Anything in Kurashiki (Okayama-ken)

[prasantrin]

At the beginning of September, almost immediately after returning from Canada, I'll be chaperoning a club trip to Kurashiki. I'll only get one lunch and one afternoon free, so I'd like to make the most of my time.

I've done a brief search, and haven't found anything really interesting about the food. Peaches and grapes are famous (will peaches still be in season at the beginning of September?), but is there anything else I can bring back as omiyage?

Any restaurants that serve interesting food? The Frommers website just has a few places in the sushi/Japanese category, an Italian place, a steak place, and a coffee shop. I'll definitely hit the coffee shop for some cake, but there must be more restaurants out there! At this time, I think a place called Kamoi is my first choice because they have tempura (anything fried is good), but I'm very flexible! (Except I'd prefer to avoid udon and soba.)

[prasantrin]

Well, Kurashiki was a bit of a bust in terms of food. We ate at Ivy Square, and the food really sucked. I had beef curry rice. It was a little more intersting than your usual curry rice, because it was served with steak. The curry, itself, wasn't bad, but the rice was sweet! It would have been much better with plain rice.

On the way back to the bus, I convinced my co-workers to go to a cute little coffee shop. We were glad we did, because Coffee Kan has the best coffee I've ever had, and I don't even care for coffee that much! I'm thinking of going back to Kurashiki just so I can have more of their coffee.

Actually, Kurashiki is a cute little town. I'd love to go back and take my time to wander around a bit (they also have an excellent art museum there). If anyone is ever in Okayama (or even in the Hiroshima area), I would highly recommend a side trip there. (But stay away from Ivy Square!)