had happened upon a mecca for Kyoto noodle lovers.

Later Paku searched on the internet and I talked to some friends, it seemed that somehow we were the only people around that had never heard of Tsunamichi!

Tsunamichi’s Miso Nikomi Udon

A Little About Udon:
Tsunamichi is not ‘Kyoto’, it is ‘country-style’ noodles, in Kyoto.

As stated above, Shikoku is udon country, or undon, as it is apparently called in the local dialect. And Sanuki Udon is the udon. When Japanese think of udon, they invariably think ‘Sanuki’. Sanuki is the ancient name of the country that is modern-day Kagawa Prefecture.

Knowledge of udon was conveyed to Japan more than 1000 years ago by the monk Kukai (Kobo Daishi). Kukai was from Sanuki and when he returned to Japan, in addition to Buddhism he taught what he had learned about noodles in China. And there, the seed of Japanese udon culture was planted. More than 1000 years later, this love of udon flourishes, the people of Sanuki are very, very particular about their udon.

In fact there is a strict and legal definition of what qualifies as Sanuki Udon.

• Must be made in Kagawa Prefecture
• Must be handmade
• By weight, water must be more than 40% as compared to wheat flour
• By weight, salt must be more than 3% as compared to wheat flour
• Must be ‘ripened’ (jukusei, 熟成) at least 2 hours before cutting

If you want to try a taste of Sanuki on Kyoto, Tsunamichi is the place.

Udon for Winter: Miso Nikomi Udon
I visited Tsunamichi twice in the last month and both times ordered the same dish, Miso Nikomi Udon (みそ煮込みうどん).

Nikomi, means to be simmered in. Miso is the same miso as miso soup. So, this dish is udon noodles that have been simmered in a thick miso based soup. The soup and udon noodles are placed in a small metal or ceramic ‘nabe‘, vegetables such as leeks added, plus sliced atsuage tofu, fish cake and a raw egg. This is cooked over high heat for five minutes or so. Until the veggies and egg are lightly cooked and is then served.

This is wonderful dish for winter. A rich and nutritious soup with thick, chewy udon. It is usually still boiling vigorously when served. After a few minutes, it starts to approach an edible temperature and about this time the egg is cooked. (If aren’t up for raw egg, this dish is safe.)

To further cool the soup and noodle mixture, it is spooned into a smaller bowl.

Shichimi (seven flavored chili pepper) can be sprinkled on either when it is transfered to this smaller bowl, or when it arrives, boiling vigorously in the nabe pot.

Tsunamichi serves both handmade soba and udon. Also, rice dishes like donburi. There are all the numerous noodle dishes, Tsunamichi doesn’t seem to offer any originals, just the classic Japanese lunch fare with noodles made with love and the taste and spirit of Sanuki.

Miso Nikomi Udon with Shichimi in a Small Bowl

notice the egg is now cooked

The Menu

Many traditional restaurants in Japan have their dishes written with brush and ink on these boards.

The Menu – Detail

Tsunamichi Store Front

Tsunamichi Store Front – Detail

Plastic food, even the plastic looks tasty!

SHARE! Kyoto Support Topic: Food and Drink in Kyoto

Tweet! Tweet! Find out what’s going on in Kyoto right now, follow me on Twitter.

English:
English menu: none
English website: none
Service/Staff: Friendly
Price: 700 – 1,300 yen.
Location and Access: Bus, Subway. Tsunamichi is located about a 3 minute walk east from Kitaoji Bus Terminal, Kitaoji Subway Station and Kitaoji Vivre Shopping Center.
Address: Kyoto-shi Kita-ku Kitaoji-dori Karasuma Higashi-hitosuji Kita-iru Kitakamifusa-cho 39-2 (京都市北区北大路通烏丸東一筋北入ル北上総町39-2)
Telephone: 075-492-7860
Near Sightseeing Spot: Daitokuji Temple (10 min. bus)
Map:

View OpenKyoto/KyotoFoodie Map in a larger map

Owariya, a purveyor to the Imperial Household, has a history that goes back over five hundred and forty years. It is the oldest noodle shop in Kyoto.

Over the centuries, Owariya has served emperors and shoguns as well as the monks of many of the temples of Kyoto.

