Gyoza, Tonkatsu, Foods on Sticks & Beer (It's a Trip Part 3.2)

What a day for food! And this post is all about just that, everything we consumed today. Last night we had an amazing Wagyu beef dinner at HAFUU, so today we were going for some other types of Japanese cuisine. Kyoto has a huge variety of food choices and we are going to take advantage on this trip! I'll go ahead and say it now, we are not concerned about the healthiness of our choices this week...

We started off today with hiking up Mt Inari at the Fushimi Inari Shrine. (Read about it and see a map of all today's destinations here: It's a Trip Part 3.0) We were starving when lunchtime rolled around. We rushed off to Kyoto Station to try some famous tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet). Japan has a couple great restaurant chains for tonkatsu (Tonkatsu Wako & Katsukura are a couple that I'd found) and Kyoto has locations for each of them. We were guaranteed to get some good quality fried pork! We chose Tonkatsu Wako, they have a location in Isetan Department Store in Kyoto Station, it's on the 11th floor in the "Eat Paradise" area. We each had a different set menu. Regardless of what you order, the soup, rice and cabbage are unlimited. I had 2 small pork filets and 2 crab croquettes. Keenan had a pork filet, 2 prawns, a cheese filled pork loin and an egg seafood custard. All of it was delicious! Well, maybe not the custard thing. I especially loved the light citrus dressing (yuzu sauce) for the cabbage!

Teeny clams in the miso soup.

Tonkatsu Wako.

Kyoto Station from the rooftop.

Grassy area on the roof of Kyoto Station, "Happy Terrace."

Careful Keenan!! 

After lunch we checked out Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), Ryoanji (rock garden), Ninnaji Temple and Arashiyama (bamboo forest). (Read about the afternoon here: It's a Trip Part 3.1) For dinner we decided to do a little variety, gyoza and foods on sticks!

First dinner stop was at a place called Sen mon ten. I'd found this place on a travel blog while doing research for our trip. It serves gyoza, beer and sake...and that's pretty much it. Gyoza are Japanese dumplings, basically the same as pot stickers. There were 2 types of gyoza, meat or tofu, with the option to top either variety with cheese! Prices were a little higher (but we're in Kyoto where that's the norm) ¥530 for 10 pieces and a medium draft beer was ¥580 (on the first order the combo of gyoza & beer is ¥950). The gyoza were really small, one person could easily put away 30-40, but they were the best we've ever had! The staff was super friendly, we were required to mix our own gyoza sauces and they were more than willing to give their suggestions/variation on the typical recipe. For the meat version it's soy sauce-vinegar-couple drops of chili oil. For the tofu dumplings it was a ponzu sauce with orange rind. Sen mon ten was a very small place, 2 tables and a bar area (most of which was occupied with gyoza making). If we ever go back to Kyoto, we will stop here again!

Well deserved beer after a long day!

Making gyoza!

Entrance. Hard to miss, we didn't though!

From there we made our way (another long walk, good thing there are convenience stores everywhere and open container is no thing in Japan) to a yakitori restaurant, Akiyoshi. There are a few locations in Kyoto. This is where we got our fix of foods on sticks! Sooo many things to choose from!

Walkin' beers!

Pretty much any chicken, pig or cow part available on a stick!
Hearts, skin, feet, tongue, cartilage, stomach, intestines,
liver, etc. Plus veggies, quail eggs, rice, soups and more!

Pretty much everything was served on the shelf in front of us!
Pictured are beef tongue and tender chicken.

Didn't go here, but loved their slogan!

Ended off the day with a drink at Bar Moonwalk. Everything was ¥200, but the drinks were tiny! It was a couple stories up and had a view to do a little people watching. We were definitely too early for any of the nightlife to really be going, but it had been a l-o-n-g day and we were beat.

Yes, that says open 1900-500...
yes, that's 7pm-5am!

Tomorrow we head to Hiroshima! Hiroshima - Miyajima Island (It's a Trip Part 4.0)