Duvel

By now, the sun had almost set so we moved towards our hotel, stopping by only at Nanzen-ji to see the impressive Sanmon at dawn. With the sun almost gone it got even colder. I don't even own a pair of gloves anymore, but I surely could have used one today. Passing through the streets of Gion back to the bike rental place ... ... we were - again - frozen solid. The unanimous vote for dinner was surely influenced by that - Ramen. More specifically, the Kyoto-based Ramen chain that still defines my taste: Tenkaippin! Tenkaippin is famous for their "kotteri" Ramen, a heavy, gelatinous, chicken-based soup that really revives you after 8 hours cycling through Kyoto in the cold. Best to be enjoyed with a draft beer highball ... The Gyoza and Karaage weren't bad, either ... On the way back to the hotel we passed through Kyoto station, where the little one and my wife got a little treat from Mr. Donut, while I found a "beef sand", a item gaining popularity in the last years. Essentially a tonkatsu sandwich, made from beef steak rather than port and served with mustard on spongy toast bread. I enjoyed it at home with my night cab (Suntory on ice, to set the mood for tomorrow) ...

After lunch we continued our cycling tour to the east of the city, eventually reaching the Philosopher's walk. The alley up to the most northern temple, Ginkaku-ji (the Silver Temple), was lined with all kinds of popular snack stalls. I choose a skewer with grilled rice cakes - Dango - liberally brushed with a sweet & malty soy glace. The temple itself was nice as well, with a Zen garden as well as the main building, mirroring the design of the more famous Golden Temple (Kinkaku-ji). On the way back to the (paid) bicycle parking we indulged our sweet tooth with a choux pastry filled with vanilla custard ... After some 15 minutes cycling south, we reached the famous Eikan-do Zenrin-ji, renowned for its beautifully painted sliding doors as well as collection of paintings spanning several centuries (no pictures allowed). Life for the monks here is dangerous ... I remembered this garden vividly from the autumn visits, coloring the entire temple grounds in red and yellow tones. Now, in winter, it looked more austere ...

Despite the cold temperatures we decided to rent a bicycle for the day. One of the fondest memories of our time living in Kyoto was taking the bikes out on a Sunday and just discovering all the quiet streets in the city, where you could always find a hidden shrine or an traditional house that never made its way into the guide books. Around Gion we stopped to rest a bit (did I share it was cold – at least for a Hong Kong resident ?) to watch the street life and people dressing up as Meikos. Despite the arranged motif I always enjoy seeing the girls in the bright kimonos, moving slowly down the street next to the canal. We moved up to Heian Jingu, the former seat of the emperor ... and cycled further to visit the main campus of Kyoto University. As part of the “nostalgia” tour we decided to have lunch at the central cafeteria, under one of the engineering buildings. The cafeteria is not subsidized, so anyone can eat there. Priced remain moderate, and the food quality is acceptable. We had ... Tonjiro (and Miso soups as well) Buta shogayaki (Pork with ginger) Grilled mackerel Kinpira gobo (burdock & carrot) with lotus root. Nasu renkon (cold aubergine with radish and tsuyu) Karaage - my favourite ... It found the approval from the little one as well ... And not pictured: cold spinach with onsen tamago, spring rolls ... all in all for 1200 yen (about 11 USD). Certainly student friendly

Con Fusion food, indeed 😜

Xin nen kuai le ! A bit late, but at least on the third day of the lunar new year we had our CNY dinner ... hot pot !

After all the food we managed to snatch a taxi back to the hotel ... You really have to admire the Japanese sense for taste, in every detail. And just because ... a late night snack - the 7-11 egg salad sandwich. A true classic ! Best to be enjoyed with a night cab

For our first dinner we decided to go to an Izakaya, located on Kawaramachi-dori. Honestly, we were not so sure anymore how it was called, but the approximate location and it being on the forth floor led us to a nice place, so we just pretented it's actually the one we went to before ... The otoshi ("free" starter, that comes with the table charge) was raw slices of squid, pickled in konbu and yuzu peel. A good start ... Edamame as per the little ones request ... Hot soup (we were actually frozen solid before entering the place) ... Whiskey highball for me ... Raw horse temaki, topped with uni - this was excellent ! Winter mackerel, cured in salt and just torched before serving ... Chicken karaage ... Some mixed grilled skewers ... I liked the breast rolled up with shiso leaf the best. Fried cheese mochi Japanese grilled steak with potato salad - an Izakaya essential ...

After an uneventful flight we touched down at Kansai International airport in the early afternoon. I usually skip the food on board, so off to the first Konbini (convenience store), in this case a Lawson’s, to get a Onigiri. There was a small change in climate conditions from Hong Kong (24 oC, sunny) to Kansai (3 oC, rain). Luckily, the Konbini had already the right suggestion for that dilemma: Oden! It will be featured as a late night snack in one of the following days (after some alcohol and even more frozen limbs) … We took the Haruko express to Kyoto, dropped off the luggage at the hotel and headed out into “town”, more specifically an area called Shijo-Kawaramachi. This is the main shopping/entertainment area of Kyoto, featuring a roofed shopping alley called Teramachi. It is funny how many details you can still remember after all this time. This shop is selling very inexpensive Okonomiyaki. Its located just at the entrance of the arcade and saying it looks worn down would be a euphemism – and yet it survived all these years. So did the (hilarious expensive) crab shop. Other shops we used to frequent have closed down … This one is new: Korokke Burger, with two potato croquettes filling in for the burger bun. I was very close to buy one, but then … I discovered the old Taiyaki shop. A fish-shaped treat, made from waffle batter and filled with either sweetened adzuki beans or sweet potato. The “flavor of the months” was sweet potato with cream – how exotic. Needless to say, it was yummy … In order to have some of my daily budget for dinner, I had to pass on several shopping opportunities, such as the famous banana lamp (damn), the really inexpensive shoshu glasses (as seemingly we have already too many) and the really useful “beer can to draft beer” converter … My son wanted to have some Tabi shoes, but they didn't had his size

