The hotel owners took the lead on our dinner tonight and booked us into a restaurant close to the Pagoda in Gion. We told her that we wanted to experience something very traditional and she recommended a restaurant called Karyo.
She checked that we were ok with raw fish, and had a big appetite, and booked us the 10 course taster menu for 8pm. She said that we would love the place and it was one of her favourites, and she wasn't wrong! She also booked us a table facing the chefs, so we could see everything going on in the kitchen.
The restaurant was in a very traditional part of town, and I doubt we would have dared entered without a booking. It almost looked like somebody's house. But as soon as we walked in, they knew who we were and greeted us very warmly. We had to take our shoes off at the door and were then shown to our seats. This place had a great buzz and 5 chefs were hard at work in the kitchen, in full view from our seats.
We started off with a free drink, courtesy of our hotel which was a really nice touch. And then the food came. 1, 2, 3 all the way to 10 courses. And each of the courses had up to 3 bits to them, and were all different. It was amazing and by far the best meal we have had in Japan so far.
We had raw octopus, whole baby squids (heads and all), sea bream, mackerel, crab dumplings, raw beef, scallops, salmon roe eggs and so many other things that we don't even know the names off! And the puddings, well... Sesame Seed ice cream, cherry blossom cake and a strawberry creme mousse. A true experience.
And in terms of attention to detail, each of the dishes had a live cherry blossom branch as decoration - but with each course, the buds were opened more each time. Something so unique.
We also had some amazing Sake with the meal, but didn't feel the need to drink too much as the taste buds were flowing...
Our first night in Kyoto, and one to remember forever.
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