Owariya is very popular with both locals and visitors for it’s soba noodles as well as soba confectioneries.

Owariya, properly called Honke Owariya (the ‘Original’ Owariya) is very popular for it’s noodles as well as confectioneries. The main restaurant is located on a quiet street just south of the Imperial Palace. The concetionery shop is located in the same neighborhood, one street to the west on Karasuma Street.

Owariya is a very ‘Kyoto’ establishment, centuries old, excellent food and atmosphere, yet very approachable. If you want to experience ‘Kyoto’ and ‘soba’, you cannot go wrong with Owariya.

Owariya Main Restaurant Entrance

Inside the gate, on the right side is a delightful little garden.

Zashiki and Tokonoma

Zashiki (sit on the floor on tatami mats). Tokonoma (alcove with hanging scroll and flowers). There is a delightful little dining alcove to the right of the door as you enter Owariya. There are just two tables, if you can get seated here and you don’t mind sitting on the floor, this is a cozy little place to enjoy lunch or dinner. (By the way, sitting on the floor Japanese style can be uncomfortable for folks not accustomed to it. If you are not quite as limber as in your younger days, go for the chairs and tables.)

A sampling of Owariya’s soba confectionaries
Owariya actually started out as a confectionery shop. If you visit the restaurant between 3 and 5:30 guests are given these complementary wagashi. Take them home with you if you like. They are of course, soba (buckwheat) confectionery.

Rikyu Soba (利休そば)

This is one of Owariya’s most famous dishes. It contains fu 麩 (wheat gluten) that has been deep fried, simmered in sweetened shoyu. The geens are mitsuba, there is a sheet of dried and reconstituted yuba, the ‘maple leaves’ are also fu, but nama (fresh), not fried. The dashi (soup stock) always amazes me, it is a very delicate and understated broth but not at all wimpy.

Soba Tempura! — A side dish of assorted tempura, tenpura chirashi (天婦羅ちらし)

Tempura Chirashi (literally, a scattering of tempura) is on the ‘hors d’œuvres’ section of the menu. (The really call it hors d’œuvres!) Tempura soba is common on menus, that is a piece or two of tempura served on top of a bowl of soba noodles. This is not that dish, it is soba noodles that have been deepfried along with the shrimp and baby eggplant! (Paku hadn’t even heard of this one! It is quite rare, and a treat.)
note: grated daikon upper right

Rikyu Soba and Tempura Chirashi

The grated daikon radish is placed in the dipping sauce, this is of course for the tempura.

Soba Tempura – detail

Left to right; nori,soba (tied in a delightful knot), shrimp tail

Nature is just a sheet of paper away!
I pulled back the shoji latticed slidding screen/door and got a delightful peek at the garden. Though flowers are blooming it is near freezing, so the shoji did not stay open for long!

The Entry Vestibule and Noren

The noren, or shop curtain reads, “御用蕎麦司” (goyou soba tsukasa), “purveyor of soba to the Imperial Household.”

Plastic food, shinise style!

Ah, Japan’s ubiquitous plastic food! At Owariya, it looks completely real! The dish on the right is some delicacies that can be enjoy with sake before dinner. There is soba-miso, fish cakes and herring simmered in sweet shoyu sauce.

Owariya Soba Confectionery Shop

The confectionery shop is located on the next street over from the noodle shop, on Karasuma Street and it would seem that the restaurant and the confectionery shop are connected at the back.
The Owariya confectionery shop has confections made with soba!

Soba Warabi Mochi (蕎麦わらび)

This is a variation of warabi mochi, but this is sprinkled with Owariya’s soba powder.

Soba Bouro 蕎麦ぼうろ

A kind of biscuit, or cookie made with soba flour. Soba bouro is common and popular all over Japan. It is often somewhat sweet.

English:
English menu: yes
English website: www.honke-owariya.co.jp
Service/Staff: Staff is ok, not especially friendly.
Price: 1,000 – 3,000 yen. (A nice lunch can be had for about 1,000 yen and for dinner or a house specialty, 2,000 to 3,000 yen)
Location and Access: The noodle shop is just a five minute walk south of The Imperial Palace on Kurumaya-cho Street, and one block east of Karasuma Street.
Near Sightseeing Spot: Imperial Palace
Map:

View Larger Map