The flight day started early … very early. Despite us basically living next to Hong Kong airport (25 min door to door), we had to get up at 5.00h, which was not appreciated by all members of the family. The airport was packed, but we were allowed to pass through the “special” lane with the (actually not so) little one. Hong Kong airport is quite efficient, especially for residents, so about 20 min later we could enjoy the perks of the lounge. The eggs royale were good as usual, enjoyed with an iced lemon tea. The little one enjoyed his “stinky cheese” and cold cuts, before tucking into a bowl of granola. Maybe a bit of history: There was really no contest between the Seoul and the Kansai option – my wife (then girlfriend) and me lived in Kyoto from 2003 until 2006. I did my PostDoc at Kyoto University and my wife joined and did a kind of master course at the graduate school. We have not been back for the last 13 years and this trip is – if anything – a recollection of our time there. Thus a little disclaimer: there will be not necessarily the Japanese food porn you’d expect from @rarerollingobject or the exotic dishes you’d see in @shain travels through Georgia. Just down to earth food memories enjoyed by gaijins on a (virtual) students budget

Prologue: Originally, we intended to spend this Chinese New Year in Hong Kong. We have travelled a lot last year and will need to attend a wedding already next month in Germany, so I was happy to spend some quiet days at home (and keep the spendings a bit under control as well). As a consequence, we had not booked any flights in the busiest travel time of the year in this region … But – despite all good intentions – I found myself two weeks ago calling the hotline of my favourite airline in the region, essentially cashing in on three years of extensive business travel and checking where I could get on short notice over CNY on miles. I was expecting a laughter on the other side of the line but this is the one time my status in their loyalty reward program paid out big time: three seats for either Seoul or Kansai International (earliest morning flights, of course). No need to choose, really – Kyoto, here we come !

I usually don’t eat breakfast, but after our 6 day CNY trip with a slight calorie surplus I felt strangely hungry this morning ... Homemade “sausage & egg McMuffin” (no idea what would be the correct english name for that thing; I only know it from the Golden Arches), served with baked beans. Messy to eat, but sooooo good !

Can you elaborate on the “white chili”, please ?

Lucky you ! I usually have to take a 6h flight to Urumqi to enjoy that kind of lamb noodles 😉

Nice! We are getting a bit dcarch’esk with the plating 😉

Yummy ... now I want one right now for breakfast !

Last weekend I decided to cure some pork ribs. After four days I took most of them out and smoked them to make the German “Kassler Rippchen”, albeit with some Manuka wood dust. Originally the ribs were intended to flavour a huge pot of Kale for a “Grünkohl” feast, but I was unable to source sufficient kale - seems that the local shops sell this overpriced, yet in minuscule quantities aimed to be eaten raw by health conscious yoga moms with challenged gastrointestinal systems (sorry for the rant). I switched to using them in pot of beans, which I prepared yesterday and had today with homemade Döner and garlic yoghurt. Probably one of the tastiest pots of beans I have ever made... very happy! Family decided not to try beans & Döner, so I whipped together an emergency dough pizza with salami, olives and some of the rib meat from the bean pot (hahaha, they will never know ...).

What started as a perfectly fine low-carb dinner featuring various cuts of beef and offal somehow went south after miraculously a bottle of Dassai 50 appeared ... (not pictured: subsequent beer, chocolate cream puffs and the “Absacker” I will have once I reach home - I better book this under “cheat meal” 😆)

McDonalds in HK runs it’s line of “prosperity” burgers again, as a Chinese New Year-themed short term addition to their menu. I had to bite the bullet, or better the prosperity chicken hash brown burger. It’s as bad as it sounds. Really. A sweet black pepper sauce coating a fried chicken “leg”, deboned of course. The beef version had the same sauce, yet no other ingredients. Party & sauce. No veggies, pickles, nothing ... Not to be repeated until CNY 2020 ! (I also had to augment the coke with a generous splash of Maker’s Mark. Worked ...)

Every now and then (ok, usually only when I see a pizza) I am a bit unhappy about doing low-carb. More often than not I am very happy that I do it ... especially when it serves as a “permission” to pig out on freshly made negitoro and tamagoyaki. Life is very good today 🤗

Or the sesame paste / peanut butter & vinegar combinations in Chinese cuisine ...

I find that a small addition of rye flour to lean bread doughs (5%, maybe up to 10% sometimes) adds greatly to the flavour without actually tasting like rye. Baguettes and pizza do benefit from that ...

Actually, you can buy their signature broths in the (mainland China) supermarkets ... I’ve got a couple more, but can’t run the spicy ones for my family 😋

Well... the dessert certainly was 😉

After spending the last couple of weeks in New Zealand I am back in HK. And today is the first day since last winter I actually feel a bit chilly. Ok, might be because in my free time I run around in shorts and T-shirt and today we were at merely 17oC, with high humidity and a light drizzle now and then ... Regardless, I felt really like warming, comforting food. As Grünkohl und Bregenwurst is pretty much out of the question (due to lack of raw material), I opted for the food of my second home: Oden. My wife does not share my love for the simplistic, neither for molded fish cakes with spicy mustard - so we had a chicken/pork based bone broth with jujube and goji berries (courtesy of Haidilao, a big Chinese hotpot chain) in parallel, with all ingredients shared between both broths and dipping sauces or karashi (hot Japanese mustard), respectively. And some seasonal Japanese beer followed by hot sake (from my former hometown Kyoto) to go with it. Needless to say I am a veeeeery happy camper tonight 🤗

Fantastic. Just the thing I was looking for...