Low Moments in Japanese Cuisine

I guess its not the cuisine that's to be blamed in this case...

We took Phil, Russell's co-worker to Kyoto yesterday. We actually got out of the house at 7am and therefore had enough time to hit up Sanjuusangendo (the long temple with all the Buddhas inside), Kiyomizudera (the shinto shrine in the hills with the huge wooden deck), and Nijojo (The castle with the nightingale floors). We tried to go to the National Museum, but the main display was closed and the traveling display had a 40 minute wait to get in.

Even so, it was a packed day and we were hoping for some good grub afterwards.

We went to Gion.

Gion is one of the old districts in the city. Very picaresque and full of shops and restaurants. It can be a tourist trap at times, but there is also a lot of quality things there to see. We have eaten fairly well there before - it can be expensive (being in the touristy part of town) but it isn't usually too bad.

Last night, we were wandering down the street with all the restaurants and having a hard time choosing. FInally we were hungry and decided that one particular izakaya looked fairly reasonable. We went in and the host explained that they were a little full and could we sit at the bar? We said we could and he took us upstairs. Unfortunately, the bar was full, but two tables were open. He put us at one of the tables. We started perusing the menu and realized that our first assessment of the prices had been wrong. Instead of $5 for three chicken skewers (for example), it was $5 for one. And that was the cheapest thing you could get. Instead of $3 for a pint of beer, it was $7. Things weren't looking good.

We each ordered a drink and a couple of cheap starters. When we finished the host came over and offered us our bill. We were taken aback. In Japan, restaurants never hurry their customers. You can sit and talk for hours and no one will even give you stink-eye. To be rushed after only two appetizers seemed really odd. Russell said we were hoping to order a few more things, and the host said okay. He took the bill back. We then ordered a much larger selection of foods (the portions were really small) and at that point the host came back, rather flustered and asked us to move to the bar. This was really odd, too. We took our drinks and moved. In retrospect, I think the table had been reserved and they had originally planned to move us to the bar, but we hadn't understood.

In any case, once settled at the bar, we waited for our food. Out came two tiny skewers with a pair of meatballs on them the size of quail eggs, two small chicken skewers and two chunks of eggplant. Not really enough for one person, let alone three. At this point the shine was off this restaurant. We nibbled our skewers, finished our drinks and left.

The bill was $70.

We returned to Kobe and paid another $10 to get three large beef and rice bowls. Not gorgeous, not in a beautiful wooden building, but awfully tasty and certainly filling. Good enough.